Philanthropy Friday Behind the Scenes with Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio

This Behind the Scenes Spotlight features non-profit organization Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio. You can read my feature on this ninety-five year charity at Columbus Underground. They also need your help with their wish list. To see items they desperately need visit the In-Kind Connection.

During our interview, Lutheran Social Services shared a special memory about Margot with me. Below is Margot's story of survival.

Margot worked as an office manager when, as a result of downsizing, she was let go. She decided to enter the nursing field, pulled her savings together and earned her State Tested Nursing Assistant certification. She then began working full-time at a skilled nursing facility and eventually paid her debts to a point where it was possible to attend school full-time and work part-time. Shortly before nursing school began, however, Margot was again unemployed. With her money invested in nursing school, she was forced to move into her car. Weary, hungry and desperate, she called a homeless shelter that referred her to Nancy’s Place, Faith Mission’s women’s shelter.

Margot says she is grateful for the shelter, as she is in a safe environment that will support her in her achieving her goals of becoming a nurse and finding permanent housing. Recently, Margot was appointed to the nursing school’s student advisory council, an honor based on her demonstrated leadership abilities and academic achievements. None of this would have been possible, Margot adds, without help from Nancy’s Place.

Lutheran Social Services is using social media to increase awareness about their mission and to engage people outside of their traditional donor demographic. Learn more about LSS through their social media accounts.

Twitter

Facebook

Having a Tiny Chat

Last night I was on a conference call for the Greatest City of All Blog. But this wasn't just your average conference call.

Cheryl Harrison, Jason Blanton, me and Kelly Gingery

Instead we used Tinychat. Tinychat is a free audio video chat room. If you have a web cam and mic you're in! It's easy to set up too. Just create a chat room and invite people to join through a link.

Because of Tinychat all of us on the call could see and hear each other like we were in the room together . . . well, we did look a little like the Brady Bunch in our boxes . . . but it worked great. We did have a technical issue with echoing so we did use Skype to conference for our audio.

This new video conferencing would work great for anyone but especially for non-profits and small businesses who may have offices, clients or vendors in other cities. Think of how much money you could save in travel costs.

Becoming a Speaker

It's amazing the twists, turns and opportunities that come with owning a business. Lately I have been approached to speak at meetings, workshops and conferences for trade association and non-profit organizations.

This fall I have two big engagements lined up. One in September at the Ohio Benefit Bank and a handful in October for Ohio Credit Union League. Both speaking engagements will deal with Using Social Media To Spread Your Message.

Social media can be a free platform to create awareness, connect with individuals and create calls to action. My session will teach how to use social media to spread your message, as well as strengthen your brand. The session will also cover measuring your return on investment and reputation management. By incorporating these elements into your social media plan you can take your organization to the next level.

Today I became a member of Speaker Site where I officially listed myself for future speaking engagements. If you are a small business, non-profit or trade association looking for someone to speak to your staff, members or constituents look no further. Contact me through my Speaker Site Profile or email info@columbusimpressions.com. I'd be happy to work with your organization as you incorporate strategic social media tactics to take you to the next level.

Easton's Milestone Year

This summer Easton celebrates its 10 year milestone as well as its evolution into one of the top retail destinations in the U.S. Since 1999 more than 156 million visitors have shopped till they dropped in addition to enjoying plenty of entertainment along the way.

Throughout the years, Easton has given back millions of dollars to the community through the Easton Community Foundation. Programs like Cornerstone Events, Change for Charity and Community Foundation Scholarships have provided funds to hundreds of non-profit organizations and graduating students.

Change for Charity

Change for Charity selects six different non-profit organizations each year to receive proceeds from Easton's parking meters. This month's 2009 beneficiary is Buckeye Ranch Foundation.

Cornerstone Events

Since Easton began hosting Cornerstone Events over $8.7 million has been raised. The next Cornerstone Event is the New Albany Classic on Sunday, September 27th.

Community Outreach

Since the inception of the community outreach program, 34 students from Northland, Mifflin, Brookhaven and Gahanna Lincoln have been awarded the $2,500 renewable two-year scholarship.

Happy milestone year Easton! Thanks so much for giving back to Columbus!

Creativity and Humor Make A Great Campaign during Cankle Awareness Month

It's Monday morning after a long holiday weekend and I have to admit I'm having a bit of a hard time getting back into the groove.

Reading my RSS feeds, I came across the new Gold's Gym summer campaign, Say No To Cankles. Even though I think I still have sleep in my eyes this caught my attention and really made me laugh. Mixing creativity and humor is definitely one way to get me motivated.

This microsite looks like one of those cheesy magazine ads, injects loads of humor for "Cankle Awareness Month", as well as some serious exercise suggestions. While on the site place a vote for the best legs in Hollywood, and sign-up for seven days of free Canklebusting. There is also a link to join Gold Gym's Facebook page where you can use an application to send someone cankles.

Overall, a very clever campaign to get people's attention to join the gym. These are the kinds of people I'd want to work out with. The only suggestion I would make would be to continue the promotion to the brand's other media channels. Their Facebook page, Golds Gear site and Gold's Gym site do not reflect their "Cankle" promotion but instead their "Know Your Own Strength" promotion. Personally, I would suggest adding some of the cankle pieces to create brand continuity and consistency.

Happy July 4th Holiday Weekend!

Taking a long-weekend to enjoy family, friends and fireworks.

Here's hoping you are doing the same!

Have a wonderful 4th of July holiday!

Give to Charity Just By Clicking

Non-profit organizations use cause marketing and the Internet to drum up attention and funding. Today you can help a number of non-profit organizations just by clicking your mouse, literally.

There are so many great cause marketing campaigns on various websites. I thought I'd list a few so you can start giving by clicking:

• Coppertone - Take the Pledge for National Foundation for Cancer. Your click is worth $1.00
• Kraft - Share a Little Comfort for Feeding America. Your click is worth one box of Mac & Cheese
• Intel - Small Things Challenge for KIVA and Save the Children. Your click is worth 25 cents

Do you know of any simple click on-line cause marketing campaigns? Give me the link in comment section and I'll be sure to add it to the list.

Poppy: Coach Budget Friendly Line

The luxury brand for working, fashion-conscious women has adapted to the economic times. Meet Poppy, the new brand of purses and accessories from Coach priced for today's frugal customer.

Poppy has a youthful feel and is about 20% less than the original coach purse making the average price about $260. Here is a description for Poppy I found on the Internet:

The schoolgirl chic accessory line is handbag heavy using classic shapes with retro pop art colors like bright blueberry, daisy yellow, pale chalk gray, slick spearmint, and black licorice. The Poppy Girl has a little pep in her prep and sass in her class. This is what separates her from the expected Upper East Side boarding schoolgirl. Fresh and affordable (everything is under $400!), Coach’s new line appeals to a youthful audience.

Sure I love Coach and think Poppy is energetic, chic and artsy. But I do have a few issues with it:

1. It is clearly targeted to a younger demo so I'm not sure I'll be rushing out to get one anytime soon.
2. Fresh and affordable? The 20% savings is really not that reasonable for the majority of their younger target audience.
3. My teenage daughter has already strongly hinted how much she loves this new line so the pressure to purchase one for my daughter has already started.
   Perhaps if Coach wanted to make an economic line targeted to teens and 20-year-olds they could have been a little more generous on the pocketbook. I'm just sayin' . What do you think? Am I being to stingy?
   
   
   Coach is using social media for Poppy promotion. You can become their fan on Facebook here.

Non-Profits Why Not Enlist A Social Media Army?

Social media can be a non-profit organizations dream. A relatively new, basically free venue to create awareness, cultivate relationships, and enlist a social media army.

That's right, enlist a social media army. The beauty of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and other social media platforms is that you can spread your message, connect with individuals and create calls to action.

So why not increase your awareness. Instead of voicing your message all alone, why not enlist some of your volunteers who are using social media and ask them to help you create awareness. It could work similar to this old Faberge Shampoo commercial.

This could be a great way to update your speaker's bureau. Using the Internet is a great way to reach a brand new target market.

Before enlisting your army, make sure you select volunteers you know well and have a good relationship with. In order to control the message and keep brand consistency create a daily key message and send to your army. They can then tweet your message, add it to their Facebook page or to any other social media platform they use. Be sure to add your organizations web site in your message to give the recipient a place to find more information.

Now Non-Profits & Small Business Can Create a PSA or Promotional Video

Non-profits and small businesses have extremely small marketing budgets. Because of this a promotional video or public service announcement always seems to fall on the wish list. Not anymore!

Recently I discovered Animoto. The TasteCasting group has been using it for awhile to create promotional videos for restaurants who held a tasting, and at PodCamp a couple weeks ago I attended a session on using Aminoto to create great video to embed into your website.

Animoto turns your images, text and music into really great videos. They offer a free pro accounts to non-profit organizations! You could use video to bring motion and emotion to your cause for outreach, fundraising, and connecting. They also have incredibly low prices that small businesses can even afford. Not only reasonable but easy to use!

As an example, I created a FREE 30 second video from Animoto for columbus imPRessions. Check it out! Happy video production!