Grace Educational Trust

Sustainable Community Development Through Education

Grace Educational Trust – the context

The bigger picture - social media philanthropy

Taking stock – SWOT

Social Media Strategy

12-month implementation plan

Social Media for Grace

The Context – Founding Mothers

Neelima Francis

Ontario Ministry of Education

Poverty Social Worker

The Context - Genesis

2006 - 2007 2008 2009 2010

(~80)(40) (~60)

The Context - Vision

Educated

Children

Reduced Poverty

Engaged Commu

nity

Virtuous Cycle:Sustainable community

development through education

The Context – Problem Statement

Burden of poverty

InfrastructureContent

Human time

Education

Have...

Need...

To get...

& show...

Results

The Context – Problem Statement

The Context – Solution

+

= social media philanthropy

Social media is connecting needs and solutions beyond borders

Social Media Philanthropy is on the rise (e.g. SocialActions, 50+ ways on mashable)

Education has existing communities (e.g. ASCD Edge)

Global interconnectedness is recognized “Mobile” philanthropy potential

◦ Emerging markets and emerging technologies are joining hands

◦ Use of mobile technologies in education

The Context - Bigger Picture

The Context – Business Model

Social Media

IS:

CAN BE:

Examples:

The Context – Business Strategy

Grace

Contributor

Contributor

Contributor

Contributor

Contributor

ContributorContributor

Supporter

Supporter

Supporter

Supporter Supporter

Supporter

Supporter

Supporter

Supporter

Supporter

Contributor

1. Build community as resource

2. Enhance engagement

3. Augment (financial) support base per projected growth; achieved mostly through first two goals

The Context - Goals

# of people involved through investment of time

# of non-financial contributions received◦ Infrastructure◦ Content◦ Time

# of people engaging with Grace◦ through contributors’ online presence◦ otherwise

The Context – Business Measures

Taking Stock – Social Media SWOTStrengths•Demonstrated results•Following best practices•Have an existing “following”•Staff passionate about learning and educating•“Pepper Virtual Assistants”•No Canadian administration costs•Ontario Education community exposure•Successful experience with Canadian teacher in Goa

Weaknesses•Not much exposure with social media (although currently being sought and developed)•Staff (3+1) already at full capacity•No budget in Canada

Opportunities•Social media philanthropy•Use of mobile technologies in distance education

Threats•Many competitors in category•Donor fatigue•Trust in organization and effectiveness key

Concept statement for “contributor” audience

An online community of contributors who are interested in supporting education in

developing countries. The community would provide high-quality educational resources and/or instruction which can be delivered through technology and used by students

and teachers in developing countries. Grace’s site will also report on usage,

results, and popularity of the resources/ instruction provided.

Social Media Strategy

Social Media Strategy

Building on the four pillars…

Communicate, Collaborate, Educate, Entertain

Attract:◦ Identify/ contact “teachers in progress”◦ Participate in relevant discussions on community

blogs (e.g. Teachers Social Network, Classroom 2.0, ASCD Edge, Edutopia)

Build relationship:◦ Publish stories on blog about

use and impact of educational resources from contributors

Build trust:◦ Direct access to kids’ reports depersonalized

SMS - Communicate

Invite contributions from education community on specific problems/ topics ◦ (can be links but also YouTube favourites and votes)

Build a “Grace” tribe◦ Potential Primary Target Audience:

Students of “teaching”◦ May also look for the same in Goan Expats, educational

community, BBBS

Coordinate virtual / distance learning sessions ◦ (internet via Skype or videoconferencing/ mobile via

audio lessons or stories)

SMS - Collaborate

Tie industry wisdom and trends with current activities (e.g.)◦ Distance/ virtual education in developing

countries

One piece of info every term about the environment (e.g.)◦ Ties between developing and developed nations

SMS - Educate

Publish one product from the kids per month – e.g. a cute event, or a work they’ve produced

SMS - Entertain

Crowd-puller: ◦ Referrers ◦ # of non-own-site mentions

Content: keywords/ landing page / clickstream analysis

Outcomes: Conversion rate Contributor ‘applications’/ # of non-financial

contributions/ Donations from site Comments/ # of people responding on social media

presence “loyalty” as contributors

(using Google/ Piwik/ SocialMention and some offline measures)

Measuring Effectivenes

12-Month Plan1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

• Listen• Add analytics

Solicit contributions

Refine Strategy

1) Publish Kids’ Work; Industry wisdom/trends; Env. Info

2) Monitor analytics

Write about impacts and recognize contributors (

site, LinkedIn)

12-Month Plan Resources: Voluntary service contributions

◦ Redirect some of existing time

◦ Utilize pro bono services such as Taproot or Idealist

Suggestions/ Questions?