Browsing by Subject "Non-profit organizations"

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    Developing a Social Media Strategy for a Small Non-Profit Organization: More Conversation, Less Marketing
    (2017-11-17) Lawler, Audra J.; Hook, Sara Anne
    Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR), based in Richmond, Indiana, is a successful microfinance organization that empowers marginalized women in Kenya, India and Sierra Leone. Although established in 1967, RSWR remains a small organization compared with other NGOs and has not had the time or expertise to update its website or to take advantage of the power of social media for outreach and public relations. The first project was to complete a total redesign of RSWR’s website as well as a new branding campaign. This project is to develop and implement a social media strategy that will allow RSWR to better communicate its message to its target audiences, such as donors, volunteers and the public at large. Building on the methodology used for the website redesign project, I interviewed key players and investigated social media best practices, specifically the social media approaches of small firms and non-profit organizations. Among my findings are that an organization should have a written policy and limit the number of people who can publish social media content. A social media strategy must be dynamic and there should be at least one person dedicated to content management. Content must be fresh, sincere and purposeful, never arbitrary or perfunctory and should be consistent with RSWR’s overall branding efforts and public persona. This same methodology for developing a social media strategy could be used by nearly any small entity that has to be very judicious in how it communicates through 21st century technology.
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    Rebuilding from the Ground Up: User-Centered Methodology for Web Design Moves Non-Profit Organization into the 21st Century
    (2016-04-08) Pachhapurkar, Shilpa; Hook, Sara Anne
    Microfinance projects are a proven approach for economic development, but an indicator of future success is that these projects involve a number of community partners, both in the U.S. and on the ground in the locale where the project will take place. As part of a series of microfinance projects in Sierra Leone, a pleasing partnership has developed between the Rotary Club of Indianapolis and Right Sharing of World Resources, which has personnel on the ground in Sierra Leone, one of three countries that it currently focuses on.1-3 Although established in 1967, Right Sharing remains a small organization as compared with other NGOs and has not had the time or expertise to update its website or to take advantage of the power of social media for outreach and public relations. The presenters agreed to develop recommendations for a total redesign of Right Sharing’s website and a social media marketing strategy. After a thorough analysis of Right Sharing’s website, we inspected some 70 NGO websites to identify current trends in layout, design and navigation flow, including the websites of large, well-established international organizations such as Care and smaller organizations with more targeted missions.4-7 Various screenshots of websites we considered to be impactful, that incorporated best practices and usability principles and that seemed to contain a “call to action” to potential donors, volunteers and supporters were grouped into a variety of collages for easy comparison. A preliminary new information architecture was developed to assist users in transitioning from one section of the website to another with more logical categories and a better organization of information under each category. One challenge is to integrate Right Sharing’s substantial material about past projects, including images and audio, while still presenting the freshest and most compelling content about current and future initiatives. 1. Rotary Club of Indianapolis, http://indyrotary.com/071013wp/, (last visited 3/14/2015). 2. Right Sharing of World Resources, http://www.rswr.org/, (last visited 3/14/2015). 3. Care, http://www.care.org/, (last visited 3/14/2015). 4. Alliance for African Assistance, http://www.alliance-for-africa.org/, (last visited 3/14/2015). 5. Manna Foodbank, http://www.mannafoodbank.org/, (last visited 3/14/2015). 6. Ambassadors for Life, http://www.ambassadorsforlife.org/, (last visited 3/14/2015). 7. Not for Sale, https://www.notforsalecampaign.org/, (last visited 3/14/2015).