Crowdsourcing Platforms Designed For The Mission-Based Community (Part I)
“Crowdsourcing” is the buzzword of the moment (though coined in the ancient world of technology back in 2006) and pertains to making an open appeal or project to a community and having those connected to that community take on the appeal or project and running it amongst themselves. It assumes the existence of a community in close communication (think Twitter, simple messaging services, Google Talk!, etc.), who is also ready to share information among their own micro-communities or constituencies. The challenge is to build one’s community and keep it engaged and ready to receive your organization’s various appeals and requests. Meeting that challenge is what a number of online services and platforms have established themselves to do. We shall review a few of them today.
Popularity: unranked | Category Banking & Finance, Community, Grants and Funding, Marketing, Nonprofit, Software Review, Sustainability, Urban Farming, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Saving Money, Reducing CO2, and Getting Profitable IS That Easy
Shut down your machine!
The Ford Motor Company did not require the same sorts of bailouts that the General Motors conglomerate did last year. Its family-run structure likely kept its owners, managers, and designers on their toes because they had their own ‘skins-in-the-game.’ Now TreeHugger.com posts a story about how the company went ahead and saved another cool $1.2 million by, uh, turning off the computers at its headquarters at night and on weekends. The decision is rewarded thusly, according to TreeHugger: “By centrally controlling the power settings on the company’s computers, they are saving an estimated $1.2 million annually and keeping between 16,000 and 25,000 metric tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere.”
Popularity: unranked | Category Automobiles, Climate Change, Community, Conference/Congress, Greening, News and Current Affairs, Site Administration, Sustainability, Technology, Urban Farming | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
A Conversation with Steve Frillmann, Executive Director, Green Guerillas
A community garden created by local residents with the help and support of Green Guerillas
Each month we look at a marketing challenge faced by many of our clients. This month the issue is when, or if, to switch from print to web-based and social media, and we chose to present it through the eyes of one of our clients. We recently spoke with Steve Frillmann, executive director of Green Guerillas, a nonprofit organization that supports hundreds of community gardens (and gardeners) in New York City.
We’ve been working with the Green Guerillas for more than 12 years, a relationship that began when Marco Kathuria volunteered as a muralist/photographer/videographer for a project working with children to create colorful murals within community gardens in New York City. Out of that relationship came a realization of a “shared DNA” – a commitment to enrich the lives of city residents, one neighborhood at time. The collaboration with the Green Guerillas evolved into the creation of the organization’s graphic identity and communications toolkit. The marketing mix and the strategic direction it has taken has evolved over the years as a result of the close collaboration between MKCREATIVE and Steve Frillmann.
We began our conversation by asking Steve to give us his perspective on how he sees the Internet:Direct Mail mix for his own organization, considering that converting one’s communications from print to Internet is all the rage in business and nonprofit circles. But how useful is a great website if the bulk of your constituents visit the Web infrequently, or never? (more…)
Popularity: unranked | Category Community, Greening, Revitalization, Sustainability, Urban Farming, interview | | View Comments
Written by: Marco Kathuria