kyla usa trip april 2010
TRANSCRIPT
Kyla’s trip to the USA
When I arrived in San Francisco it was raining
I visited Eden Information &Referral
in HaywardThe organisation operates a 211 service
What is 211?
2-1-1 is an easy to remember telephone number that connects people with important community services and volunteer opportunities. In 2009, 2-1-1 services in the United States answered more than 16.2 million calls.
Every hour of every day, hundreds of people need essential human services - they are looking for training, employment, food pantries, help for an aging parent, addiction prevention programs for their teenage children, affordable housing options, support groups and ways of becoming part of their community. 2-1-1 allows people to give help and to get help.
Meet Barbara – the Director of Eden I & R
There was a squirrel at Eden I & R!
Eden Information & Referral
• Has been operating for over 30 years• Has an innovative Executive Director• Produces ‘The Big Blue Book’ a directory of
human services for the Alameda County
is this sounding familiar.....
Eden Information & Referral
• Call centre operates 24/7
• The organisation has 2 main databases– Social services– HousingBoth are ‘Filemaker Pro’ and maintained by anin-house tech guy
Eden Information & Referral
• To supplement funding Eden I & R also does lots of vetting type services
• Managing all the different contracts is an administrative nightmare, but the income is essential for organisational sustainability
Eden Information & Referral
• Operate after hours phone service for local council
• Conduct initial phone screening to determine eligibility for programs such as food stamps & tax help
• Provide phone service for ‘Bank of Oakland’ program
• Provide client lists for charity programs like ‘toys for tots’
www.edenir.org
The Hayward Public Library was nearby so I called in and said hi!
At TechSoup I met with many members of the global team and gained an overview of how the
customer service team works – it is very different to the operations at DonorTec. I also
found about TechSoup for Libraries.
• More ‘call centre’ style• No ability for customer to leave phone
message – placed on hold with recording of tips about TechSoup Program
• Team members tasks very structured
• Great posters “I’m a Nonprofit”
• Met with Sarah Washburn, Library Program Manager• Program started several years ago with a grant from the
Gates Foundation• Very keen to add Australia to the program• Could be an expansion of TS for Libraries site, or we
could run our own site• Sarah has developed relationships with many librarians
in the US• Site has resources, library spotlights, webinars and
monthly newsletter
Alcatraz
I took a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge
and undertook some more Community Information research
After my walk I headed off to Atlanta
#10ntc
• I joined a breakfast discussion “Social Media – personal & professional”– Participants expressed fear at ideas expressed via
social media haunting them in the future– Discomfort at expressing political views online– Blog posts used in court case
The trouble with Slacktivisim• "the act of participating in obviously pointless activities as
an expedient alternative to actually expending effort to fix a problem.“
• Examples of cause-oriented slacktivism are numerous, from turning your Twitter profile photos green in solidarity with Iranian protesters to short-term boycotts such as the recent Earth Hour
• Mixed emotions about “slacktivism”• Wendy Harman from US Red Cross spoke about how her
attitude to social media and “slacktivism” transformed as she watched the Haiti response unfold
What a bunch of ‘Slackers’
The Networked Nonprofit: Using Social Media to Power Social Networks for Change
• The book is coming soon!• Networked Nonprofits are defined not by
websites and software, but by the “networked” culture that they fully embrace
Seven Critical Qualities Of A Networked Nonprofit
1. Transparent2. Value networks3. Comfort with tools4. Networked ecosystem5. Courageous6. Trusting7. Athletic
That's Not Funny: Using Humour in Online Communications
• I don’t get American humour! • Presenter thought about writing a book titled
“Nonprofit Humour” and someone asked him – ‘is that a pamphlet?’
• Rules – Be nice – Be topical– Give humour a go
Don’t be mean!
The Real Housewives of Social Media
The Real Housewives of Social Media• Social media needs to be part of your
organisations communications strategy• Collaborate with others in your sector• Tools – monitor (REALLY important), be bold, add
video, analyse (there are tools 4 this)• Measurement – important to pick the right
outcome to measure• Identify influencers and get them first• Reflect – if something didn’t work give it a Joyful
funeral – then move on!
Tools
• What the hashtag – to promote #nptechau• Twitalyzer – serious analytics for social media• Viralheat – more analytics• Tweetbeep – find out what people are saying
about us on twitter
And there are many more tools
Games For Change
• Asi Burak from gamesforchange.org gave a fantastic keynote about using gaming to spread awareness of social/political issues
• Checkout the website – all kinds of games for kids and adults
• The game ‘Peacemaker’, all about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was demonstrated. You can view a game preview at www.peacemakergame.com
After all that I was ready to relax at World of Coca Cola
I also called in to the Atlanta Public Library Service
And took a stroll around the neighbourhood
Anyone need their shoes cleaned?
Before returning home I toured the headquarters of CNN