Join the Nonprofit Cultivation Center for a six part series to help you and your organization truly understand how social media can work for your mission and how to manage it.

Through this intensive workshop, you will gain hands-on experience with the strongest social media tools including blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more. You will develop organizational policies for managing social media, both internally and externally to the organization. Finally, you will work through the various social media tools to develop a social media plan for your organization. The plan will serve as a tool to guide your social media activities and to help other members of your organization get engaged.

The series is limited to 12 participants and each participant should commit to attending each session, as they will build upon one another. Training participants should be active on at least two of the following, either personally and/or professionally: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or blog(s).

Each session will be hosted at Foothills United Way held on following dates from 9:00am – 10:30am.

Open office hours will be held from 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. prior to class. Open office hours are designed to help implement the information learned in the sessions to move your organization forward.

Outcomes:
• Understanding of most popular social media tools
• Gain knowledge about multi-channel communications
• Learn about tools to launch, maintain, and grow your social media presence
• Create social media policies for your organization
• Develop a customized social media plan with playbooks.

Session 1: Overview (August 9, 2012)

Social Media is a powerful and important tool in the world – whether you are a nonprofit or for-profit organization, especially as it relates to working with the next generation of staff, board, and donors. In this opening workshop, we will explore the importance, value, and challenges of using social media in your organization. This workshop will set the groundwork for the rest of the series.

Session 2: Blogging (August 23, 2012)

Does your organization currently use a blog? Has it been stagnant or have you thought about a blog, but just aren’t sure where to start? Blogging is the quickest and easiest way to share your organization’s story. Blogs are dynamic content while your nonprofit website holds more static content. Blogs can be the foundation from which other social media is used. We’ll explore blogging and how it can benefit your organization.

Session 3: Facebook (September 6, 2012)

Most people are using Facebook for personal use, but nonprofits need to learn how to leverage this powerful, online platform to share their story, raise money, and gain insights from their stakeholders. In this session we will discuss which Facebook applications (including profiles, pages, groups, and causes) to use and how to best manage them.

Session 4: Twitter (September 27, 2012)

Tweeting may be a new concept for many, but the world of Twitter is a world with a plethora of possible contacts and connections to information. Whether or not you are ready for it, microblogging (Twitter) is here to stay and is a big part of the next generations’ communication preferences. Learn how to effectively use Twitter and combine messaging with Facebook using tools like HootSuite. A lot can be said in 140 characters or less – learn how to make an impact quickly and effectively.

Session 5: LinkedIn & Other Social Media (October 11, 2012)

LinkedIn is a tool that is highly underutilized by many nonprofits, but can be a helpful tool in spreading the word about your organization and gaining input to help guide the direction of your organization. Learn some tricks to make LinkedIn useful for your organization along with a few additional social media tools to watch out for.

Session 6: Social Media Plan Wrap-up (October 25, 2012)

Much like a fundraising plan or strategic plan helps to set the direction of an organization, a social media plan will help get everyone on track in your organization. We will walk through the steps of finishing your social media plan including: Setting purpose, clarifying goals and objectives, managing online platforms, implementation, evaluation and social media policies. We will gather notes and worksheets from previous weeks to gather together a social media plan to present and implement within your organization.

About the Trainer

Emily Davis has been working in the nonprofit sector as a staff member, consultant, founder, board member, and volunteer for over 15 years. Emily is the President of EDA Consulting LLC and the author of the publication, Fundraising and the Next Generation. She trains and consults on a wide variety of issues including leadership development, philanthropy, and integrated online communications. She is a consultant on multigenerational family philanthropy with 21/64. Emily serves in numerous advisory roles including Nonprofit World Magazine, Nonprofit Cultivation Center, and Social Venture Partners of Boulder County. Emily has received and been nominated for a number of awards throughout the country. Emily has her Masters in Nonprofit Management from Regis University.