How Social-Savvy Professionals are Making a Difference through 12 Months of Service to the Community
By Natasha T. Brown
During the holiday season, there is no shortage of need. In DC alone, over 12,000 people are classified as homeless, and that number increases if you include the surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia. If you can imagine then, the number of those in need is even higher when you calculate the hungry, cold, and otherwise less fortunate residents of the Nation’s Capital and surrounding areas, who are in need of some integral resources. That means the growing need for philanthropists, private donors, government support agencies and kind-hearted, selfless people is at an all-time high. Many young professionals are attempting to answer the call to assist.
On September 1, a simple tweet from @Betta_Mo (Maurice McClanahan) asking his followers to support #SANTACAUSE by giving $10 in support of Safe Shores, began an important social media fundraiser still underway in the DMV. As I mentioned in Part 1 of this piece, the common mind frame of young, philanthropic influencers is that they have the desire to help anyone in need. Another similarity is that these individuals understand exactly how to activate their resources and networks. Since that tweet about SantaCause was sent, a couple dozen entertainers, influencers, and music professionals have donated approximately $3,500 to support DC’s advocacy center for abused and molested children.
“SantaCause is about the quantity of individuals involved and the quality of their hearts and kindness, more so than the quantity of a monetary donation. ‘It takes a village’ mentality,” McClanahan said. The #SantaCause campaign ends in the middle of December, and anyone can participate by visiting safeshores.org, clicking “donate” and designating “#SantaCause” with any size gift.
Philanthropic Influencers know that, “It takes a village,” to make a difference.
Take Project Giveback – an organization that mobilized the community to donate and volunteer in order to feed 1,000 less fortunate. The organization’s founder, Ransom Miller, understood that in order to help a massive amount of people, he had to widen his network. He did that through Twitter, email and a network of volunteers who provided everything from PR support to food delivery.
In addition to having the desire to help, influence to mobilize “the village,” and the ability to use resources effectively, social, philanthropic influencers, must also be connected to the population they are trying to help and have a foundation of their own to build from, according the DC Activist Tony Lewis, Jr., Founder of Sons of Life.
“Whatever your aim or your cause is, you have to have some connection and have done some groundwork. You can have the greatest intention, but if you’re not connected to the people, it’s not going to have the best impact,” said Lewis.
An example of this occurred on November 17. Lewis and Sons of Life partnered with The Board Administration to host their 3rd Annual Turkey Drive, and had a tremendous amount of support resulting in 290 DC residents receiving turkey and meals.
“The success and experience that people have when they come to support spreads. The next time, those people will speak for the event(s) and their experiences,” Lewis said. “When people come out and experience a volunteer event, they’re like, ‘Wow, anything else that you do, I will help!’”
Whenever I speak about philanthropy or on behalf of a specific cause, I often get pulled aside by at least one caring person who feels some sort of guilt about, “Not doing as much as [they] can.” Last Sunday, I spoke at a brunch full of successful media and public relations professionals, and someone said those exact words to me followed by, “I don’t have a lot of money to give…”
As I said on Sunday, and what I hope the stories of today’s young, philanthropic influencers will demonstrate, is that anything you can do is enough. Because just by sharing your thoughts about issues of importance, you become an influencer with the ability to touch those who can offer the things that you may lack, including money, time, venues and so forth. If you’re an influencer and you want to help a community effort, the simple act of sharing a message, pulling together resources, advocating on behalf of an important cause, including a philanthropic message/benefit to an existing event and engaging your followers in important community and solutions-oriented conversations is perfect.
Notes:
Please visit all of the young, philanthropic, influencers in Parts 1 and 2 on Twitter: @Betta_Mo, @RansomMiller, @ProjectGiveback, @MrTonyLewisJr, @MelisaKim @WillRap4FoodInc, @YoDiddy, @TalkOfDC, @DreamsWorkInc and @SunniAndTheCity.
Also, follow and learn more about @SmileNationwide, which works with these and other organizations/individuals to increase support of various causes each month through a program called #12MonthsOfService.
Natasha Brown is a writer and founding communications strategist of Think Brown INK, a creative think tank and strategic communications agency in the Washington area. Follow her on Twitter @TBINatasha or @ThinkBrownINK.