Interesting study by University of Massachusetts researchers Nora Barnes, Ph.D. and Eric Mattson (reported in Read/WriteWeb) that US Charities use Social Media more creatively, and more, than large corporations.  I believe it - in fact, I'm often surprised at how sluggish, slow and conservative big corporations are in adopting new media (perhaps they fear they have more to lose, or maybe, it's the sheer size of their infrastructure and matrix like approval process that lets most good ideas die a slow, agonizing death).   Whatever, it's clear that innovation is much harder when your worried about your stock price - which non-profits and charities aren't.

In other words, it's easier to innovate when you have nothing much to lose - by innovating.  Here's more info from preliminary results of a survey of the largest US charities:

 

The study focused exclusively on big players, the Fortune 500 and the Forbes 200 top charities. Small businesses and nonprofits are another matter all together. When big organizations with strong brands adopt a technology in a visible way, though, it can't help but lend that tool-set some credibility.