Camp ASCCA Fund Drive Update

I am going to be adding this image to all posts, for awhile. My hope it to test the success of ChipIn widgets on behalf of Camp ASCCA..

Yes, I am an unashamed advocate for Camp ASCCA. I was a counselor there well before any of my students were born. The camp changed my life. It changes the lives of campers, and the students that work there, each and every day of each and every year.

I still remember my first campers. Robin & Vincent were about twelve years old. Their disabilities? Profound mental retardation, epilepsy with grand mal (Tonic-clonic) seizures and rigid (Dystonic) cerebral palsy. Some might suggest that such campers couldn’t really benefit from a camp experience. Hey, I was one of them, upon meeting Robin & Vincent that first day. But, that quickly changed. Read more

Britt Bravo Believes :: Have Fun, Do Good :: Nonprofit Use of Social Media

While we’re considering nonprofit related blogs, I wanted to to share this recent find - an excellent example. Several students have mentioned working in the nonprofit sector, this semester. One just posted about it. So, let’s explore how nonprofits have been using social media in their daily PR and marketing activities.

From Oakland, California, we discover a great site. This one will be particularly interesting for those students thinking about a future in nonprofit work.

Meet Britt Bravo of Have Fun • Do Good, “A blog for people who want to make the world a better place AND have fun!” Now there is a cool name - Britt Bravo.

Britt Bravo is a writer specializing in stories about individuals and organizations who are creating social change. She writes for blogs, produces podcasts and teaches women to blog and podcast. Britt writes for Have Fun * Do Good, BlogHer, WorldChanging San Francisco, and NetSquared. She also produces the Big Vision Podcast and the NetSquared Podcast. Using her 15 years of experience working with nonprofits, socially responsible businesses, and artists, Britt provides consulting for nonprofits and individuals to help them realize their Big Vision. To learn more about Britt go to her web site, Big Vision Career and Project Consulting, at www.brittbravo.com.

Her latest post is Have Fun • Do Good: 10 Ways Nonprofits Can Use Blogs and Bloggers to Support Their Cause. A good post and one we should all check out for ideas. Read more

See What’s Out There :: Nonprofit Blog Exchange

Cross-posted at Camp ASCCA Journal.

The blog See What’s Out There is our focus for this round of the Nonprofit Blog Exchange from Emily Weinberg.

…See What’s Out There is the blog of See3 Communications and is an excellent read … go check it out…

See What’s Out There Blog is the dynamic conversation home for the company, See3: Media for Nonprofits.

They have an interesting model for their business. After finding it, I was pleased, because their model mirrors our model. Their approach mirrors our approach. I’m always thrilled to find other nonprofit online resources with similar goals.

The see3 model?

We help nonprofits bring every-day activities to life through a combination of traditional and new media. We create products that use video, audio and high-quality digital photography in engaging and innovative ways for fundraising, education and general communication.

We encourage our clients to document their activities to create media libraries. Once documented, media elements can be repurposed into several different products for targeted events or audiences.

The see3 approach? Read more

WordPress Widgets Are Cool :: Camp ASCCA Front Page Redesign

The front page of ASCCA’s site is going through a redesign.

We’re trying to create a simpler, cleaner navigation layout that helps you find what you’re looking for on the site.

Check out the new look.

What we want to provide is a simple way for anyone to quickly update the front page with the latest information. The new tools we’re using - widgets - should allow this to work. And, the people adding the information don’t have to know much / any HTML coding to add the information to the page.

The ASCCA site is now a collection of WordPress blog installments. This allows the staff to use the rather simple (to use, at least) software to update the site. And widgets allow them to place new information ‘almost’ anywhere they want it in the blog’s template.

The Oscar Dunn Environmental Center now has their own site, separate from the ASCCA site. This was done to differentiate the Dunn Center from ASCCA as we continue to bring in non-disabled groups to use that facility. Now the Dunn Center staff can put up their own videos and audio. We haven’t yet fully shown all the center has to offer. This new site will help them illustrate the beauty and diverse offerings in ASCCA’s new multi-million dollar facility.

It really is quite amazing. People are always stunned when they first drive into ASCCA. Then, to see this amazing wildlife, nature and conference facility right on the Lake Martin shoreline .. well, it gets their attention. God bless Rotary International. They made the Dunn Center a reality.

Give us your feed back. Check out the new front page and critique away. Thanks.

Marcomblog Adds Asia PR Strategist to Roster :: Michael Darragh

Cross-posted from Marcomblog.com.

Welcome a new member to the Marcomblog contributors roster - Michael Darragh of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide. Michael is located in Shanghai, China. So, we now have contributors from four continents - Asia, Europe, Australia and North America.

I became aware of Michael when he recently started a blog at PRblogs.org called Navigator.

Michael is a Digital Influence Strategist and that means we have someone that is quite familiar with social media in Asia, particularly China. To me, this is a terrific opportunity for the students to learn even more about social media in PR and marketing around the world. So, I thank Michael for joining us.

Then, there is the second paragraph after the pullquote.

Michael Darragh has stared at computer screens since 1986, and worked in new media since 1996. He joined Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide in 2006 as Digital Influence Strategist, China. Michael is based in Shanghai and has previously lived in Sydney, Guangzhou and Barcelona.

Michael is blogging in the same place the students blog, too. PRblogs.org.

Navigator is about the power of digital influence, with an emphasis on trends and activities in the Asia-Pacific. The blog is intended for professionals, students and anyone with an interest in digital communications.

Thank you, Michael, for coming onboard with Marcomblog. We look forward to your first post, perhaps about the state of social media in China and what types of projects you work on for Ogilvy.

Now, we just need practitioners from Africa, South America and Antarctica. Well, perhaps we can at least get two out of three on that one. The Antarctica practitioner, although we have interviewed one in class (I’m not kidding), may be hard to find.

Josh Hallett Returns To Auburn University

For the second time, Josh Hallett has kindly offered to visit with our class and discuss social media and marketing.

Of late, Josh has been making big news with his blog. The senatorial campaign of Katherine Harris was outed by Josh regarding their outsourcing of blog relations tactics to India.

Last week, Josh kicked off his successful BlogOrlando unconference. That garnered many attendees and a lot of blog traffic, too. Technorati and del.icio.us for examples of the blog talk centered on blogorlando.

Josh understands blogs and social media. A frequent invited speaker at many conferences, Josh has built a popular online presence, including his blog - hyku. Hyku currently has a Technorati ranking, for example, of 8,315 (out of 60 million blogs) and he has 885 links from 281 blogs referring to his site.

We look forward to welcoming Josh back to the Loveliest Village on the Plains. Thanks, Josh, for your support and help over the years.

Update: Kristin Hill interviewed Josh and we’ll have that interview up on the Loveliest Village blog later this week.

Seeking Suggestions :: Social Media for Promotion of Nonprofits

Social media will be incorporated into a summer project I’m working on for Easter Seals Camp ASCCA. I know you’ve seen me write about Camp ASCCA often, but this summer - get ready - you’ll see it a lot here and at the Camp ASCCA Web site.

I honestly believe that this will be the largest nonprofit use of social media (blogs, podcasts, video, forums and more) that has ever been attempted (aside from political sites and some national / international NPO sites). But, I can’t say that for certain until I do some more research. You can help, if you like. Do you know of any site for a nonprofit organization that has posted this much, this often and using online communication?

Below you will see an outline of what our plans are and how we seek to accomplish these tasks. I have abbreviated the plan as it is actually written out and is 12 pages - single-spaced - in a Word document. I’m still working on it, too.

Here, in a nutshell, is what we’re going to try. I’d love to receive your feedback, suggestions and criticisms.

ASCCA is a nonprofit organization and resources are limited. They have devoted two internships (paid) to the process. The students will receive free housing, meals and $1,000 per month (the same salary camp program staff receive). That, I believe, is a remarkable commitment.

Beyond that, ASCCA has invested in two multimedia computers, digital audio recorders, video recorders (straight to MPEG) and software. I am donating the use of a digital video camera, digital photo camera and a digital audio recorder, too. This should enable the interns to easily capture, and quickly edit, the content they capture. More on that below.

• Two interns will run the operation. Their work hours are quite different from other jobs. They will follow, essentially, the same day that all of the campers and staff do - 7:00 AM until 10:00 PM each day. The camps traditionally run from Sunday at Noon until Friday at Noon.
• In an attempt to be realistic, I am seting an initial “minimum” number of blog postings at four per day. Actually, I believe it could be 8 or more per day.
• Posts will be a combination of audio, video, photos and text.
1. VIDEO: Our initial goal is to do short video pieces and they will be loaded up to our Google Video site and YouTube. These will highlight the program areas from lakefront and the pool to horseback riding and high adventure. We have over a dozen activity areas, so content will be widely avaialable.
2. AUDIO: These will be short interviews with campers, parents, counselors and visitors. The length will not, I pray, go beyond 10 minutes each. These will be hosted on our servers and delivered through the Wordpress Podpress plugin and iTunes.
3. PHOTOS: Digital cameras will be used to capture dozens of photos each day. They will highlight four main areas: programs, camper/counselor relationships, barrier-free architecture incorporated into activities and cabin life. These will be hosted on our servers and in our Flickr Pro account.
4. WRITING: These will be observations by the interns about Camp ASCCA and the experiences of the campers and staff. Visitors (fund raising) will also be highlighted. We want honest observations. ASCCA has always been about the reality of abilities - not focusing on the disabilities. We want to offer answers/solutions which allow people with disabilities to participate. We don’t want any “poor pitiful crippled children” stories. Those always irk me.

I realize that is a lot of uploading. Now the sad news. One of the limitations we have at a camp is our location. We have satellite web access. That means that uploading is essentially dial-up. Camp is 10 miles from the nearest highway. A squirrel on the phone line can cause havoc. We may actually drive into town for the uploading of the video, audio and photo files. The only alternative is to keep the phone lines running all night.

With few exceptions, opensource software will be used for all of these projects. We have a wiki (PmWiki), CRM (SugarCRM), calendars (30boxes and Google Calendar), forums and/or alumni database (phpBB), eLearning (Moodle), photo albums (Flickr and Gallery 2), video (Google Video and YouTube) along with Wordpress blogs and plugins.

The students have already used much of the software and they have seen the rest of it in action.

New releases will be delivered via a blog newsroom setup to the state and southeastern publications serving our campers hometowns. Most of these are mid-sized to small publications and usually appreciate the content. High resolution photos will accompany the stories created by the interns. Where possible, audio actualities will be included and sent to their local radio stations. Small town radio still does radio news, you know.

I am not sure what, if any, value online press release delivery services could offer us, but we may try them. We’ll likely only use the free services, unless someone wants to spot us for free access to a paid service. That would be a blessing.

Contacts will be made to these local news organizations and offer them email notification of stories or RSS feeds. They’ll likely prefer the emails, as most of the releases will be specifically targeted by locality.

Side projects include populating the Moodle eLearning site to help expand ASCCA’s appeal to school teachers in the areas of environmental education.

Among our many goals are: considerable search engine placement and optimization, increased visibility in online social media communities, a rebirth of ASCCA’s regional media releases, active involvement with our primary audiences (people with disabilities, parents, caregivers, teachers, therapists/medical, other nonprofits and our alumni - campers, staff and volunteers).

Yes, we will be pitching - news outlets and bloggers. We will be commenting in other blogs and developing relationships with sites/blogs addressing disability issues.

We are also interested in online fundraising, but that will come down the road. We want to develop a strong respectable presence online, first.

OK, that is a brief (believe it or not) synopsis of what we’ll be doing this summer. What do you think? I’m reserving some comments I have until I hear from you.

Link Love :: With a positive purpose

Scott Baradell, Media Orchard, wants some Link Love, so I’m sharing it with him.

This is a wonderful opportunity to revisit a project that I think has promise and virtue for everyone that chooses to participate.

Let us revisit Operation Link Love - PR Bloggers “Pay It Forward” and Give Back. Read that post and the associated links to see what the project is all about. Or, go straight to The NewPR/Wiki page for all the details.

This is a project all about links that can serve a positive purpose. I hope you will get involved. Write about the viability of social media for nonprofits. Find a nonprofit blog that you can add to the wiki list. Link to them, and I bet they will link back. So, everyone wins.

I’m working on a fix for the image code. For now, feel free to hotlink to the image above.

Easter Seals Camp ASCCA Is Podcasting

We have begun podcasting on the Easter Seals Camp ASCCA site. I would appreciate anyone that wishes to listen then provide a critique here, or there. Go ahead, be brutal (well, not too brutal). We have to learn. The podcast is just under 12 minutes and is an interview with ASCCA’s recent Aquatics Director, Angelyn Wilson.

Visit the post and podcast here. There are several ways to listen. The site uses a WordPress plugin from Dan Kuykendall. It offers a Flash player, a popup player and the usual RSS feeds. And, it is free - opensource.

The idea is to create a site offering visitors the voices (literally) of the organization. Further, we are providing a human interest element to the story line with reflections from those that provide the hands on care and support. Their experiences range from instruction and aid in the recreation experiencs to the personal care during the camper’s stay at camp. There are other interviews in the works with all of the stakeholders listed below.

Our main goals are to:

1. interview stakeholders such as counselors, campers, parents, donors, therapeutic professionals, doctors, nurses and volunteers,
2. keep it short and sweet (no more than 15 minutes per interview),
3. do it solely with opensource software (although we are using the $14.95 HotRecorder software),
4. give the site virtually every possible multimedia offering we can, and
5. perhaps encourage the news media to find even more of a reason to check in on our site for story ideas.

Suggestions for interviews we might consider are appreciated, too.

Yes, I am involved with this … you’ll hear my voice on the podcast. I did the interview. In the future, ASCCA’s interns will be conducting them, too. Ah, a learning experience. How fun!

I have just rehabilitated our crashed PR Quest podcasting site and promise to finally (I know) finish all of those podcasts. Just too busy. I apologize.

Time’s “The Good Samaritans”

Too bad they didn’t go with their headline - “The Good Samaritans” - instead of individual billionaires and a millionaire. Still, it is laudable that Time chose philanthropists and activists as their “Persons of the Year” for 2005.

For being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic and then daring the rest of us to follow, Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono are TIME’s Persons of the Year.

Bill & Melinda Gates: From Riches to Rags
Bono: The Constant Charmer
Interview with the Trio: “We Just Go Off”

I was expecting natural disasters to be chosen. After all, the year started and ended with them devastating the world - from the Tsunami to Katrina (and other hurricanes) to the Pakistan earthquake. Let us not forget the tornadoes and floods, as well.

But, this at least shines the light on those that do good deeds. How much better would it have been to make “The Good Samaritans” the recipient? I think it would give people more realistic role models to imitate. Honestly, how many Bonos and Gates are there? And, collectively, individual “Good Samaritans” have already done more for others than Bono and the Gates’.

Volunteerism would have been a better choice. Individual contributions of time, money and resources reached a record level for individuals as well as corporations in 2005. The collective “Good Samaritans” are more deserving of the praise as it is more difficult - requires more sacrifice - than it does for the Bonos and Gates of the world. Oh, I don’t mean to diminish their good deeds. They are certainly excellent role models, if only by their volunteer and giving practices alone.