Beth's Blog: Nonprofits and Social Media

I'm Taking the Pledge Against Hunger, Won't You?

It's hard times.  As our nation's needs soar, and charitable donations plunge, it is taking its toll on the nonprofit sector.  Foodbanks, soup kitchens, and many other nonprofits that address the hunger issue are being hit by a triple whammy.  Cash and food donations are dropping,  budgets are being cut, and with unemployment rising there is more demand than ever at food banks. 

That's why I'm taking the pledge to end hunger because if we all do a little bit - it can go a long way.   And You can too!

PledgeToEndHunger.com, a website designed to shine a bright light on the very real problem of childhood hunger in America. It is designed to make it easy for people to do something meaningful in the short-term and create a dialogue about solving the root issues.

I'm honored to be serving as co-captain of the Wall of Champions campaign along with Chris Brogan.  Our goal is to encourage individuals, corporations, and non-profit organizations to help promote this website and help us obtain at least 1,000 pledges. 

To become a Champion, all you need to do is:

• Sign the Hunger Pledge
• Write a blog post (if you have one) endorsing the Hunger Pledge 
• Encourage others to join you 

One Click Feeds 140 Kids

To give you some incentive, by simply signing an online pledge to share the website with others, volunteer, and/or give, you will trigger a 35 lb food donation from Tyson of food products to the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. This will provide 140,000 meals for children in Austin. That means every person who joins the movement will help feed 140 children. 

With thousands of social industry folks coming together for South by Southwest 2009 (SXSW ‘09) in Austin, we're hoping to get 1,000 people to take the pledge, so we can make sure the Tyson semi-trailer will arrive in Austin during the SXSW ’09 interactive festival.

How This Can Help Your Community, Too

If we are successful in surpassing 1,000 pledges, Tyson has agreed to send up to two more truckloads of food to the states who generate the most pledges. So by helping us send a semi-trailer truck to Austin, you might be able to get one sent to your home state, too.

This website is a joint effort of Tyson Foods, Share Our Strength, Hum. Minds at Work., Kompolt, and MediaSauce.

I'll Text for Food

Photo by Joi


No, I'm not talking about texting in your take out order.  I'm talking about No Kid Hungry Text Donation and Canned Food Campaign just launched by Share Our Strength.

Hunger is a serious issue in America, especially in these hard times.  Bloggers have helped raised awareness of this important issue.  Amy Sherman, who does the Cooking With Amy blog, participated in the Hunger Challenge along with several Bay Area food bloggers, including The Kitchn, Tablehopper, Alanna Kellogg, Blog Appetit and The Inadvertent Gardener who  documented their experiences of living on $21 a week (a typical Food Stamp allotment).

Tyson Foods has perfected a social media strategy that leverages blog comments for food donations as noted on the Fast Company blog,part of its innovative giving series.  They are currently running a comments for food donation campaign for New York City Food Pantries.

And now, we have a Text for Food, or rather Text Donations for Food Campaign from Share Our Strength.  President-elect Obama pledged to end childhood hunger by 2015 during his presidential campaign. He has also called for a national day of service on January 19, Martin Luther King Day.  In response, Share Our Strength is asking people to send a text donation and hold food drives to help feed those in need. Food pantries and food banks especially need foods rich in protein, such as peanut butter and canned tuna, chicken, and salmon. 

Between now and March 1, subscribers of all major wireless carriers can donate $5 to Share Our Strength by text messaging “SHARE” to 20222. AT&T will match donations up to $100,000. Share Our Strength is the leading national organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America.

So, why not organize a food drive in your neighborhood, organization, or social media meet up? Or write a blog post like Chris Brogan and start retweeting it!

If you're looking for more expert advice on how to plan and implement a mobile phone fundraising campaign, see Mobile Active's Mobile Phones in Fundraising Guide.

The Tyson Truck Arrived Today at the Boston Food Bank

The theme for Social Media Breakfast #11 in Boston in December was "Social Media for Social Good."   To kick off the event,  Bob Collins and I organized a call to action for the group.  Tyson Foods was willing to donate 100 pounds of protein to the Boston Food Bank per comment on its Hunger Relief blog.  (Tyson Foods has perfected a social media strategy that leverages blog comments for food donations as noted on the Fast Company blog.)    Within 90 minutes, we had 300 plus comments - enough for one truckload.   We had the second truckload within 2.5 hours and had over 800 comments.   Thanks to all who helped make this a success and to Tyson Foods for their generosity.   

I got an email from Stacy Wong at the Greater Boston Food Bank along with the above photos showing the second truck delivery this morning.  Stacy reports

Here's the truck parked outside The Greater Boston Food Bank during the delivery, an inside view of the truck and the first pallet of chicken off the truck (with food bank logo). There were several different kinds of chicken delivered. We're not great photographers here at The Food Bank, but I hope the idea gets across that this is a lot of chicken and it's very much appreciated. This is the second truck load (the first arrived last week).

That's a lot of chicken, but the work of addressing hunger never ends.  In January, the Greater Boston Food Bank will be holding a series of events to raise money and food to end hunger in Boston all month long, it's super hunger month.

Social Media Breakfast Leverages Two Truckloads of Tyson Food Donation for Boston Food Bank!

The theme for Social Media Breakfast #11 in Boston this morning was "Social Media for Social Good."  To kick off the event,  Bob Collins and I organized a call to action for the group.  Tyson Foods was willing to donate 100 pounds of protein to the Boston Food Bank per comment on its Hunger Relief blog.  

Social Media Breakfast

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

We announced that at the beginning and asked people to get on Twitter and tell their followers.   

Within 90 minutes, we had 300 plus comments - enough for one truckload.   We had the second truckload within 2.5 hours and had as of this writing over 800 comments.   Thanks to all who helped make this a success and to Tyson Foods for their generosity.

The presenters included:

• Gradon Tripp - social media and design aficionado, and founder of SM4SC
• Frank Days - soccer dad, social media gadfly, and COO of Firstgiving.  (Update:  Slides are here)

Video of Gradon Tripp's Presentation
Key takeaways from presenters:

• Competition between cities has played an important role in spreading the concept
• Need for careful experimentation
• Social media is a component of the marketing/fundraising plan

Got an interesting question about organizational networks and will write up a separate post on that because it is something I've been thinking about.

Social Media Breakfast Boston

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: givelist giving)

I gave a presentation called "Be A Geek Who Gives."   I was going to a presentation that I had done before, but got inspired after listening to Lucy Bernholz on marketplace and seeing the launch of TheGiveList.

We were treated to a wonderful rendition of "Twittering Wonderland" by @repcor @cmajor @tibbon

Here's a quick roundup of blog posts, photos, and tweets:

Diane Scimone - Makin' A List

Just Kate - Social Media Breakfast

Season of Light - Talking Versus Doing

Steve Garfield, Your Comment Generates 100 Pounds of Food

Future Visions: Tyson Foods - Getting By Giving

Social Media Breakfast Boston: Help Leverage A Tyson Foods Gift of Protein for Boston

Social Media Breakfast Boston

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: givelist giving)

Before you read any further, go over to Tyson Foods and comment on this post about hunger in Massachusetts. For every comment, Tyson Foods will donate 100 pounds of protein to the Boston Food Bank.  

It only takes a minute to leave a comment indicating you've read the post and it can do so much.   This comments for food concept was first implemented very successfully by the Austin Social Media Club during August's Hunger Awareness Month HAM Tweetup.  (Read more here).

Bob Collins invited me to speak at the next Boston Social Media Breakfast on Wednesday, December 10th at 8:00 am in Cambridge, MA at the Ryles Jazz Club along with Gradon Tripp and Frank Days.  Thanks to the generous sponsors FirstGiving and MarketWire, the event is free and it comes with a good breakfast spread.

Given the topic and the gloomy news, I thought to myself maybe we can do more than talk about it.  Maybe we can do something.  Realizing that any call to action that makes us look at our wallets might not feel so good, I wondered if there was a way to give something that doesn't require cash?  So as part of the event we're running a Food Drive to support The Greater Boston Food Bank, asking attendees to bring canned goods and non-perishable foods to the event.

The idea has spread to Houston  and Philadelphia and Providence, RI

My slides are posted above, talking about easy ways to give - like the TheGiveList

If you're still reading this, please stop and go over and make a comment at Tyson Foods Blog and thanks so much.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Later today, our family will sit down for a lovely Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings.   But many other people across America won't have that luxury.  According to the Food Research and Action Center, more than 36 million people lived in households in America struggling against hunger in 2007.  Though the numbers aren't in, it must be likely be higher in 2008 as this article by David Cay Johnston in the New York Times points out.

Hunger isn't just a problem in America. In developing countries, nearly 11 million children die every year from preventable and treatable diseases, with 60% of these deaths from hunger and malnutrition.  I thought I'd highlight a few charitable organizations that are working to end hunger and some opportunities for donations. 

So I thought how a couple of bloggers came together to fight hunger.

Blog Action Campaigns where a regroup of bloggers write about a particular issue have been a good way to draw attention to an issue.  The Donors Choose blog action campaign and BlogAction Day have been stellar examples.  But Blog Action Campaigns don't have to be huge international efforts, they can be also smaller focused and extraordinarily effective.

In the video above, Gayle Keck of the San Francisco Food Bank, and Amy Sherman, who does the Cooking With Amy blog, talk about how the Hunger Challenge, blog action campaign, was put together and executed.  A few Bay Area bloggers documented their experiences of living on $21 a week (a typical Food Stamp allotment).

Share Our Strength Day of Service: Painting Murals in the School Cafeteria

I started my Day of Service experience at Friendship Public Charter School at the Southeast Elementary Academy in the school cafeteri where volunteers were hard at work painting two murals.   Both murals illustrate the idea of nutritional eating.   I met both of the artists and did live stream interviews with them.  I also talked to the volunteers about why they were so passionate about the issue of ending childhood hunger.

Latoya Middleton, photographed above, shows off her design while volunteers were busy painting in the design. The mural depicts mother earth who gives life and food next to a healthy selection of fruits and vegetables. Latoya was thrilled to her design come to life before her eyes.

 
Mural Artist Alex Volkonsky

I also met Alex Volkonsky who design depicts whimsical vegetables and fruits as well as a milk cartoon (emphasizing the need to children who need to drink their milk everyday for healthy bones).   I interviewed him about his work on qik.

I met Michael Farver one of the volunteers. Michael is a founding director and President of End Childhood Hunger. He is also a trustee of The Farver Foundation, a charitable foundation supporting hunger relief, child nutrition, education and community development, and helps oversee the distribution of over $400,000.00 in grants to more than fifty charitable organizations in Michigan and South Florida each year.

Michael also uses different social media strategies to get the word out about childhood hunger in America and spoke about why it is important for activists to incorporate a social media strategy.

Below are my flickr photos from the mural projects in the cafeteria.