Catalyst and Co Blog

Paradigm shifts can be good thing!

Peter Reek — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:37:04 +0000

Have a look at this RSA Animate by Sir. Ken Robinson. It provides a challenge to look at education/learning differently. Perhaps anesthetizing our kids so they can learn in old boring ways is not the best option?

Show and Tell: Fundraising ROI

Peter Reek — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 23:16:11 +0000

Organizations’ budgets are so precious (esp these days) that it’s essential they understand the value you bring as a fundraising professional. Interviews or year-end are the times to provide solid examples of the ROI you personally deliver to an organization. But many of us are unclear about our value. Check out these points to begin prepping.

Establish your impact on the bottomline. Essentially, fundraisers build relationships, organize events and bring in money. You have goals to meet, prospects to contact and campaigns. Selling philanthropy is harder than selling a product that a customer can hold in their hands. You’re expertise is skilled and invaluable to keeping the organization running.

Connect inputs with ouputs. The more resources an organization dedicates to fundraising, the better the results. This is a strong argument for your value as an employee and for your budget. To a point. The more your expenses close the gap with net funds raised, the lower your ROI. So you want to be clear that your expenses and salary are an investment (a smart, strategic one with multiple pay offs).

Show them the money. Break down your responsibilities and the skill sets that follow. Quantify their value with dollars raised. Quantifying is key.

• How many new donors did you attract through an event? Dollars resulting?

• Did you maintain or grow existing donors?

• How much did your grant proposals gain for the organization?

• Are there activities you did that indirectly resulted in funding; ie. community awareness.

• Can you connect other activities to resulting dollars?

o Direct mail outs

o Planned giving campaigns

o Volunteer participation

o Merchant/partner donations or sponsorships

This should just get you started.

SEO – To Be or Not To Be

Peter Reek — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 22:14:11 +0000

It must be amusing for the algorithm gods to watch the world scatter at the slightest tweak they make. Search engine mischief in the name of progress? You might think.

When Google stopped using keyword meta tags in its’ searches, to prevent false search results, the marketing world was dumbfounded. Constant change like this to the factors in search rankings has created confusion over whether web content owners can and should influence search engines at all.

“Google Instant Makes SEO Irrelevant”

This was the brazen pronouncement on the Steve Ruble blog (Sept 8). It got over 190 responses. Google Instant is a new search feature that works as users type the letters of their search phrase. Real time results display instantly before the phrase is even completed. Google is aiming for Instant to become “the core search experience” on Google.com for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and IE 8.

It means communicators will need to revise their SEO strategies yet again. Many despaired at this news. Others responded with zest, seeing the potential for more developed forms of SEO. Maybe what Google really did was kill SEO, as we know it now. Should be interesting to see where this goes, I’ll be keeping my eye out.

Start with the basics

If you’re new to the whole SEO conversation, check out this basic overview from Shervin Communications’ August newsletter. Some good tips and straightforward advice.

Gone Social – 5 Non-Profit Models

Peter Reek — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:49:05 +0000

Now more than ever, non profit organizations can expand awareness ten-fold – through social networking. This isn’t simply an opinion, it’s evident in the sheer number of organizations ‘going social’. But more importantly, a smaller number are demonstrating how selectively tailoring these tools can make online storytelling come alive.

Check out these five Vancouver innovators:

1. Vancouver Aquarium

Come on, you can’t tell me the Otter and Beluga cams didn’t have you at hello. Combining the irresistibility of animal behaviour with education and conservation goals, the Aquarium is engaging all senses via video, trivia, updates/news and photos. Their social media extends physical exhibits and education with virtual ones.

2. Vancouver Opera

We’re told transparency and accountability are the foundations of effective social networking. Check out how Vancouver Opera makes this a reality through voyeuristic backstage tales of set construction, rehearsals and more through blogging, podcasts, videos and the staples – Facebook and Twitter. Kudos on their animation contest garnering over 2000 views. Growing a love for opera now happens well before the first ticket.

3. Rick Hansen Foundation

Disease and injury were once perhaps dry topics. Dynamic use of archived imagery and blogging powerful moments from the 1985 Man in Motion tour are the tip of the iceberg for vitalizing the dream of a cure for Spinal Cord Injury and global accessibility.

4. Arts Club Theatre

It’s not about the hard sell. Arts Club Theatre has found a way to evolve current productions into a variety of video, blog, Twitter and Facebook topics. And when in the history of live theatre have audiences been able to preview a play by video?

5. Preventable.ca

Making death and injury prevention hip and sexy is a tall order. With the Preventable campaign, health organizations have joined forces to extend their reach on social media. Their witty Christmas jingle video captured over 700 views.

Think your organization is doing something we should know about? Email me at: peter@smartsavvy.ca

Me To We – Stories of Change

Peter Reek — Tue, 18 May 2010 06:39:56 +0000

Me to We is a new kind of social enterprise for people who want

to help change the world with their daily choices. Whether it be

ethically-made organic clothing, international volunteer service trips

for young people and families, inspirational speakers for schools,

non-profit and corporate events, or books on the topic of youth

leadership, Me to We has created opportunities to allow for social

change to be fostered on a daily basis.

Me to We donates 50 per cent of its net profits on an annual basis to

Free The Children, while the remaining 50 per cent is reinvested to

grow the social enterprise to ensure future stability. In 2009 alone,

this model translated into over $1 million in donations of cash and

pro bono services.

Me to We is a new kind of social enterprise for people who want to help change the world with their daily choices. Whether it be ethically-made organic clothing, international volunteer service trips for young people and families, inspirational speakers for schools, non-profit and corporate events, or books on the topic of youth leadership, Me to We has created opportunities to allow for social change to be fostered on a daily basis.

Me to We donates 50 per cent of its net profits on an annual basis to Free The Children, while the remaining 50 per cent is reinvested to grow the social enterprise to ensure future stability. In 2009 alone, this model translated into over $1 million in donations of cash and pro bono services.

The following video tells the story of Me To We Founders – Craig and Mark Kielburger. We’ll have more on Me To We , Social Enterprise and Free The Children later this week.

What is to become of this lovely little country…

Peter Reek — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 07:14:48 +0000

The next organization on our list of effective storytellers is Bulembu.

Bulembu is a town in Swaziland, Africa with the heart and vision to redefine and rebuild itself.

In 2001, the mining company that had built and operated Bulembu for more than 60 years, closed its doors and walked away. With no jobs for the people of Bulembu, the town was soon abandoned, even as Swaziland was and continues to be ravaged by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the resulting orphan crisis.

But in 2006, a team of entrepreneurs and social developers saw the potential in Bulembu and the spirit of the Swazi people. Today, Bulembu has a vision to become self-sustaining by 2020, restoring health, education, and commerce to the community while providing care for thousands of orphaned children.

The team at Bulembu have been tremendously effective at keeping the Bulembu story of hope front and center in their donors minds. Through initiatives like the Voices for Bulembu project (featuring the Canadian Tenors) they have shared the stories of restored individuals (2000 Orphans by 2020) and a revitalized town that is pumping life into an entire country.

The following video does a great job of setting the stage for the work to be done in Bulembu.

Homelessness In Vancouver

Sharon Peters — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:51:45 +0000

Something that you can’t escape seeing or hearing about if you live or visit anywhere in Metro Vancouver. Much-debated as the 2010 Olympics came to town. Some days, it seems as though the problem is simply too large to address effectively.

I was introduced to Streetohome Foundation a year ago, when their founding President, Jae Kim, addressed a group of young professionals.

What caught my attention?

Their goals –
To provide permanent stable housing, to prevent the most vulnerable from becoming homeless and to gather a broad base of support for permanent solutions to homelessness.

When you have a few minutes, take a look at Streetohome’s video, where many voices contribute to this conversation of hope, and a solution.

Human Trafficking – A Hard Story That Must be Told

Peter Reek — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:09:55 +0000

I have been a supporter of International Justice Mission for over a year now. There was something about their story that gripped me — and, their work, that inspired me. I have three daughters — the thought of a your girl having to grow up in circumstances like the girls in this video compels me to want to make a difference. I first heard about IJM on this W5 episode on Sexual Tourism. Shortly after that I heard Brian McConaghy, a Forensic Scientist with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for 22 years, share the story of how he participated in the prosecution of a Canadian child predator as a result examining video footage that had been collected by IJM in Cambodia. He partnered with IJM Canada to solve the case.

More about IJM…

International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to ensure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to promote functioning public justice systems.

The following video is one of many produced by IJM that illustrate the terrible injustice of human trafficking. A hard story to watch but one that must be told.

Online Storytelling – don’t miss this photo shoot!

Sharon Peters — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 04:17:07 +0000

I sent an email out to a number of my friends, asking them the question – which NFP organization do you think is telling their story well online?

My photographer friend, Maria Petersen of Frozen Reflections, sent me the info on Help-Portrait: our fourth feature.

Not much would need to be said about who they are, because they do such a great job of telling their story. But, if you’ve not heard of this organization, Help-Portrait, founded by celebrity photographer Jeremy Cowart, “is a world-wide movement of photographers who are using their time, equipment and expertise to give back to those who are less fortunate.”

Take a look at their community section, to see how they connect people, encourage particular groups and events, and share stories of what’s happening around the world.

I think the best place to start, though, if you want to be inspired, learn more, and maybe even pick up your camera and give, is their homepage, where a series of videos draw you into their story. Here is the first one:

Charter For Compassion

Peter Reek — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 01:41:39 +0000

On February 28, 2008 Karen Armstrong won the TED Prize and made a wish: for help creating, launching and propagating a Charter for Compassion. Since that day, thousands of people have contributed to the process so that on November 12, 2009 the Charter was unveiled to the world.

The following video is a narrated version of the Charter for Compassion. It uses a compelling format to call upon people everywhere to join in the movement for a more compassionate society. I think the project is noteworthy and I encourage all to experience the Charter (and sign it).