Posts Tagged → charity
Entering charity awards – 5 lessons learned
I’ve had the privilege of sitting on various awards judging panels recently, including the Digital Fundraising Awards and the Santander Social Enterprise Development Awards. Third Sector Lab are also sponsoring the Campaigner of the Year category in The Herald Society Awards 2012. My involvement in these and other awards has taught me a few things I’d like to share:
- You have to be in it to win it. Cliched but true. While some categories are incredibly tough with lots of competition you’d be amazed at how few entries come in for some of the more niche categories.
- Avoid sector-speak. Nothing is more of a turn off than reading the seventeenth award application that mentions a “commitment to community development perspectives” or some other form of third sector jargon. Use plain english to tell your story. Remember the people judging your award category won’t always be from the charity sector.
- Always think ‘so what?’. It’s not good enough to simply say what you did, you need to spell out the difference you made to people’s lives. That seems incredibly obvious but lots of awards nominations I’ve seen are entirely about process and mention little, if anything at all, about impact.
- Funders love awards. It’s not that they’re interested in your shiny trinket, funders like third-party ratification of what you do. Your project is much more likely to secure future funding if it has won an award judged by experts in your field. It’s a great big stamp of approval for your work.
- Awards mean publicity. Most awards will have a media partner, if you get shortlisted or, better still, if you win then chances are your charity will get some much-needed exposure online and in print.
So what are you waiting for? Go and hunt out some upcoming awards and enter them. If you’re a Scottish organisation working in the mental health field then why not enter the Principles in to Practice Awards 2012. The winner gets a lovely film made about the work they do!
Social Media Basics Training – Glasgow – 6th Sept 2012
I’m once again running a Social Media Basics training workshop as part of the GCVS Learning & Development programme. With a focus on the third sector this full day course is for those of you new to social media or looking to start using digital tools strategically.
Full course info below. To book a place contact stacey.anderson@gcvs.org.uk or use the GCVS website.
Social media has changed the way people communicate – giving third sector organisations an amazing opportunity to truly engage supporters, reach new audiences, influence key decision makers, build new partnerships and even raise some money in the process.
Our one-day social media basics workshop cuts through all the hype and jargon, giving you hands-on experience in areas including using Twitter & Facebook, blogging, video for the web, podcasts and more. We’ll show you how to develop a simple social media strategy, making it part of your fundraising and communications mix, and how you can measure your success.
You’ll come away from the workshop with everything you need to make social media work for your organisation.
6th Sept 2012 9.30am-4.30pm
GCVS Members £125 Non-members £180
Social Media Basics Workshop – 21st June, Glasgow
There’s still a few places available on our one-day social media basics workshop at GCVS this week. You can book now by emailing Stacey.Anderson@gcvs.org.uk or calling Stacey on 0141 354 6511.
The full-day workshop cuts through all the hype and jargon, giving you hands-on experience in areas including using Twitter & Facebook, blogging, video for the web, social media policies and more. We’ll show you how to develop a simple social media strategy, making it part of your fundraising and communications mix, and how you can measure your success. You’ll come away from the workshop with everything you need to make social media work for your organisation.
Third Sector Forums could be yours
In order to concentrate on my consultancy work with Third Sector Lab and organising Be Good Be Social events I’ve taken the difficult decision to pass on ownership of Third Sector Forums. That new owner could be you.
Third Sector Forums is arguably the most popular charity and social enterprise forum in the UK with 1550 members and over 7600 posts to date. The forum has a Facebook page with 2320 fans and a Twitter account with 3104 followers. The forum has a team of volunteer super-admins who keep it clear of spam and a highly active user base. The forum also performs really well on Google. The forum is built on the vBulletin platform ensuring it is robust and easily updatable. The new owner would get the full website, userbase, domains, social media accounts, etc.
The right person/organisation could really take Third Sector Forums to the next level. Possible people I’m looking to hear from include:
- Third sector umbrella bodies (CVS, social enterprise bodies, etc).
- Social entrepreneurs.
- A co-operative.
- A funding body, foundation, trust or other philanthropic org.
- A consortium of orgs (possibly a tech firm, charity, social enterprise, etc)
- Charities involved in third sector tech.
- Techy types with a passion for social good.
- A third sector publication (magazine, newsletter, news site, blog, etc).
- A business who works closely with the third sector.
- Anyone else who feels they could run Third Sector Forums.
If you’re interested in taking over the forums drop me an email – ross[@]thirdsectorlab.co.uk – or tweet/DM me by Monday 7th May 12pm GMT at the latest. I’m not necessarily looking for money, my main concern is that the forums end up in the right hands.
Should staples and sticky tape be paid for by donations?
When Oxfam and PayPal launched 100% Giving back in January it sparked a huge debate on my blog. Well it’s back this September, PayPal is paying Oxfam’s admin costs on all donations made through PayPal. ’100% on seeds and schoolbooks. 0% on staples and stickytape’ reads the tagline.
Is 100% Giving a good thing or does it skew the public’s views on what are ‘essential’ costs in running a charity?
Social media surgeons needed for 21st Sept #SMWgla
UPDATE: Closing date to submit your name is 12pm 17th Aug 2011.
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@ShelterScotland and Foursquare join forces
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/26318503 w=400&h=225]
Shelter Scotland Foursquare Campaign from Shelter Scotland on Vimeo.
We’ll have Conrad from Shelter Scotland at Be Good Be Social Edinburgh this Nov sharing how they get on and the wider importance of location-based social media for non-profits.
10 Facebook guides & blog posts every non-profit should read
My 10 must-read Facebook resources for non-profits was a pretty popular post but as it’s now a year old I’ve decided to search 10 fresh new links, well people do love a good list…
Five Nonprofits That Have Found Their Facebook Voice
If you are struggling with finding your Facebook voice, Like the five nonprofits listed above by Non-profit Tech 2.0 and learn from their example.
Five simple actions for hitting the ground running with Facebook Page
Facebook pages can be seen as a bit of minefield when you’re new to them. However, there are very simple things you can do to make it much easier for your charity or organisation when setting up a presence. Read @Keanearrow’s post to find out more.
What the Research Says About Increasing Facebook Engagement
Beth Kanter on the ball as usual. Great post based upon actual research findings.
Does a Facebook focus do us any favours?
Do we focus too much on Facebook? Tim Davies explores our obsession with the big blue social network.
Rob Dyson of Whizz-Kidz shares his thoughts on social media metrics.
The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Marketing
Not strictly speaking a non-profit specific post but this is a useful collection of juicy links from Copyblogger which any charity thinking about their Facebook presence will find useful.
How to import email contacts into your nonprofit Facebook Page
The Facebook Non-profit Guy shares a top tip on making the most of your contact list.
This official page is a resource for non-profits and other organizations interested in social good. Some great case studies and best practice in there.
One for the fundraisers, this is a great post from JustGiving.
Interesting #BeGoodBeSocial presentations and workshops from Rob McAllen, Marc Bowker, Sara Thomas and Rob Dyson exploring social media for social good. Topics include grassroots campaigns using Facebook, developing a social media fundraising strategy, using social media to engage staff and communicating in a Big Society.
Got any Facebook non-profit resources you’d like to share? Leave a comment or tweet me @thirdsectorlab
Want to help a Scottish charity and get a £10 Amazon voucher?
We’ll be carrying out some user-experience testing on an arts charity website soon and we need your help. If you’re over 18, can travel to Edinburgh or Glasgow and have 45 mins to spare then we’d love to hear from you. Ideally we’re looking for people who don’t have a web/design background and you don’t need to know anything about the arts. We’ll give you a few simple tasks to complete on the site and we’ll ask you your opinion on elements of the site as we go along. What you think about the website matters to us and by giving up 45 minutes of your time you’ll be helping the charity provide an even better service (we’ll be able to tell you who they are when you get in touch). Oh and did I mention there’s a £10 Amazon voucher in it for those who take part. We’ll set a date/time that suits you – if you’re interested in taking part or simply want to find out more then get in touch: ross[@]thirdsectorlab.co.uk or @ThirdSectorLab or leave a comment below.