Emerge Helps Abused Girls One Bead at a Time

I really like to give credit where credit is due, so from time to time, I'll spotlight companies, nonprofits in particular, who I believe are changing the world and impacting lives. Emerge just happens to be one of those companies.

The Emerge Story


What girl doesn’t love beads, bangles and things that sparkle? I had not heard of Emerge until today when I visitied Boston University’s Web site (checking out the school for my soon-to-graduate from high school 17 yr. old daughter). Seems as though MIT grad Alia Whitney-Johnson got a revelation when she traveled to Sri Lanka as a tsunami-relief volunteer, sponsored by a fellowship from the MIT Public Service Center. With her eyes wide open, she discovered a startling reality: Young girls, as young as 11 years old were pregnant due to rape and incest. Disowned by theif families and denied the right to formal education, these girls were imprisioned for theif own protection.

Whitney-Johnson, a die hard beader from a young age, had an idea. She started Emerge, which according to the Web site, “allows young Sri Lankan women who have survived sexual abuse, marginalizing disabilities, or long-term institutionalization to develop and celebrate their sense of inner-beauty and self-worth, build a community of acceptance, and lay a financial foundation for the future through creating and selling their own unique jewelry.

Emerge provides each woman with her own box of beads and tools to take care of, pictorial guides for creating jewelry, and a goals notebook in which she sets and assesses her own goals every two weeks. Through this notebook she develops ownership of her own ideas. She also keeps a record of her work through a personal portfolio that tracks the beauty of her accomplishments, and the development of her artistry.”

How cool is that! Support Emerge.

Find Just the Right Word for Your Site

Want to ensure that your Web content gets noticed by search engines? Fiind just the right word by using this free, cool tool: Wordtracker at http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

You can run a quick check on words that might draw users to you and higher your visibility. Check it out, and take some of the mystery out of SEO -- search engine optimization.

Yoohoo, Don't Forget About YouTube

I hope you found my previous post on how to harness the power of social media helpful. I'd love to think that you went immediately to Blogger.com, TypePad.com, or Vox.com, and set up your own blog as soon as you could, but I understand that all this Web 2.0 stuff can be extremely overwhelming, so one step at a time.

You may not have posted a lot about your organization on the Web yet, but believe you me, I can almost guarantee, folks are already talking about you. I mentioned Technorati.com in a previous post, but did you know you can use it and similar sites like blogdigger.com (which has a cool list of local bloggers), icerocket.com to see what bloggers are saying about you? Good news travels fast.

Short Case Study: Another cool way to harness the power of bloggers and to engage your supporters, is to do what one nonprofit did. The San Francisco Symphony hosted "Citizen Journalist Night." What in the world is that? Basically, they invited bloggers to hear and enjoy the symphony. Twenty bloggers agreed to come and bring a guest which ended up being 40 people. For many, it was their first time at Symphony Hall and they received all the perks that traditional journalists covering an event get.

So what did the Symphony want in return for the two free tickets they dished out? They wanted each blogger to blog about their experience. Whoa! You might say. What if the bloggers simply hated the performance? Well, therein is the key. If you start developing relationships with the community through social media, you have to be willing to be TRANSPARENT. If not, you'll lose respect in the blogosphere. We don't look kindly on phonies out here.

Be true. Be transparent. Be authentic.

How did this pan out for the San Francisco orchestra? Very well. They were able to broaden their network by reaching people in the bloggers sphere of influence without spending a ton on an advertising campaign that would have been ignored anyway.
Here are a few more ways to make your socially responsible organization everything you dreamt it would be.

• Engage your supporters and donors on YouTube. If a picture says a thousand words, then getting your message out on YouTube (the largest worldwide video-sharing community and 8th most popular site on the Internet), will say more than a million things about you and what you do.
  
  Hey, it's free and I'm sure you already have video footage of your last fundraising event, speaking engagement, or donor reception. Go ahead, sign up and post away.
  


• Rock the vote. Get more foot traffic to your site with Digg It! On Digg.com, people vote on Web sites and news that they think are popular and worth visiting. Why not add your organizations Web site. It's free. Did I say that it was free?

Let me know what you tried, and what worked for you. I can't wait to hear your success stories.

Harness the Power of Social Media

There's a whole lot of buzz in the blogosphere and elsewhere about Web 2.0 and the power of social media, but how in the world do nonprofits take advantage of these emerging technologies without breaking the bank?
photo: Fred Cavazza's photos on Flickr.com

The first step is to slow down and enjoy the waves for a while. Don't feel as if you have to know all there is to know about blogs, wikis, rss, podcasting, IM (instant messaging) and de.licio.us by tomorrow. Tread lightly into the water (one big toe at a time) and see what works best for your organization. And remember, be strategic. Craft a plan that's tailored to YOUR needs not somone elses -- or as the new generation says, "Just Do You!"

All the wonderful nonprofit folks who joined me recently for a lively discussion at the Foundation Center in Atlanta, Ga., learned that small baby steps into the world of social media are okay. In fact, we actually created this blog within about 10 minutes during our training session -- how awesome is that! I did my best to not make it a 'duh!' presentation, but give me a shout here on the blog if I made your head swim. I really enjoyed you guys!
Photo from Kelsey Ruger's photos on Flickr.com

Here are few suggestions to get even the smallest of nonprofits off to a great start:

1. Familiarize yourself with the social media landscape and do a search to see how your nonprofit peers are using social media to further their cause and do more good in the world.

If a simple Google search doesn't yield the results you want, try one of the many blog search engines or blog directories out there. Of course Technorati is probably one of the most popular. They track more than 112.8 million blogs!

2. Next, since we already know that FaceBook and MySpace are not just for kids or musicians, try your hand at setting up a simple profile and slowly add information about your organization (include events, success stories, ways to help, video clips, pictures and more). If you have a Web site, be sure to add a link on your main site to your FaceBook and/or MySpace page and vice versa.

3. Look and learn: The Arthritis Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Human Society are just a few nonprofits who have ventured into this space because they are serious about connecting people who care about their purpose with one another.

Linkedin, a network site for professionals, is also a great way to stay engaged. Their tagline couldn't be more true in the nonprofit world: "Relationships Matter." So whatever you do, don't get left behind. Build your networks now -- establishing a few relationships today, can pay off a lot tomorrow.

4. Have you always wanted to have your say on the radio, but just didn't know how to do it? Well podcasts have come to the rescue. These simple yet snazzy audio programs that you can create in the privacy of your own home, can help you spread your message like wild fire and help establish you as an expert.

I stumbled upon some very informative podcasts for nonprofit organizations that I think you'll really like on squidoo.com. So go ahead and achieve two goals with one effort -- learn about podcasting and how to create and run a nonprofit that rocks at the same time.

While you're at it, check out the Engaging Brand podcast headed up by Anna Farmery, the social media guru. Her tips on podcasting are great and easy to follow too.

Well this post is becoming way longer than I wanted. I will share more later. I cracked up when a woman at the Foundation Center presentation told me to put everything I said during the presentation, and everything I was THINKING, on this blog. Whew! That's a tall order. Wonderfish do A LOT of thinking.

So until later, 'put a little wonder back in your business' by adding a splash of social media here and there.

Angela
Chief Wonder Officer, Wonderfish Creative Solutions, LLC.

Add Some Passion to Your Marketing Efforts

Do you remember Tina Turner's classic, "What's Love Got to do With it?" Well, for nonprofit marketers, love means a whole lot and passion means even more. Once you have identified your target market and your potential donors, try to do more than just tell them what you do, but emotionally engage them if you really want to build longlasting relationships.

On the "Do You Stand for Something" blog, there's an interesting post titled, "Top 10 Nonprofit Cause Strategies." Because I'm driven by passion (for life, for family, for work, for a good cause), I immediately gravitated to the forth bullet point: "Passion Marketing." The reference to the 2005 study "Importance of Brands in Consumer Involvement with Nonprofits," states that that 75% of donors give because they have a "a personal belief in the goals of the organization."

That says a lot, and I know it to be true. After losing a love one to cancer, I'm a sucker for cancer survivor stories, and I passionately support the goals of many of the organzations searching for a cure. Check out how one organization created an engaging series of stories.

What are the goals or your organization? How will you communicate those goals to your donors and potential sponsors? More importantly, how will you make an emotional connection with them and maintain that level of engagement throughout your relationship?

Get on the Bandwagon or Get Out the Way: Find Out Which Nonprofit Leaders Blog

If you haven't already taken a stroll over to the Network for Good Web site, you should make it a priority this week. Network for Good is an organization that helps nonprofits reach their fundraising goals easily and cost effectively.

Check out their list of nonprofit leaders who blog . I think it will be worth your while -- especially if you're on the fence about whether to start blogging or not.

A Must Read Book for Nonprofits

There are so many great marketing books out there, but here is one I really think will give you a lot of bang for your buck. Every nonprofit should take a look at "Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes" by Katya Andreeson.

One customer review on Amazon.com had this to say about 'Robin Hood:' ...It helps you focus on creating clear, concise messages that will compel your donors to give, your volunteers to get involved, and your champions to go to bat for you. The book guides you step-by-step through the messages development process, how to make a compelling case for your organization; and encourages you not to worry about whether your constituents understand all the various nuances of wht you need to do, but insted to sell the soul of the cause.

Check it out for yourself on Amazon.com