The Humane Society is doing a great job at Sociel Media!

I found a great slide show that list 50 great tactics for Non profits using social media. I quickly started to realized as I read through the slides that the Humane Society does a great job doing a lot of the tactics that this slide show really show are important. these tactics are important to reaching your audience, getting your audiences attention, keeping their attention, and inspiring them to become actively involved in participating your online community and your organization. The internet is a form of entertainment so it’s important to remember that you have to visual please your audience. The slide show talks about creating a creative background that represents what your organization stands for. Pictures that create emotions in people are always great to use. The Humane Society’s Twitter page has a background of pictures of many different animals. The animals are in their natural habitats and very cute. The close up shots remind people of how much they care about animals as they look across the pictures. It instantly shows what the Humane Society is all about. The slide show also talked about the benefit of jumping on discussing and sharing information on topics related to your organizations interest. This is a great way to get new people involved. Re-tweeting and sharing information on Twitter from news stories or news from other organizations is a great way to connect to their audience and spread the mission of both organizations to more people. Sharing information thats concerning your goals and values is another way to brand your organization letting the audience know what you stand for and care about. The Humane Society does a good job of this also on their Twitter page. They recently re-tweeted a article that was wrote about a law concerning banning Pit Bulls. The rights of Pit Bulls to be given a chance to live and find good homes is a true concern of what the Humane Society stands for. Twitter gives them a way to spread the word and gain people’s support on protecting animals. Another tactic mentioned is to ask people to participate in things like sending in their own videos and photos. We all think or know people who think that they’re pets are the cutest. People love getting involved by sharing pictures of their pet with the Humane Society. They often ask people to upload pictures to their Facebook page that they then share on Twitter. They also do a great job of engaging people on discussion related to their interests. They ask people for their opinions and create a discussion about things that concern animals. getting people actively engaged in discussion was another tactic mention in the slide show. of course using Youtube is another tactic recommended for Non profits. The Humane Society does a excellent job of doing this also! They have commercials on youtube that are also seen on TV that reach out to people. Communicating back with your audience is very important. They are often found on twitter responding back to people’s questions and comments. This creates a sense of community around their online presence so that it can be a place where people come and get inspired to become involved in your cause. Check out their Twitter page. https://twitter.com/#!/HumaneSociety Also, look at the slide show it has tons of good information. http://www.slideshare.net/chadnorman/50-social-media-tactics-to-help-nonprofits-meet-their-mission

St. Jude Children's Hospital

St. Jude Children Research Hospital is a amazing example of a great Non-profit organization. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s website states their mission as “to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Consistent with the vision of our founder Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family's ability to pay.” Since no child is ever turned away St. jude’s private donations and fundraising is very important to the success of their research and treatment to help children battling illnesses. Also on their website is the vision for St. Jude to be leader in research and education on preventing and improving the quality of life in children. They want to be the leader in providing care to children all over the world. St. Jude is great at reaching out to people through the media. The first video shows young children battling with terrible illnesses. It is very sad and really gives you a first hand look at how heartbreaking and scary of a situation having to face such a battle is. St. Jude lets viewers know that the children who come to St. Jude are given hope and the best of care thanks to their donations. This lets you know that you personally can help make a difference in a child’s life by giving them a strong chance at facing their battle with the best care and medical attention. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUfqaD6SLHg The next video is also a great video. This video has a strong little girl fighting cancer along side NFL player Reggie Bush. Not only is the video cute but the ending reminds you to be thankful for your healthy children and give to children who are not. This calls out to people that may not know what children faced with illnesses go through because they have a family of their own that they are busy with. This reminds you to be thankful for your family and remember those who need your help. The commercial also reminds you that you can even help donate to St. Jude by shopping at places where you see the St. Jude logo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyMSLPMpn_k St. Jude is also on Twitter! Their Twitter page does a great job at thanking people for contributing to St. Jude. I did think that one thing they could do more of was having more links to articles, commercials, children’s stories, and ways to get involved. Social media is a great way organizations can really show their personality and what they stand for. It’s also another way to develop a community active in donating and getting involved in your organization.

Volunteering at The St. Patrick's Center

My humanities and western culture class this semester is requiring us to do 18 hours of service work at any organization of our choosing. I decided to volunteer at the St. Patrick’s center located downtown here in St. Louis. St. Patrick’s Center is a organization that provides assistance to homeless people or people in risk of being homeless. Their central location downtown makes them one of the main places where the hungry and homeless can find help.
Their website states their mission as, “St. Patrick Center provides opportunities for self-sufficiency and dignity to people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Individuals and families build permanent, positive change in their lives through safe and affordable housing, sound mental and physical health, and employment and financial stability (SPC.com2012).
This is exactly what they do. They’re not only a place where someone can find shelter but they also offer employment opportunities and training programs to help someone become ready to enter the work force. They offer programs to council people on any mental or spiritual health needs including substance abuse. In 2011 alone they helped council 3,193 people for mental illness or substance abuse (SPC.com2012). The St. Patrick’s center has multiple programs assisting in mental health including: Assertive Community Treatment, Casserole Program, city Seeds Urban Farm, Mobile Outreach, Shamrock Club Day Treatment Program, Shamrock Club Intensive Case Management, Shamrock Club Women’s night Program.

There are many different opportunities for someone to volunteer and get involved. You are not limited to only doing certain tasks when you volunteer your time. There are many different opportunities depending upon what skills you have and would like to do. There is also always someone there answering phones in a friendly manner willing to speak with you and answer any questions that you have. They will also direct you to certain areas or events they could really use help with. Their broad range of programs assisting people make it possible for anyone and everyone to be able to help in some way.

I’ve decided to volunteer within the Casserole Program. We help provide the meals that SPC and their programs will use to feed everyone everyday that needs assistance. Its very fulfilling knowing that you are helping someone in need. It may seem trivial but if you weren’t there doing it then less meals would get done, so you truly are making a difference. We shouldn’t limit the help we do for others just because we feel it is not enough.

My friend told me that she saw a homeless person on the corner the other day but she had no change to give him. She searched all around her car and had nothing but her water bottle she just bought. She told me she felt like it was nothing but decided to give it to him anyway. Then the women behind her rolled down her window and gave the man a apple. The moral of the story is I bet the woman behind her wouldn’t of gave the man her apple if my friend hadn’t just gave him a water bottle. Let’s create positive chain reactions. What we can do by ourselves is small but added together it makes a difference.

Here is a video on The St. Patrick’s Center Mental Health Programs


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_frn_m3mFy8

Effectively using the internet for not-for-profit organizations

It’s very important in any not-for-profit organization to make sure you are effectively using communication to achieve your mission. So many things go into making a organization successful at reaching it’s target audience and successfully compelling that same audience to become involved. A few months back I was interested in volunteering in the St. Louis, Missouri area so I went to google and began looking up ways for me to get involved. I quickly became frustrated at the lack of online presence from most not-for-profit organizations. It’s important for organizations to remember that people don’t want to spend a lot of time just trying to find out basic information about what they can do to help. Once I began to call some of the organizations asking about donating items like coats, blankets, clothes, and other items people need I was told that they weren’t accepting donations of any items at this time. Most of these places were shelters where people are able to stay when they are going through a hard time, domestic violence, or are homeless. I was shocked that the people answering the phones were so quick to say no to help from donated items. Then when I asked about volunteer options I was told to go online and read the volunteer options on their website about upcoming events.

I quickly felt defeated and like I couldn’t help or that my help wouldn’t matter or maybe wasn’t even needed. I know that none of that is true but the organizations communication wasn’t effective at helping me become involved in their mission.

I understand that non for profit organizations have limited people working with them in offices and this may lead to workers not wanting to spend time on the phone discussing the organization because their time is limited and there is a lot to get done. It’s important though for not-for-profit organizations to remember that communication is their biggest tool in motivating people to become active in their organization.

As volunteers, we also have limited time available to give to a organization. We want to feel first that our time is greatly needed. Turning away help of any kind is discouraging to someone who may not have the money to donate but has the time or may not have the time but who has items someone else could use.

Organizations then must remember that today the internet is a huge place where people get their information. Often times a caller may have already looked up the organization before they make the phone call to find out more information. Effective use of website and social media presence is a great way to advertise and promote things happening within the organization. A way to be effective on the internet is to remember people want their information fast and easy. Organizations should make sure the mission is clear along with areas and events volunteers are needed for. Social Media can then be used to excite and encourage community involvement.

Big Brother's Big Sisters

Have you ever wanted to help change a child's life? Big Brother's Big Sisters here in St. Louis is a great way for you to get involved. You can personally help better a child's life just by spending some quality time with them. You can become a great friend and a positive influence on a child who needs you today
Check them out for yourself http://www.bbbsemo.org/volunteer