Power Tools

A resource for change makers and hour counters! Look here for tools and tips from Power of the Hour, Get Involved, and Volunteer Canada.

Teens Becoming the Generation of Social Change

Teens Volunteer

The Mackenzie awards celebrate an entire generation of youth that are giving back, donating their time and money, and inspiring others to create change – not just change in a few years – change NOW!

Water Week On TVO (March 21-27)

  • World Water Week2.5 billion people in the world don’t have access to adequate sanitation – that’s two fifths of the entire world’s population!
  • 97.5% of the earth’s water is saltwater. If the world’s water could fit into a bucket, only one teaspoon would be drinkable.
  • A person can live a month without food, but only about a week without water.

Makes you think doesn’t it?

Dec 2009
01

GuluWalk uses social media to raise over $4 million

‹ Mitch Joel’s Tips on Managing Social Media How To: Welcome, Manage and Mentor Your Volunteers ›

Social Media logosOn October 25th roughly 25,000 people in 75 cities across the globe gathered in groups to walk a dozen kilometres, at dawn. These “walkers” were replicating the night commuters of northern Uganda, children as many as 40,000 — walking from their rural villages into the town of Gulu and other urban centres to avoid abduction by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).(Globe and Mail, Charities Finally Cashing in on Web 2.0 Revolution, Joanna Pachner)

The Guluwalk organization started these walks in 2005 and has since made almost $4-million for Ugandan charities guluwalkthrough online pledges, none of which could have been possible without the free tools of Twitter, Facebook, blogs and You Tube. Guluwalk began as a two person operation, but grew quickly as their fabulous blog gained followers, who gave their time or money and then spread the word to their friends, and so forth. Online donations and interaction allows for engagement amongst donors as well as accessibility. Guluwalk’s supporters could learn about the event and make small donations all with a click of a button.

So how do you make this success story become your own?

1) Who are your current supporters? Get to know the voice of your supporters – are they University students, neighbourhood communities, corporate businesspeople? Build your calls to action, blogs and content to to reflect their interest, and then think about branching out to your missing demographic.

2) Make a simple call to action. Make it easy and accessible for interested viewers to donate or volunteer. Maker sure your site is clear and you have a quick and easy “donate now” button on your homepage. And don’t underestimate the power of statistics and videos.

3) Understand these tools and get to know their full potential. When used properly, these can all become powerful tools, but recognize the needs your fundraiser has. For example if you want to spread the word and perhaps have more views of your new fund raising video tweet your heart out. But if your upcoming event has a fantastic story behind it, use something with a larger character count (ie a blog), when you can create an open discussion about your cause and gets people really thinking.

So get out there and get fundraising!

To learn more about these tools check out our previous blogs Social Media and Social Media and the Common Good.

More on the Guluwalk.

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