Welcome to Issue 54 of the Resource Alliance's e-newsletter 'Global Connections'. We hope you enjoy it and find it useful. Please forward it to anyone you feel would like to read it. You and your colleagues can subscribe for free - simply click here to do so.
	The role of digital for international charities Digital media has been touted as the next big thing in fundraising, but what has it delivered and how can we use it to our advantage? Jason Potts explains       Using Giving Circles in diaspora fundraising Increasingly non-profit organizations are seeking the expansion of their donor base by reaching out to diaspora who will support causes in their country of origin or among their own ethnic group in their adopted home country. Laura Zylstra explains how Giving Circles can help reach these groups. News from the Resource Alliance Do you have the best fundraising video in the world? Enter the Gold Star awards now! Resource Alliance and European Fundraising Association offer bursaries to 29th IFC Retro fundraising at the IFC Migrate to the International Fundraising Congress Gill Astarita Fund reaches out to more fundraisers in India and Africa News from around the world  Charity:Water repeats September birthday appeal - throughout the year What did Obama for America do so right? New report analyses the campaign Economy no worse for some charities, says report, but others still suffering from downturn	Stephen Fry tweet increases Adopt-A-Word hits by 1000% Can’t use Twitter for fundraising? Don’t think it works? Think again. A ‘tweet’ by Stephen Fry about the children’s charity I Can’s Adopt A Word campaign saw an extra £7,000 donated in a few days and traffic to the site increase by around 1,000%. Fry adopted the word ‘wordy’ and tweeted the fact to his thousands of followers – many of whom immediately scrabbled around to find a word of their own to adopt. SOFII is featuring this phenomenon because it shows just how new forms of communications can make a big difference to a fundraising campaign – and not just in the way you think they might. Read more at SOFII    Upcoming Activities Certificate course in Resource Mobilisation and Communications Achimota, Ghana 7 September-2 October 2009 Fundraising & Communications Course Russia 14 September-1 October 29th International Fundraising Congress Noordwijk, Netherlands 20-23 October 2009