By Jennifer Lindsay, Director of Digital Services, Social Media Evangelist / New Media Guru

I had the pleasure of being a co-panelist at the Council on PR Firms event that for a low cost, aimed to arm non-profits with loads of information about how to make the move or grow their presence in the digital world.

The event was held at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) in San Francisco on February 26th and, in my humble opinion, did a lot of good in the short time we had.

As you may know, Eastwick has made an ongoing commitment in its nearly 20-year lifespan to take on pro bono work, when possible, and encourage employees to participate in community and volunteer events on “company time.” I’ll save our Eastwick Cares initative for another post (it’s lead by one of our contributors here, Samantha Hallock), but in the meantime, those of us that participated in the event wanted to share with you our take on the day – and afterwards…

A View From The Top 

By Elaine Cummings, Principal

Back in January, our digital services maven Jennifer Lindsay posted about the Council of PR Firms’ workshop for non-profits called Surviving and Thriving in Uncertain Times: Digital Marketing Techniques for Non-Profits.

The workshop took place last week and I’m happy to report that it was a full house. 

There was some excellent content presented by our friends at other agencies (LaunchSquad, The Hoffman Agency, Weber Shandwick) plus perspective from the front lines - case studies from non-profits (American Cancer Society and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition) and the outside experts who work with them every day (TechSoup and AudioLuxe).

New media guru Charlene Li moderated a lively panel session about tools and best practices.

Jennifer was part of the panel discussion and she did a great job, along with her fellow panelists, of sharing ideas and tips for using social media to raise money, coordinate volunteers, and do a better job of staying connected to constituencies that matter.

My favorite part of the workshop was a case study from Miles Orkin at the American Cancer Society of California. He talked about the organization’s “text to give” program that raises micro donations via mobile devices. Text “Hope 20222” if you want to check it out.

Or, take a look at the Mobile Giving Foundation, an organization that provides back-end support for this type of giving campaign. It’s a great way to keep people engaged, especially those that aren’t big donors today, but could be the significant donors down the road. As we saw through the Obama campaign, those small amounts can add up and make a big difference. 

The Man Behind the Scenes

By Kevin Cheng, Associate

So how do you get leaders from 6 PR agencies all in the same room? How do you convince them to pull away from their offices, turn off their Blackberries and focus on pro-bono work?

You ask nicely.

And this is exactly what the Council of PR Firms SVP and Director of Communications, Matt Shaw, did. 

Carefully hand-selected, and picked for their track record with social media and helping non-profits, the agencies involved in the February digital marketing techniques workshop participated because of their desire to educate and help organizations communicate effectively with their key audiences.

This became abundantly clear when speaking and working with my fellow PR pros.

From scheduling calls, to reaching out to attendees, to media outreach there was a deep desire to help across the board. Volunteers jumped in from all over, and provided energy, enthusiasm and assistance. And the Council of PR Firms was there to support every detail and step along the way.

So a big thank you to all the attendees and agencies working on the event that made it a success. And a special thank you to the Council of PR Firms for asking for our help so nicely.

The Go-To Girl

By Samantha Hallock, Associate

Oftentimes, people attend educational events with equal parts fear and enthusiasm - especially in the social media realm, where the vast array of online communication vehicles and tools (ie. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and online video) is fascinating, but can leave attendee heads spinning.

Fortunately, the savvy PR professionals in charge of the event scheduled an expert panel discussion, led by Charlene Li, to give attendees a chance to get down n’ dirty with the mountainous amount of information they’d been swallowing and ask the real question on everyone’s mind - “Where do I start?”

The panel was prepared for every question and had a tip to tackle every problem. The discussion, while heated at times (common with so much talent and experience sitting at one table), was chock full of practical, actionable information that had the guests revved up to get online and evangelizing for their organizations.

Some favorite suggestions were: A.) Find a cyber mentor (didn’t your mother ever tell you copying was a form of flattery?), B.) Start small (as the Greeks said, “All things in moderation”), and C.) Build up your content (we repeat - its all about the content - content, content, content!).

A special shout out to the passionate panel members Jason Mandell, Jennifer Lindsey, Susan Tenby and Stacy Bond.