Philly SMC: Getting Social with Non-Profits
Posted on | September 2, 2009 | No Comments
Last week’s August Philly Social Media Club meeting was an informative mix of discussion and application. For the first half of the evening, attendees learned more about how three non-profit groups are using social media cultivate and motivate their prospective and existing constituencies. The second half was a workshop designed to help another local non-profit jump start their social media effort.
Held at Temple University’s Center City campus, three organizations were introduced to start the first half of the evening: Blame Drew’s Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and the upcoming Philadelphia Twestival. I’m not going to get into the background of each organization (I leave that to you), except to say that all three are cause-based; the Twestival revolves around semiannual charity events.
Without regurgitating details, I’ll focus on the one big takeaway universally expressed by the panelists:
Social Media is an effective tool to strengthen and build communities around non-profits.
With that said, I think that most panelists and attendees would agree that every organization is different and that must be taken into consideration before jumping into any social media plan. Furthermore, even though Twitter-philia (= Twitter Love) was evident in the room, there are many different tools that can be employed to match the needs of non-profits different needs.
The second half of the meeting consisted of a workshop designed to help Northern Homes For Children jumpstart their social media effort. As the oldest orphanage in the United States, Northern Home provides support and services to over 3000 families; they have very limited resources and the goal of the workshop was to crowd-source effective tactics used by others to get a quick start. In fact, SMC’s Annie Heckenberger had already crafted a Twitter campaign for Northern Home: “100 Uniforms in 100 Hours” to mobilize the non-profit’s existing community, promote Northern Home’s story and offer some relief to what is a common problem for client-families at this time of the year.
With the 100 Uniforms in 100 Hours Twitter campaign set to jump off the following day, most comments tended to focus on Twitter; attendees were excited to contribute their experiences. There was quite a bit of discussion, but here are just a few main points.
- Don’t Start if You Cannot Make a Long-term Commitment
- Define & Set Goals
- Tell a Compelling Story
- Put a Human Face on the Problem – Client Stories
- Leverage Volunteers for Help
Everyone offered sound advice, however I’m sure that by the end, the Northern Home staff were feeling a bit overwhelmed. Regardless, the 100 Uniforms in 100 Hours campaign was successful! The organization now has 126 Twitter followers and achieved their goal of 100 uniforms in 100 hours. Good Job!
Bill Rowland
Tags: Blame Drew's Cancer > non-profit > northern home for children > Pancreatic Cancer Action Network > Philadelphia Twestival > social media club
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