An interview with Will Davis on Social Capital and Digital Inclusion I have looked at and read many accounts of the UK online learning centres. In Britain, they are so far ahead of Canada in terms of understanding the importance of digital literacy for everyone, especially those that are disenfranchised, without family supports, the unemployed or those experiencing poverty and homelessness (or at risk of). We can learn from their experience.
In 2010 I will be hosting workshops for organizations that are re-tooling or aligning their online communication strategy to enhance responsiveness, trust and relevance to their stakeholders.
My goal is to initiate a bottoms up, learning and discovery process that will help organizations identify their best starting points for establishing their online communication strategy.
I believe that non profit organizations can increase their resilience, capacity and sustainability in the face of rapid change and ever decreasing resources by utilizing well thought out online strategies.
It’s a simple fact that consumers and supporters expect more from organizations via online tools and online access to resources. Non profits need to go where their constituents are and that is increasingly online.
My starting point is that caring relationships, opportunities for meaningful participation and genuine communication with supporters, consumers and donors fuels an organization’s resilience. These dimensions need to be examined internally by key staff and then the findings can be organized into an online strategy that is delivered through the organization’s web site.
In the workshop, staff will be engaged in a discussion and a shared learning process in which an online strategy can begin to take shape. This bottoms up approach taps into the organizations creativity and wisdom. Once the online strategy is in place and the most appropriate social media tools are implemented the organization begins a process of listening, learning and adapting to the new culture and environment they are inhabiting.
My colleague Mark living in Edmonton Alberta (Mark Holmgren Consulting) forwarded me this press release from the Calgary Chamber of Volunteer Organizations (CCVOV). My sense is that the findings are very in line with what non profit groups are experiencing in York Region and across the GTA. I think the non profit community, funders and donors will gain insight and possible strategies after a full read of the Report, its findings and recommendations.
MEDIA RELEASE
Stretched to the Limit: An Economic Impact Survey With little relief in sight, nonprofits and charities are bracing for the worst
CALGARY, AB – November 30, 2009– Results of an economic impact survey conducted by the Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations (CCVO) in October indicate Alberta’s nonprofit organizations and charities have been adapting to the recession, but they are stretched to the limit with little capacity to adjust to increased demand or reduced funding.
Despite predictions that economic conditions will improve in 2010, the real financial impact of the recession is expected to hit the voluntary sector next year. Although organizations reported reductions in 2009, the major impact of government cuts and decreased revenues is expected to hit in 2010.
Many organizations reported reducing costs and said they were operating as lean as possible, trying to preserve programs and services. More than 30 per cent of those surveyed, however, had to make cuts in services. If economic predictions are correct and 2010 presents the greatest challenges nonprofits and charities have faced in this recession, even more programs and services will be on the chopping block.
The York Region TAMI Coalition hosted the 3rd Annual Stomp out Stigma Summit last week in Aurora. The Town of Aurora gave up their Council Chambers and meeting rooms to allow over 100 students and teachers to participate in this day long workshop about reducing stigma in our schools.
Over the past 3 years we met regularly to plan our respective projects and support each other. Now that I’m operating independently as a private consultant, I am continuing to contribute my expertise and experience towards this very important cause.
Jesse Bigelow was one of 3 keynote speakers at the TAMI Conference. He shares his story and experiences of living with schizophrenia and his road of recovery. Jesse is a Peer Support Worker with the HOPE Program, Canadian Mental Health Association.
Jesse shares a personal and powerful story with the students and teachers participating in the conference. This is the first of 3 videos featuring Jesse. The first 2 videos are his story and in the last video he answers questions from the audience.
Read on for a list of participating organizations and a background document on the York Region TAMI Coalition. I will be posting a video of one of the young people who was a key note speaker at the Conference. Jesse is a young man who shares his story of living with schizophrenia and his road of recovery.
Howard Rheingold is a famous man. His CV is long and deep. Those that are interested can see his many accomplishments at his About page on his web site. Trust, me has quite a story to tell.
Howard’s interview with J.D. Lasika (Socialmedia.biz) at Kings College, London England really got my attention because I’m interested in helping groups and people bridge the digital divide. Specifically, this interview helped me understand how I can better assist non profits, communities or individuals engage in developing their skills and personal learning via the social web.
I’m involved with several local education focused committees that are interested in addressing students learning needs by utilizing online technologies and social web tools. With so many students leaving school before graduation, creating more opportunities for youth to apply their creativity online and become more engaged in civic life via the social web just makes sense.
I think this interview is especially insightful for educators who are looking ahead and seeing the need to shape the school system around 21st century media skills. Here’s a quote from Howard’s interview.
“Increasingly I think the digital divide is less about access to technology and more about the difference between those who know how and those who don’t know how. The ability to know has suddenly become the ability to search and the ability to sift and discern.”
A fabulous dinner is best prepared by merging each dish so that everything is ready to eat at the right time. This takes some planning and ingenuity along with a confidence in your abilities to create an outstanding feast that everyone will like and talk about for a long time.
Preparing a feast is a great metaphor for building a dynamic web site and integrating a client’s social media strategy into the site building process. My partner Alain (from iAutomate) and I have prepared for our roles as head chefs by accumulating collectively over 40 years of experience in the IT and social benefit sector. Our business focuses on supporting non profits in using collaborative web platforms and online communication strategies to engage their audiences.
We clearly heard from our client that a combination of solid informative content, membership opportunities plus collaboration options were needed for this web site. All of us, client team, my partner and I put the broad brush strokes to a plan that would achieve these outcomes. Essentially we were aiming to marry the web site architecture with the social media strategy and mix in the right content to present to the public for viewing and participation.
In the first part of this two part discussion with Radha Bhardwaj, we are given an overview of the Aids Committee of York Region (ACYR). In the second video Radha talks about the recently completely Walk to the Water event and her vision for the ACYR in the coming years.
I was recently invited to sit on the Board of the Aids Committee of York Region, an invitation I most gratefully accepted. I feel very honoured to be given an opportunity to serve on the Board of this vital community organization.
Volunteering is a big part of my life and I especially enjoy contributing to the Board governance process. I will do my best to bring the skills gained from working with youth/community development organizations, my local experience in community building initiatives in York Region, plus my expertise in working with organizations in the use of social media strategies and tools.
Continue on to learn more about the Walk to the Water Event and how Radha envisions the growth of the Committee in the coming years.
Tanya gives a wonderful overview of the Krasman Centre’s work with consumer survivors of the mental health system. Her organization marked their 10th anniversary this year so this is a special interview to celebrate that milestone.
Her talk gave me greater insight into the values and approach a consumer survivor organization assumes in the day to day work of fostering and supporting the voices of those with lived experience. For those not familiar with the consumer survivor philosophy and practice framework, this interview with Tanya will be a good introduction.
My hot off the press newsletter, MacKinnons Cloud, is now launched. I sent it out to over 400 people and so far, I’m getting some pretty positive responses. Now that it’s out in the wild, I’m making it available here on my website.
The content below is the cover letter I used to introduce my newsletter to readers. I created a newsletter because I wanted to provide useful resources and share more about what I do as a social media consultant for non profits.
I am connected to many networks and service providers in York Region that are looking to the social web to strengthen their organization and the communities they are a part of. I will do my best to make MacKinnon’s Cloud a useful guidepost for those people and organizations embarking on a social web journey.
The cloud metaphor comes from a presentation given by Mark Pesce gave at the ConnectingUp Australia conference where he suggested that non-profits need to look more like clouds than towers. Beth Kanter and others have written extensively on his suggestion. Here is Beth’s post titled “Can Non-Profit Organizations Work More Like Clouds? How?
A special thanks goes to Alain from iAutomate (web partner) who helped me with learning how to use the free php List software.
Throughout my career I have sought out opportunities to design and manage innovative initiatives that address complex social issues affecting children, youth and families.
I received a very exciting and positive email from Emily Dolan, a staff member with the Aids Committee of York Region (ACYC).
Emily was announcing the launch of a new development at ACYR, their brand new Facebook page.You could tell from the tone of her email that she was very thrilled to be announcing the Facebook launch to York Region organizations and other HIV/AIDS groups across the province.
I am learning a lot about how non profit groups are using Facebook for fundraising to building a stronger community of supporters. The benefits of using Facebook are many but most notable is the opportunity to join a network with a potential audience of millions. Of course the ACYR isn’t expecting millions to visit their page, however they are putting their feet in the social media groundswell and inviting new relationships with their supporters. Bravo, well done ACYC.
The beautiful graphic above is used to promote a fund raising event called “Walk to the Water”. The walk from Aurora to Georgina will be to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS aids and of course you can support the walkers by donating generously to this important cause. You can get more details by visiting the ACYR web site.
Something to remember when you consider a page for your non profit organization. Your profile and pages are different as apples and oranges so you best take heed of advice from the Wild Apricot blog.
My focus is working with organizations to develop their online communication strategies then utilizing appropriate social media tools. Complementing my expertise, I partner with great web designers and developers to deliver a full range of web 2.0 services. Let us help you be better at what you do, using the power of the social web.
Social Media – a definition
Social media are works of user-created video, audio, text or multimedia that are published and shared in a social environment, such as a blog, podcast, forum, wiki or video hosting site. More broadly, social media refers to any online technology that lets people publish, converse and share content online. (via Socialbrite)
I received a very exciting and positive email from Emily Dolan, a staff member with the 
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