One of our goals at Empathy Forward is to support long-term projects that benefit society. Part of that is helping build resilient communities, which requires distributed systems (see “Graceful Degradation of Infrastructure” for more on this). The Fediverse is such a distributed system. If you aren’t sure what the Fediverse and Mastodon are, check out the article, “What is Mastodon? What is the Fediverse?”
We are running a Mastodon instance for charitable nonprofit organizations. This includes 501(c)3 organizations in the US, as well as charitable organizations in other countries subject to similar rules. We also welcome organizations that fall under the 501(c)3 definition but aren’t required to seek recognition from the IRS, such as faith organizations.
Guiding Principles
The server rules are provided for clarity and may be changed at any time. They are explicit examples that flow from the three guiding principles for charities.place:
- Take care of yourself: know your limits, take time for yourself, and make your place in the Fediverse comfortable for you.
- Take care of each other: see everyone for who they are and treat them with the same respect you want to be treated.
- Understand the universe: use science to see it as it is and know its limits.
We ask that everyone abide by the server rules. Only you can determine if charities.place is for you. There are many other servers to choose from. The Fediverse has a place for everyone, even if it’s not the same place as someone else.
Signup Process
You can request an account for your organization or for yourself on the signup page. Signups are moderated to prevent spam and bot accounts. We try to review and approve them quickly, often within a few hours during the business day. Requests made outside the business day or on the weekends may take a day or two for review.
When reviewing a request, we consider the email address you used to sign up, the username you are requesting, and information about the organization you represent. Nothing is, in itself, a deal-breaker. Our primary concern is to ensure accounts represent real nonprofits and real people.
When requesting an organizational account, use a username that clearly reflects the organization’s name (e.g., ACME Shelter could be acmeshelter or acme_shelter). You can add a geographic designation to distinguish your organization from another with a similar name. When prompted to provide a reason for joining, include your organization’s name, website, and EIN (if the organization has one and it’s not readily available on the organization’s website) in the account request. Also, use an email address associated with the organization, if possible, even if it’s your email address at the organization.
When requesting an individual account, use a username that won’t be confused with an organization. When prompted to provide a reason for joining, speak to your interests and include information about which organizations you focus your time on, whether volunteering or as an employee. Also, use an email address associated with a nonprofit organization, if possible.
Reaching Your Audience
Unlike corporate social media platforms, the Fediverse does not show your posts to people who aren’t connected to you. Either someone is following your account, or someone who is following your account boosts your posts to their followers. Your posts can’t be discovered on Fediverse instances unless someone is already connected to you. This means you need to do a little more to help people find you.
First, let people know you have a Fediverse account. If you’re an organization, share it on your website and in any emails or other communications with donors, volunteers, and other groups. Anyone with a Fediverse account will likely follow you, so your future posts will be sent to their server and discoverable by other users on that server.
Second, use hashtags in your posts. Even on servers that don’t allow searching post content, users can still search for and subscribe to hashtags. This is a great way to reach people who might not be otherwise connected to you but are on the same server as someone who is.
Third, don’t be afraid to boost your posts to reach different audiences. Some people check posts in the morning; others in the evening. Not everyone is looking at the same time or in the same time zone. The Fediverse doesn’t have an algorithm that gets people to pay attention. It’s a simple timeline presented in the order in which items are posted or boosted. Every time something appears on your timeline, it’s because someone else added it, either by writing a post or boosting a post.
Finally, engage with your followers. This is a community. Not a place for shouting at people, but for conversation.
