Getting Started With Facebook Advertizing

We all use Facebook but have you used it to promote your organization?

Come listen Brian as shares his experiences and teaches you:

• How to design your Facebook ad campaign
• How to do split-testing with Facebook
• How to measure your Facebook advertising performance
• How to keep costs low

This month’s special guest: 

Brian Henderson @bbqsaucereviews: Brian helps small businesses get noticed online. He learned SEO techniques working at About.com and successfully uses Pay per click and Facebook marketing on his popular website bbqsaucereviews.com. Check out the BBQ site or his marketing oriented site at goodnsimple.com!

Come join us in this casual networking setting with some of the best internet marketers and web developers on the South Shore.  Come by, have a drink, eat, network, and pick someones brain – or share your expertise and experiences.

Wednesday, May 2, 6-8pm

Jasper White’s Summer Shack
96 Derby St
Hingham,MA 02043

Our March 22 Mini-Conference was a great success!

Upcoming Toolbox Events:

One of the best Chinese Restaurants south of Boston, Beijing House & woman business owner, Ching-Ching welcomes i-Network and will provide some tasty appetizers for us.  Come mix and mingle with other professional women (and men).

If you’d like an opportunity to speak about your business for a minute, feel free to donate a little something that an attendee may win when we do our free raffle drawings. See me when you arrive!

$10 for friends and future members of i-Network

*FREE for i-Network members.  A member means you have paid the yearly fees at i-Network.biz and have a listing on the web directory on the i-Network.biz site. Joining this meetup group as a “friend” means you are on our mailing list, but are not a member of i-Network.biz (yet).

________________________________

Join us for our first

Building Your Brand in a Digital World

Friday, March 9th 7:45am-9:30am

Register for Breakfast Now

PreRegister now: $15 for members of i-Network and the NP Toolbox // $20 for friends and future members. $25 at the door

The world we live in is filled with marketing jargon and constantly evolving technologies. However, the fundamentals of growing your business through effective branding remain the same.

Shea Baker and Matt Ulvila of 3thought, a visual communications company based in Plymouth MA, will help you to understand the greater context of your brand.

You’ll also learn practical ways to shape the perception of your business or organization using tools that are already available to you.

Continental Breakfast, coffee and tea will be available.

 ________________________________

South Shore Tweetup #10

The Non-Profit Toolbox does blog posts about member organization’s events and happenings.

We often just take the information from press releases they send out or from emailing that we get from the groups, so if you are a member organization, let us know what is happening, send us some photos. Along with the blog post, we also tweet the information out for you and put it on our Facebook page, so even if you don’t have a Facebook page or a Twitter account, your information is getting out there.

Here is the latest from Interfaith Social Services:

New Directions Counseling Center to offer service for the visually impaired

Interfaith Social Services’ New Directions Counseling Center to offer loss of vision counseling for individuals facing the drastic life changes that accompany blindness. Interfaith’s counseling center is a resource for the thousands of South Shore residents without health insurance, or those who lack adequate coverage.

Loss of vision counseling specialist Kerry MacDonald with her guide dog Zephyr.

Quincy, MA – November 1, 2011 – How would you cope with the diagnosis that you are going blind? What kind of support might your loved ones need? Interfaith Social Services’ new loss of vision counseling is a resource for individuals facing this life changing situation. This program combines individual counseling and small professionally facilitated discussion groups to help individuals cope with this challenging situation. Since 1947 Interfaith’s New Directions Counseling Center has been serving Greater Boston residents who are dealing with a myriad of life issues. Counselors always need to compassionately assist their clients. However the counselor who will facilitate the new loss of vision program, Kerry MacDonald, is especially prepared to help her patients because she herself is blind. Kerry lives with her family in Weymouth. In addition to completing her education as a licensed social worker, she and her husband are raising two young children. She has experience facilitating groups for individuals coping with vision loss, as well as experience counseling individual clients. Claire Hagan, Interfaith Social Services’ Counseling Coordinator, commented about Kerry, “She truly understands the experience of a blind person learning to function in a sighted world.”

The loss of vision counseling is part of Interfaith’s New Directions Counseling Center. New Directions was one of the first programs created when Interfaith Social Services was founded in 1947. In addition to their normal case load of clients with health insurance, a special program within New Directions provides mental health counseling to low-income people without health insurance, or those who lack adequate coverage.

According to a study by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts, upwards of 130,000 people throughout the state remain uninsured even though residents of Massachusetts are required by law to carry health insurance. More than 75 percent of those uninsured have incomes less than 3 times the federal poverty level.

Rick Doane, Interfaith’s Executive Director, said, “Our Counseling Center is a safety net for many individuals without insurance, or without adequate coverage, who would otherwise fall through the cracks. We try to get people the help they need, when they need it.” Claire Hagan Interfaith’s counseling coordinator said, “Our goal is to return phone calls within 24 hours and to schedule the first appointment within a week.  We often schedule within a day or two.”

The New Directions Counseling Center is only one of the programs that Interfaith Social Services offers to the community. They also have a food pantry, career closet and homelessness prevention program. Interfaith views counseling as a principal component in their strategy to help people break the cycle of poverty. Research supports this idea. A study by Christopher Hudson, Professor and Chairperson of the School of Social Work at Salem State University released a study which showed that mental illness is three times as prevalent in low-income communities as in higher income ones.

The link between childhood mental illness and poverty is particularly disturbing.  According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 21% of low-income children aged 6 to 17 have mental health problems, and 57% of those with mental health problems come from households living at or below the federal poverty level.

The caseload of ISS’ New Directions Counseling Center is growing, partly as a result of the current economic uncertainty. Claire Hagan noted, “More families are slipping into low-income status, seeking counseling, and increasingly rely on our sliding fee scale. In the past two years we have had to set up three additional counseling offices to handle the demand for our services.”

The services of the New Directions counseling center are not limited to the impoverished and those in need. In addition their income based sliding fee payment scale the center accepts various forms of health insurance. “Many of our clients have health insurance” said Hagan. “Many others are struggling to make ends meet; our mission is to compassionately listen to all of our clients, we are here to help them work through their problems regardless if they have insurance or not.” Hagan went on to emphasize the importance of New Directions’ loss of vision counseling. “We know that our counselor Kerry will be able to help a lot of people as they cope with the life altering effects of blindness in their own lives, and the lives of their loved ones.”

For more information or to schedule an appointment with one of New Direction’s counselors call 617-773-6203 or email info@interfaithsocialservices.org

Additional Information about Interfaith Social Services

Interfaith Social Services has been serving impoverished South Shore residents since 1947. They are a center for local families and individuals in need. Programs include: thePantry Shelf, distributing 400,000 lbs. of food to impoverished local residents every year. The Learning Pantry, educating food pantry clients about vital life skills such as financial literacy, nutrition, etc. HomeSafe, providing assistance and homelessness prevention services to families and individuals in emergency situations. Harvest Helpersorganizes backyard gardeners and community groups who donate fresh local produce to food pantries. New Directions Counseling Center serves adults, children, couples and families who are dealing with a myriad of life issues. A special program within the center reaches out to clients who cannot afford the help that they so desperately need.Quincy Medical Center Interfaith Chaplaincy delivers counseling to hospital patients and grieving families. Bureau Drawer thrift shop provides the community with an affordable option for clothing and household items. The shop is run entirely by volunteers. The Career Closet outfits low income job seekers with free professional attire. For more information about ISS or to donate online please visit: www.interfaithsocialservices.org

Image by Pedro J. Ferreira via Flickr

Interesting things around the web:

1. Found this on LinkedIn:Financing Not Fundraising: 5 Lies to Stop Telling Donors from Social Velocity…so true:

Financing Not Fundraising blog series, the series is about how nonprofits must break out of the narrow view that traditional FUNDRAISING (individual donor appeals, events, foundation grants) will completely fund all of their activities.  Instead, they must create a broader, more strategic approach to securing the overall FINANCING necessary to create social change. You can read the entire series here.

2. Are you concerned you could be a better nonprofit board member?  Here are three articles addressing successful nonprofit governance well worth reading, from Susan Hammond: Improving Nonprofit Governance

3.  How *Not* To Fundraise With Social Media from John Haydon

Gary Vee says it best: For the Give to the Max Day: Greater Washington training, Gary Vaynerchuk shared how nonprofits should use social media

4. Download Idealware’s Free Social Media Decision Guide: from Inspiring Generosity Idealware published the 2nd edition of the Social Media Decision Guide.

The Decision Guide walks you through all of these questions, and even includes a workbook to help you get started with building out your own social media strategy.

5. What Do You Need to Track in a Donor Database? from NTen

Donors are the lifeblood of nonprofit organizations. You need them to survive. But how do you manage all the details about their giving, along with all the personal details that are key to maintaining successful relationships, without breaking your bank? In the 2011 Consumers Guide to Low Cost Donor Management Systems, we look at a lot of technology solutions designed to do exactly that.

Curious about WordPress and how it can help you build and manage a better blog or website?

9a-1p Nov 5th

WordPress is a state-of-the-art web publishing platform, developed by hundreds of community volunteers and used by over 25 million people. Best of all, WordPress is free! With thousands of themes and plug-ins available on the web, anyone can launch a feature-rich website in minutes. First, you will learn the fundamentals of how WordPress works, how to get it up and running, and how to start publishing content immediately. Then we will explore the Administrator’s Dashboard, including how to organize your content and configure certain features & behaviors of your site. Finally, you will learn how to install themes and plug-ins to alter the appearance of your site and add additional functionality for improved social integration, search engine optimization, and backup/security. (Note: We will be working with the self-hosted version of WordPress at http://wordpress.org, not the hosted service at http://wordpress.com.

Location: Abington Senior Center 441 Summer Street Abington, MA

Times: 9:00am-1:00pm

Our Workshop Presenters:

Kurt Eng is a co-organizer of the Boston WordPress Meetup and Founding Organizer of WordCamp Boston. Kurt has been very active in podcasting and video, publishing free content to enable others to learn. Kurt focuses on people beginning WordPress and blogging, empowering them with the knowledge and enthusiasm to get started from installation to themes to writing.

.

James Coletti has over 10 years experience developing applications for the web, and more recently mobile devices. He has been using WordPress since version 1.5 and founded the Boston WordPress Meetup in 2008, a community devoted to bringing WordPress fans together to network and share knowledge. James is the co-founder of Modal Machine, a company that offers professional WordPress consulting, theme and plug-in development services, and provides a custom-built, WordPress-centric hosting platform. James continues to evangelize WordPress as it evolves into a powerful content management system.

$45 Minimum of 10 – Maximum of 40

The tentative schedule for Tech Day Camp, Sat Oct 22 is now posted [schedule]

We have a special track for NPO’s:

9:30-10:30a John Haydon: Online Fundraising

10:45-11:45a Ja-nae & Steve: Revolutionary Road Trip: Social Media works!

1:00-2:00p John Haydon: Facebook 101 for Non-profits

2:15-3:15p Barbara Oliver: Social Media ROI for Non-profits

3:30-4:30p Marc Pitman: Is Social Media the Silver Bullet for NP Fundraising

Plus 35 other sessions …

Some that would be of interest to those working in NPO field:

• How to make a brochure in MS Word
• Excel and Word Tips & Tricks
• Making video
• Basic Photography
• When/if to hire a professional for video and photos
• Quickbooks
• Tools That Help You Get Your Message Out

Plan for a few of you to come, to get the most out of the day!!

NVNA and Hospice is one of many organizations across the U.S. and Canada that has produced its own video and as part of a national competition for the world’s best Pink Glove Dance video. The competition is sponsored by Medline Industries, Inc., manufacturer of the pink gloves and producer of the original Pink Glove Dance video.

As part of the contest, NVNA and Hospices video will be posted on http://pinkglove.co/134

The top three winners receive a donation in their name to the breast cancer charity of their choice, NVNA and Hospices charity is Breast Cancer Research at Boston Medical Center. The winners will be announced October 28 on pinkglovedance.com. First place will receive $10,000, 2^nd place $5,000 and 3^rd place $2,000.

So… Go to http://pinkglove.co/134 to watch and vote* for their video (*voting requires a Facebook account)