Muhammad Babangida is a committed philanthropist from Nigeria

Category: Community Engagement Page 7 of 10

How Digital Marketing Skills Can Help Nonprofits: Part 1

Unlike other businesses, nonprofit organizations are not focused on making money. Instead, they are committed to helping those in need. Nonprofits can easily reach out to their supporters through digital platforms. They don’t have to spend a lot of money on advertising, and they can use their platforms to promote their work.

The digital space is very cost-effective and can help nonprofits reach their potential audience. It can also help them raise funds without taking on excessive expenses. Nonprofits can also benefit from having a great website. It allows them to communicate with their potential donors and showcase their work.

Digital marketing can help boost a nonprofit’s visibility and provide more people with a chance to support them. Here are some of the key ways that digital marketing skills benefit nonprofits.

  1. Sharing Your Impact

Getting started with a good online presence is very important for a nonprofit. Having a well-designed site can help boost the organization’s visibility and attract more potential donors.

A good website design company can help a nonprofit create a well-designed and engaging platform. They will also make sure that the users have a good experience. Aside from creating a well-designed website, a good digital marketing agency can also help boost a nonprofit’s visibility through search engine optimization. This process can help create awareness for the organization and its services.

Digital platforms allow nonprofits to publicly share the impact they have on their community and make people more aware of the work they are doing.

  1. Inexpensive Exposure

Digital marketing allows companies with the deepest pockets to get the most exposure. Nonprofits, on the other hand, do not have the option of spending big on digital marketing.

Nonprofits should be able to explain how they use the money they have to donors. They should also make sure that they are not over-spending on digital marketing.

Even without spending a lot of money, digital marketing can still be very efficient for a nonprofit to build its brand. One of the most effective ways to do this is through content generation.

Another effective way to get noticed is through link building. A good link-building agency can help nonprofits find opportunities to appear on authority websites.

  1. Endless Opportunities

One of the biggest limitations of analog marketing is that it only allows a nonprofit to choose the media houses that are available.

Digital marketing is different though, as it allows nonprofits to reach their potential audience and promote their work in a multitude of ways. They can also use social media platforms to reach their target audience.

Aside from social media, a good digital marketing agency can also help a nonprofit create and manage various marketing strategies. Some of these include blog posts, videos, and case studies.

One of the most important factors that a company should consider when it comes to developing a website is the availability of various fundraising tools. Having the right tools can make it easier for people to give.

  1. Adaptable Marketing

Before the rise of the internet, conducting research on a nonprofit was very challenging. People had few options when it came to finding out about a certain organization. Today, having a well-designed website can help make it easier for people to find out more about the organization.

Having a robust digital presence is also important for nonprofits as it allows them to appear more credible online. Having a well-designed website can help people easily find information about a certain organization.

It is also important that the website is mobile-friendly. Having a responsive design can help ensure that the site can be easily accessed on different devices.

Small Steps for Community Improvement

Many people don’t have time to volunteer for community projects amidst busy work schedules and family demands. However, even with busy schedules, there are still ways to make a difference in the community. Here are some small steps you can take to have a positive impact on your community.

1. Shop Local

You can also save money by shopping with local businesses. They often offer free gift-wrapping and delivery services, and a portion of their sales go to the local community.

2. Speak Positively of Your Community

Share positive aspects of your community with other people. Doing so will help boost the local economy and encourage more people to shop locally.

3. Attend Local Events

You can also support local organizations by attending a festival or other event. These are usually fundraisers for local non-profit organizations. By attending, you can help raise money for the organizations.

4. Speak Up to People in Power

Write a letter to your local elected officials and encourage them to make good decisions for the community. Doing so will make them feel valued and encourage them to make better decisions.

5. Cultivate Beauty

Put a plant on your front porch to spruce up the appearance of your home. Doing so will make it look better and make the whole neighborhood look more attractive.

6. Be Neighborly

Take time to cook dinner for an older neighbor and deliver a plate to her next door. Doing this will let you get to know the people in the neighborhood and ward off crime.

7. Collect Donations

You can also help the community by participating in school programs that collect toys, clothes, and food for the less fortunate.

8. Embrace Volunteer Opportunities

If your company has a volunteer program, encourage them to participate in local events and join a civic organization. Having employees represent the company at large events will help boost their visibility.

9. Pick Up Trash

Walk around the neighborhood and pick up any litter that’s left behind. This will help build up your energy and get in some exercise while also cleaning up the neighborhood.

Doing our part to improve the community strengthens our ties with our neighbors and demonstrates what it means to be a good citizen.

 

Characteristics of the Best Philanthropists

People who are philanthropists are individuals who want to make a positive difference in the lives of others through the donation of their assets and services. They come from various socioeconomic backgrounds, and there are many characteristics that they share.

  1. Desire to Improve Lives

People who are philanthropists show a deep concern for the well-being of others. They do not expect recognition or compensation for their efforts.

  1. Understand Others’ Struggles

Philanthropists are likely to be sensitive to the struggles of others. They are obligated to do what they can to make them better.

  1. Strong Social Awareness

Philanthropists are also open-minded individuals who are aware of their surroundings. They seek to understand the motivations of others in order to improve their lives.

  1. Future-Focused

People who want to make a positive difference in the world tend to look beyond the immediate issues and focus on the long-term goals of improving society. They realize that it is important to address the underlying issues in order to make lasting changes.

  1. Involved in Government

As philanthropists, they are also advocates for political change. They believe that it is important to advocate for social change in order to make it happen. This is because it allows for progress on a broader scale.

  1. Tackle Individual Issues

Instead of supporting organizations, successful philanthropists seek to support specific causes. They first identify the issue they would like to see change in, then look for organizations that can help make it happen. They then use their own resources and those of other groups to find the best solution.

  1. Utilize Business Principles

Philanthropists typically look at their contributions as an investment in society, and they use the money and resources efficiently. Similar to business leaders, successful philanthropists use their networks to promote a cause. They do not exclusively support nonprofit organizations, but they also support for-profit ventures and legislative initiatives.

 

Marketing Trends to Watch in the Next Few Years

As the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses will have to adapt to changing consumers. To maintain a competitive advantage, it is critical that businesses monitor the latest marketing trends and adapt to meet today’s customers.

Here are some of the top marketing trends to watch for in the coming years:

The Rise of Social Commerce

Thanks to social media, it is now easier than ever for consumers to pass along information about companies. This has led to an increase in word-of-mouth marketing; companies responsible for good customer service will see significant returns on investment.

Content Being Repurposed Across Platforms

Before COVID-19, companies used to market their products and services exclusively on social media. With the rapid growth in content marketing, it has become more common for businesses to repurpose their existing video content across platforms. Businesses are also expected to see an increase in sales by addressing customer questions via social media.

Community Builds Business

Digital communities have become a driving factor in many companies’ marketing efforts. Consumers are now more likely to seek advice from those who share similar interests and concerns, and businesses can benefit by advertising within specific communities.

Content Is Still King

Businesses that focus on creating high-quality content for their customers will be at an advantage as the market continues to shift towards building community. While some companies have been tempted to cut back on their marketing efforts during the economic downturn, those that invest in high-quality content will find themselves with a loyal following of customers when the economy recovers.

Advances in Marketing Automation

The rapid growth of content marketing has also increased the demand for more sophisticated marketing automation systems. This requires an understanding of how each consumer interacts with the company’s products or services and how to reach them at precisely the right time.

The Rise of Brand Activism

With the COVID-19 pandemic and other social upheavals, consumers saw first-hand how quickly their lives could change. As a result, more companies are expected to highlight products that offer purpose and meaning instead of merely being practical.

 

Important Ways Technology Impacts Productivity

 

Although there are arguments about technology leading to multiple distractions for employees, there are also many examples of technology having positive impacts on productivity. Let’s take a look at some of the important ways technology is improving productivity in workplaces around the world, with information featured from an article on Beekeeper.

  1. Communication improvements

Previously, we have seen workplace communication revolve around email threads and one-on-one meetings. However, when the Covid19 pandemic hit, it was clear that businesses had to integrate other ways of communicating so that operations could still continue without people in the office. Now, it is popular for employees to communicate over skype instant messaging, and Zoom video conferencing. Technology has allowed workplace communication to become quicker, more efficient, and more thorough than ever before. 

  1.   Peer-to-peer communication

Along with better workplace communication as a whole, colleagues are able to communicate with each other more effectively as well. Skype instant messaging, Slack and other communication platforms have made it so that team members can speak with anyone in the company quickly without having to exchange personal phone numbers. Employees are able to use these online platforms to share videos, links, messages, images, and documents with each other with ease. With responses being quicker, there are fewer headaches and miscommunications throughout the office and productivity actually increases. 

  1.   Improved employee satisfaction.

Employee satisfaction is important for multiple aspects of running a smooth operating business. Unhappy employees tend to be less engaged, less productive, and add to a high turnover rate. Employees are starting to become more and more concerned about their values and happiness when it comes to placing themselves at jobs, and companies need to take that into account for their own good and success. One way businesses can increase employee satisfaction is by recognizing their individual employees for various achievements, random uplifting, and even special events like birthdays and pregnancies. Receiving zero communication from leaders and other members of the team can make employees feel like they are not a vital part of the organization. Allow employees to have a voice in different online platforms and keep them informed about various policy changes, workplace incidents, and other information that would benefit them to know. 

 

How to Find Purpose in Your Projects

Some projects may not fully project their purpose during conception. However, these projects become helpful with time, and they manifest their usefulness in their implementation. Therefore, it is important not to judge any project before it is implemented because you cannot tell what it will yield in the future. It is therefore essential to evaluate business projects.

 

The following are key points to help you find purpose in your business project.

  • A Good Starting Point

The purpose of the business is the crucial point to determine the project’s value. However, with time the business executives may opt to find the actual use of the project case. The value of the project is not measured with the gains it’s giving back to the company at the moment, but the real gains it will bring to the company in the future. A project is not set for short-term goals but long-term goals. 

 

Some projects may go beyond the constraints of the projected budget, but it does not mean that they are not worth investing in. This is because other projects went way far beyond their projected budget, and they still stand to date as iconic monuments worth the investment. However, if they could have been cut short, their importance could not be celebrated today.

  • Why Business Case Is Not the Only Rationale

Business executives should invest in building the case for a project. Still, they must be conversant with the project and understand its potential impact on its development before implementing it. They will be required to conduct in-depth research to ensure adequate information on what the project can offer. However, this approach requires a viable use case on top of its purpose. However, only 2.5 percent of the companies can complete their projects in this approach.

  • Building Purpose Into a Project

To ensure that you have built the true purpose in a project, you will have to ensure that you have established the reason why the project exists. This way, you will identify the importance of business on the owners and the employees. These are the key issues that give the project meaning beyond its profitability.

  • Finding Out the Why of a Project

The most effective way to understand the purpose of a project is by answering the recurring questions. If the business cannot answer the endless questions, it may not have any practical purpose. Therefore, a good project must give answers to ensure that it has saved huge expenses and avoids losses.

 

Growing Community Engagement For Your Small Business

Just as your business is integral to building a thriving economy for your community, a community is vital to succeeding as a business at all. Community involvement allows businesses to build relationships with their consumer base, increase brand awareness, and further their visibility and outreach. No matter how it’s done, business owners should encourage community members to get involved with their business to build customer loyalty and increase the overall benefits for both the community and the business

 

That being said, it’s not as easy as someone snapping their fingers to create an engaged community, nor can a business expect its community to engage with it at every opportunity presented. Business owners need to put in work if they want their community to actively engage with them and further their presence in the community.

 

One thing many business owners forget is that their community is made up of people. Social media makes it easy to forget that a community is more than accounts on a screen; though beneficial, the human aspect of engagement should never be forgotten. This goes for both the consumer and the employees running the social media accounts: everyone is human, so everyone should be treated as such. Additionally, social media takes away the all-important face-to-face interaction that many clients and businesses need to build a lasting relationship. When possible to meet face-to-face safely, encourage in-person interactions, and take advantage of the human aspect of relationships.

 

Engagement doesn’t all fall onto the business owner, however. Employees are just as vital in creating community engagement and connecting with others, so they should be encouraged to become involved with local organisations related and unrelated to work. Connections aren’t kept to one place—they can form anywhere. It’s vital that businesses support their employees, then, so that they can pursue interests outside of work and create these lasting connections.

 

Another way to engage with the local community is by being completely transparent with customers and overcommunicating. If there are big changes coming to the business, communicate those changes and the reasoning behind said changes prompt; if possible, let people know about it in advance. Overcommunicating is better than under-communicating, and customers deserve to know what decisions are being made. If they are kept in the loop, they are much more likely to be supportive of a business. 

 

For the biggest impact on a community, business owners should get themselves involved in community initiatives. These can often be found on the local municipality website; cities, villages, and townships are likely to post important initiatives to their municipality site. If any questions arise, simply talk to the local city administrator or clerk to ask how to get involved.

How Your Company Can Include Philanthropy in its Culture

Corporate philanthropy can be extremely beneficial not just for your community, but for your business’s visibility and reputation within the community you’re located in as well. Whether you’re volunteering in your community, supporting causes you care about, or donating to charitable causes, partaking in corporate philanthropy has an abundance of positive benefits that make it worth considering. You can build a strong sense of community with your employees and customers, give back to your community at large, and become more appealing to younger employees who seek out businesses that hold philanthropy in high regard. 

 

How can you start getting involved in corporate philanthropy?

 

An easy way to start on your business’s philanthropic journey is to offer volunteer time off to your employees. This will give your employees time to support organisations and causes that they hold dear to their hearts while not having to worry about using up precious PTO or taking an unpaid day off to get involved. Having volunteer time off, or VTO, will encourage your employees to become socially responsible and dedicate their time to charitable causes. It will also help attract and retain talented employees for your business.

 

More internally, corporate philanthropy should start with ethical labour practices. You must adopt fair pay for the work your employees put in—their time isn’t worth nothing, after all. Once you adopt ethical labour practices, you can go to your company’s social media pages and encourage your followers and other industry leaders to follow in your footsteps. You can even take it a step further by creating and hosting events that surround this topic for other companies.

 

Perhaps your product or service will be beneficial to others when offered charitably. Businesses can participate in philanthropy by offering their services to others pro bono; ideally, you’ll be offering these services to organisations that are involved in charity work. It’s a great way to build awareness for a cause you care about while helping those around you by doing something within your field of business.

 

Lastly, you could partner your business with a charitable organisation that means something to you. This will offer ongoing opportunities to become involved in philanthropic deeds and show your community that your business is committed to giving back. Charitable organisations can become an integral part of your business model and give new meaning to yourself, your products or services, and your efforts at large.

6 of the Best Charities to Donate to Today

After deciding to support a charitable organization financially, the next procedure is looking for a legitimate non-profit organization that will use the donations to make meaningful impacts. Sorting out through the hundreds of non-profit making organizations to verify their credibility may be cumbersome. However, the following are the best charities to donate funds to.

United Way Southeastern Michigan

It is an organization that specializes in the mobilization of Southeastern Michigan and Detroit’s caring power. Besides, they are improving individual and community lives in lasting and measurable ways. They achieve their goal by empowering and improving each family’s lives to become successful through health, economic prosperity, and education.

Hand and Feet 24/7

The Hands and Feet 24/7 mission has established a gathering space beneficial to the SC and Taylors. Additionally, the organization has been formed to establish and facilitate job training, promoting Gospel-centered education and community development programs.

Keeping Blues Alive

The Blues Alive foundation aims at fueling the music passion through the funding of scholarships and programs. It helps the teachers and students who have musical talent, but resources deny them the chance to achieve their desires.

Wishwall Foundation

Wishwall is a non-profit organization. The organization’s principle is giving voice to the voiceless and assisting them in making their wishes come true. Besides, the Wishwall foundation is known for its multi-faceted nature. It mainly consists of Wishwall in all cities and the Wishwall online. It gives individuals the chance to show their wishes. The foundation also encourages people to help one another and ensure all people achieve their desires and dreams.

Kyyba Kidz Foundation

Foundation formed as a dedication in assisting the underprivileged individuals and orphans in raising the required resources using community participation. They help kids achieve great heights by ensuring they are active partners by participating fully to get the necessary capital for orphan’s education.

Global Giving Foundation Inc

An organization that connects the companies, donors, and nonprofits to donate. They help the nonprofits from Zimbabwe to Afghanistan access the support, training, and tools they require to make the world more convenient.

Conclusion

Having gone through the best organizations to donate your donations to, you can now make your choice. The donations will be used in the right manner and greatly help many needy people.

Agricultural Investing and Food Security

On a planet that is sustaining more than seven billion people, producing enough food to feed them all is a major challenge. However, producing enough food is not the primary problem. Rather, it’s the distribution, affordability, and access to all the food that is produced that causes food insecurity for millions.

In fact, more than nine million people a year die from famine, according to Mercy Corps, an international relief agency.

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reports that the number of people facing food insecurity rose by 60 million between 2014 and 2019. The situation is even more confounding considering that, in modernized nations, from 30% to 40% of all food is simply tossed in the trash because it goes unused.

The challenge of achieving even food distribution globally is considerable. Experts say a key area where this problem can be attacked is in the realm of agricultural investment. This process can be handled in multiple ways. One of the biggest factors is the funding provided by governments. The U.S. is the largest contributor to the FAO with $529 million contributed in 2019 alone.

This money is used to support things like crop forecasting, sustainable agriculture, disaster relief (as in the case of famine), food safety, and more. The FAO funds collaborative research efforts between nations seeking to increase food production. More importantly, it works on ways to get food where it is needed and to make it affordable.

Industry observers say that investing in agricultural technology must be a high priority going forward. That’s because there are a series of factors that are putting pressure on growing enough food for everyone. For example, climate change is producing longer periods of drought that destroy crops. That can be countered by technological advances that produce food varieties that can sustain warmer and drier growing conditions.

The central thing to remember about bolstering ag-tech is that it costs money. That’s the role of agricultural investment. Governments, corporations, local farmers, and communities must put more financial resources into creating advanced food-growing technologies that will sustain food production in the coming years.

Additionally, geopolitical factors, social factors, and government policy all play a role in producing food and getting it to the tables of all those who need it around the world.

Page 7 of 10

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén