In June of 2006, I moved to Fort St. John to be closer to family.  The economy here was booming and the oil and gas sector was the cause.  My nephew, his wife and their 5 children were here and I was looking forward to spending time with them and helping out.  Sadly, my nephew and his family were transferred on July 1, 2006 to Prince George.  I found myself alone in a place I hardly knew.  Years ago, my Mom had told me that the best way to meet people was through volunteering.  The next thing I knew I was volunteering at the Fort St. John Women’s Resource Society (FSJWRS).  It was not what I expected.  I had this preconceived notion that this organization was full of male bashing women.  Boy, I was really wrong. The volunteers came from all walks of life and were in different stages of life.  Some had been single, others had young families, some were widows and many had successful long-term relationships with their spouses.  These women were extremely supportive of one another and had a wealth of knowledge. The goal is to empower women and girls by providing tools that would improve the quality of their lives.  Social media has been used to build the brand, inform and educate however there is so much more that could be done.

It’s the season of giving. And with more than 85,000 registered charities in Canada, the competition for your discretionary dollar is heating up. For traditional non-profits like the United Way, dealing with dwindling donation dollars is compounded by the rise of online, crowd-sourced and increasinlgy niche charitable initiatives. How does one of Canada’s largest and oldest charities break through the clutter, especially during the prime giving season, to successfully engage local, distracted and digitally savvy donors? While bricks-and-motar organizations like the United Way certainly have their work cut out, the increasing use of social media and the resulting metrics are helping organizations focus their marketing efforts to maximize awareness, engagement and, ultimately, donations.