3 Ways to Turn Your Non-Profit's Presence Into Presents

I was recently tapped to be a guest blogger for the folks at Benchmark Email, and I'm incredibly proud to be among the contributors they have on their site. (Seriously, to share the same screen as Chris Brogan?!)

My first post is part of Benchmark's "Presence for Non-Profits" series. I'd love for you to check it out and let us know what you think.

Here's the beginning:

When I saw my friend’s text, I immediately went into cruise director mode. (Those of you who are children of the 1980s like me can just call me Julie McCoy for the remainder of this guest post.)

Coming to Pittsburgh next week! Never been. No idea what to see or do.

I was thrilled with the possibility of catching up with my college friend, meeting his partner and showing them the highlights of my new city. Knowing their interests, I sent a Facebook message back with suggestions of places to see – museums, cultural attractions, historical sites.

While looking over my list, I realized that I hadn’t been to any of these places.

None.

So, in making my list for my friends, what was I relying on to try and make sure they would have a great time here? ... continue reading 3 Ways to Turn Your Non-Profit's Presence Into Presents here. 

#givingskivvies Takes More Steps Toward Its Goal

Yesterday I told you about #givingskivvies, the project I became involved with kind of spontaneously through my connection with several Pittsburgh bloggers. Through the power of social media - our blogs, Facebook, Twitter - we're trying to raise $1,000 (or more!) to provide new socks and underwear for the clients at Light of Life Rescue Mission here in Pittsburgh.

The Mission, which offers a variety of life-changing services to people in need, is in desperate need itself of clean socks and underwear for the men, women and children it serves. As of this morning, the bloggers' efforts have raised $710 toward our goal - in just one day!

As a fundraiser, I'm always fascinated to see how organizations handle aspects of their development efforts - and last night, one thing impressed me greatly about Light of Life. (Remember, I didn't know anything about this organization - never heard of it, even - more than 24 hours ago.)

After our day of blogging and tweeting and Facebooking, the above photo arrived on our various feeds. A simple photo, really, of socks.

With this caption:

Just heard from a few of the guys who received new socks and underwear! They wanted to pass on their thanks. One man said, "Under the circumstances we are in, we are grateful there are folks who want to help out with the difficult situation we are going through. We are blessed and grateful." Another said, "It is such a blessing just to have a clean pair of socks to wear!" Thank you, friends, for donating! You make a difference at Light of Life!

Brilliant and perfect. As a participant in this effort, I certainly wasn't looking for any acknowledgement of my effort ... but from a supporter's perspective? That's exactly the kind of spot-on acknowledgement that's needed for social media. This was a campaign that was organized quickly, organically, from the grassroots level, from one person to another. The thank you needed to be a personal one - a recipient to the donor. And Light of Life hit all the marks with that, in just a few lines and in a speedy fashion.

Here's how you can help #givingskivvies (including if you're not in the Pittsburgh area):

• If you live in the Pittsburgh area, you can drop clean, new, unused socks and/or underwear off at Light of Life. Their address is 10 E. North Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15212.

• Another option would be to donate online at www.lightoflife.org and put "SOX" in the designation field.

• Yet another option would be to purchase items online at a place like Target or Walmart and have them shipped to Light of Life, 10 E. North Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15212. (I made it easy for you. The links go right to the underwear pages.)

• Spread the word to others about this need. Share this info or blog post on Twitter, Facebook, or blog about it yourself. If you share it on Twitter, please use the hashtag #givingskivvies

Thanks for caring.

Giving Skivvies

I have a 10 year old son. Those of you who have kids or relatives or students around this age (or who can remember being around kids this age) know that this is prime-time for bathroom-related talk. High atop that list?

Underwear.

Quite frankly, I never really gave much thought to underwear before my kid started cracking jokes about it and reading the Captain Underpants series of books. Our new hero.

Because, really, we don't think too much about underwear except for when we don't have any, right?

It's one of those things that we tend to take for granted. It's only when the laundry piles up for an extra day or two, or we hope we don't get into an accident because our skivvies are a bit too worn around the edges, that we realize we'd better get ourselves to Target and buy a new pair.

And so we do. Simple as that.

But for the homeless, that's not so easy.

At the Light of Life Rescue Mission on Pittsburgh's North Side, a nonprofit organization that has been offering a variety of services for poor and homeless men, women, and children for the past 60 years, they are in need of new underwear and socks for their clients. Many of the people they serve are in recovery from addition and have mental health issues. They are completely out of underwear and socks and are in desperate need for new underthings.

That's where you and I come in.

I recently became connected via Facebook with several Pittsburgh bloggers who, just this morning, together created #givingskivvies, a campaign to raise $1,000 for Light of Life to purchase new underwear and socks to distribute to their clients in need.

Here's how you can help (including if you're not in the Pittsburgh area):

• If you live in the Pittsburgh area, you can drop clean, new, unused socks and/or underwear off at Light of Life. Their address is 10 E. North Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15212.

• Another option would be to donate online at www.lightoflife.org and put "SOX" in the designation field.

• Yet another option would be to purchase items online at a place like Target or Walmart and have them shipped to Light of Life, 10 E. North Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15212.  (I made it easy for you. The links go right to the underwear pages.)

• Spread the word to others about this need.  Share this info or blog post on Twitter, Facebook, or blog about it yourself.  If you share it on Twitter, please use the hashtag #givingskivvies

Please consider helping out with this worthy and wonderful cause.  Just one dollar would help buy a pair of socks or underwear for a person in need.

Captain Underpants would be proud.