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Nov
27
Starting a non-profit begins with romance. It’s crucial we always remember those days.
In 1994 I was working with the United Jewish Appeal of Toronto. That year genocide broke out in Rwanda, which lasted 100 days and devastated the country. Estimates are that 1 million people were murdered, many macheted to death in that short three month period. I, like the rest of the world, was devastated.
I had grown up in the Jewish community. My father was a Rabbi in a small city called Kitchener and in my genes, was a passion for the Jewish people and the belief that what lied at our essence was the concept of ‘Loving thy neighbor….’, that when others are suffering we would respond to their needs.
I was the generation born into this world following the Holocaust, and grew up on the adage ‘Never Again’ - the idea that we, the Jewish people, had suffered in the world and would not allow others to go through the pain we had experienced.
So when ‘Rwanda’ happened, and the Jewish world was mostly silent I was disappointed and saddened. I approached my bosses and said we should co-ordinate a pharmaceutical drive for the Rwandan refugees who had poured into surrounding countries. To their credit, they said, “Yes, by all means.”
It was then my dream of launching Canada’s first Jewish humanitarian and relief organization - Ve’ahavta - was born.
Like romance, there is something magical about the genesis of one’s non-profit career. Those are the days when we are idealistic in a starry eyed way, and our objectives and mission statements are to the point - ‘save the world’, or ‘eradicate malaria’ or ‘stop hunger in Israel’. Indeed those are special moments, not yet evolved into a lifestyle.
This is the first installment in a series of posts dealing with starting a non-profit and what to do once the phones have started to ring and people are asking you for the service you have always dreamed of giving. As the founding directors of Ve’ahavta, my first piece of advice to you very cool people (who are forsaking the other Jewish dream of practicing law) is: always hold onto your memories of those romantic beginnings.
I say this, and do so with great commitment, because the day will come when you will simply not know where you’ll get the funds to cover payroll. Those days make their way into the nights! The time will come when you will be called upon to make a most difficult decision like letting go a staff member. A text message will sit in your inbox from a colleague working in the field asking you to make an ethical decision, sometimes dealing with life and death…. and you’ll stutter for a second, and then do your best to respond hoping your call, was the right one.
The tough, roll-up-your-sleeves, slug-it-out instants will become part of your daily to do list, and it is exactly in those times when you need to recall the romance, meditate on why you started your non-profit, and remember that it was for beautiful, pure reasons - with the hope and dream of enhancing the lives of others.
I am grateful for having the opportunity to launch Ve’ahavta. (I live in a country that makes a start-up NGO very possible. In Canada there are over 150,000 non-profit organizations, about half of them are operational. The non-profit sector in Israel consists of 25,000 organizations that employ over 230,000 people, quite an impressive figure).
I am also very proud of the fact that I had a dream, listened to it, and then, like you, acted on it. Writing this, looking back at those romantic days, when Ve’ahavta and I walked hand-in-hand on the quiet beaches of Canada’s social service needs, I am softened and all the tough stuff I have dealt with sort of dissipates.
Those were beautiful days. These are different, but equally as beautiful. Well done to all of you for falling in love!
Avrum Rosensweig is the founding director of Ve’ahavta: The Canadian Jewish Humanitarian & Relief Committee, based in Toronto Canada. The organization was launched in 1996 and its mission statement is to encourage all Jews and people of this earth to play an active role in Tikun Olam. Ve’ahavta has partnered up with a number of Israeli NGOs in its crisis response work including IsraAid. See www.veahavta.org
Nov
2
You may have heard of twitter, the site where people post up to 140 characters about “what they’re doing.” Well actually, if they post about what they’re doing, like “Going to the supermarket” or “Brushing my teeth,” they won’t do to well on twitter. In any case, twitter is one of the hottest social networks right now, and it is generally agreed that it is a great tool for networking and marketing your business.
But how about promoting your non-profit or cause with twitter? Like many things in this age of social media, what works for businesses often works well for non-profits too, and the same is the case for twitter.
How twitter works
Every twitter user sets up a profile, where they get their own URL like www.twitter.com/username. Their profile displays their username, which can actually be different than what appears in their URL, a short blurb with up to 160 characters about who they are, and a display of how many people they’re following, and how many people follow them.
Here’s my personal/business profile on twitter:
As you can see, the main part of the screen displays my username and profile picture, and my latest “tweet” (update) is prominently displayed. Under there are all my previous tweets displayed chronologically. In the right-hand bar is my real name, location, bio, web site, number of followers and following. You can click on the word “followers” or “following” to see who exactly is following me, or who I am following.
You may also notice that my profile page has a unique design, with different colors than the standard twitter page, and my company’s logo displayed on the left. You can create a personalized home page design, which is recommended. It’s not too difficult, and just takes a bit of playing around with, but it’s a good way to expand your branding over to twitter.
When I view my home page, I don’t just see my tweets, but the tweets of everyone I’m following, displayed chronologically, like so:
Here are three quick tips for getting started with twitter:
- Provide useful information in your tweets: Never follow the twitter guide of What are you doing? Instead, post links to useful information in your field of interest, or that you think your follows will enjoy. Also, do not over-promote your cause. People will learn about your cause indirectly by following you and seeing you as an expert in your area.
- How to reply to other twitterers (also known as tweeple): When replying to someone on twitter, use the @ symbol before their username, i.e. @username. They will be able to see that in their @Replies section, which is available in the right-hand bar of their home page. It is important to have conversations with other twitter users to strengthen your network and meet others.
- Think carefully about your bio: Make sure you have a bio in your profile so people can see who you are. Trust plays an important role in the world of social media, so you must give people real, credible information so that they can see you are a real person.
There are many twitter and third-party tools that you can use to enhance your twitter experience. Brian Solis has a great overview at Twitter Tools for Community and Communications Professionals where he has published an amazing looong list of tools you can use to build up your twitter community.
Here are some links to other articles that discuss using twitter for non-profits and social change:
Twitter and NonProfits from Me Like the Interweb - this post discussses how you and your supporters can use twitter, and gives examples of non-profit success with twitter.
Twitter for Nonprofits from The Fundraising Coach - gives reasons why you should consider using twitter, with links to useful resources on the subject
5 Ways to Use Twitter for Good from Stepcase Lifehack - great tips for how to use twitter to get some good stuff going
How Some Non-Profits Use Twitter from Betsy’s Blog - links to some prominent organizations and how they’re using twitter. Good to see same case studies like this.
Twitter and Non-Profits from Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology - this post discusses why twitter ain’t for everybody
Twitter’s not for every business or organization, but it’s worth getting to know it so that you can assess whether it will help your non-profit, and if so, how.
amuta 2.0 on twitter!
In honor of this post, amuta 2.0 is now on twitter! Yes, there’s not much there right now. Ok, there’s nothing there, but come follow us, we’ll follow you, and we hope to provide some useful links there to good resources about non-profits and social media. Here’s the link to our profile: http://twitter.com/amuta2point0
Happy twittering (or tweeting, as we say in twitter-world)!