crowdfunding & social media engagement for education scholarships
TRANSCRIPT
Hani Qaddumi Scholarship FoundationBaraka Advisors - Communications Strategy - Workshop #1by @rchakaki - Nov 12 2013
Run a Communications Workshop - 1/2day
• Dreamscape.. what more can we do?
• Introduce the social business web and the elements of a social business
• Discuss the culture, values and vision of HQSF and agreeing on what gets socialized
• Present communications development approaches and discussing suitable options for HQSF
• Agree on the stakeholder priorities
• Identify and prioritize communication channels
• Set the project milestones
1
vision & targets
Values
• Education is the source and pathway to social empowerment, economic strength, and will help advance Palestinian society in the long term.
• Every student, no matter what their socioeconomic background, should have access to higher education.
• Empowering and catalyzing change begins with allowing outstanding and deserving youth the choice to fashion their educational aspirations, and realize them through hard work and dedication.
• Changing the landscape of Palestinian society is at the core of HQSF’s mission and the full potential of a society can only be realized when signs of prosperity through education emerge
• Report findings • Are you reaching the right students? • Are you delivering education for employment? • Can you use the application process to raise standards /
equip students to compete at an international level?
Quantify
Goals Measurement 2014 Target
Grant Palestinian students with exceptional academic abilities to pursue higher education. # of Students 100 Undergrad, 6 AUB, 8 Grad
Raise educational standards so that students in Palestine can uncompromisingly compete in today’s knowledge economy.
Teacher’s Award Program Launch & Monitor Online Results
Support the higher educational institutions that support Palestinian students to excel. Teacher Training? Establish one skills-development
mentoring program for a PAL U (online)
Meet the complex challenge of assessing the growth of diverse sectors within the Palestinian economy, so job needs are met and students can carve out careers when finishing their educational
Schummaker Foundation Conference?
Collaborate with partner organizations to focus on expanding and enhancing educational opportunities for Palestinian youth.
# of partners vs resources to manage collaboration
Employ digital means to connect & engage w 3 new partners
Become an essential resource in both Palestine and the region as a progressive model for not-for-profit organizations.
Visibility through content
Publish 4 viral info graphics on the education sector & Monthly SM Engagement growth (Set Targets)
Provide resources and monetary assistance to raise capital and secure funding for scholarships through donors and other philanthropic contributions.
Train 1 student abroad in new media digital skills
Your input
Validate & prioritize
Targets Priority
Automate existing processes 1
Expand to engage stakeholders currently inactive 2
Expand support services 3
Establish partnerships locally and globally to further vision 3
Socialize the organization. Communicate developments not just outcome 2
Explore other funding models 1
Your input
Realize the vision..
• Scale the organization (IT & SOCIAL)
• Evolve the brand identity to appeal to target stakeholders.
• Reflect the values and services of HQSF in brand expressions.
• Create an engagement strategy combining digital, traditional media and content marketing.
• Engage across channels in meaningful conversations.
• Build an engaging and measurable web presence.
• Transform to a stakeholder-centric experience across all channels & services within the brand.
• Empower your teams with information and tools to effectively communicate.
• Monitor and measure your social media activities;
• Assess achievements and improve engagement.
social media landscape
Howard Pyle - VP Digital Strategy & head of IBM Design Lab NYC
If you think of social as a function of marketing, then you're limiting your potential.
March 5, 2013
March 5, 2013
inspiring examples - socializing organizations
2
More.. socialize your work
Raise student profiles
Connect students & mentors
Build Partnerships
Inspire US Philanthropy
Reach hidden Talent
Facilitate R&D
Mobilize Alumni
Enable eEducation & eEmployment
Student-centric communication
Simple Messaging
Alumni Stories
Engage Global Mentors
& ED-Councilors
similar approach
different target
share aspirational role models
Creative Collaboration
“other” programs
online education
crowd-funding scholarships
donor -> student u facilitate
can be part of a site funding non education
projects
$850,000 in 3 days
Online Competitions
Student Driven
Developing a crowd-funding platform
Activity Estimated 1st-yr Cost in USDProduct Development 10000
Technical Development 7500
Design 12000
Outreach & Marketing 20000
Adoption (Student-side) 36000
Business Development (Partners) 36000
Legal / Finance / Admin 34000
155500
Estimates to assess success
Activity Unit
Scholarship Application Funding 2500 - 40000
Advertising
% earning to platform provider 3% - 7%
percentage failed to raise full targets 56% - 80%
# of scholarship applicants required to break even
success factors
• platform ease of use
• marketing and adoption
• engagement of all stakeholders
The Approach - Transformation & Communication
The goal of social media is to turn customers into a volunteer marketing army.
-Jay Baer
personality!visualauthenticity - in your writingrelevance - to your audience consistency - in delivery
Can you scale your services through automation?
External Communications
Internal Communications
Culture
strategy
organization processes
people
structure
systemsvision
Governance
Scholarship Awarding Process
BP - can u automate &/or socialize?
Scholarship Queries
Student Agreements
Scholarship Maintenance
Application Processing
People
Business Process
Vision &
Strategy Structure
Systems
Payment Processing
Grantee List Management
Scholarship Advertising
Grantee Management Process
Research Process
Executive
Operational
Operations Management
Structure - Outsource? Socialize?
ED
Scholarship Coordinate
PR & CommunicationsDigital & IT
Scholarship Queries
Student Agreements
Scholarship Maintenance
Application Processing
AccountingAdmin Assistant
People
Business Process
Vision &
Strategy Structure
Systems
Payment Processing
Grantee List Management
HQSF Systems - All software used to streamline operations and facilitate internal (BoD, staff, partners, students) & external (public) communications.
People
Business Process
Vision &
Strategy
Structure
Systems
Accounting Donor Management
Student Records
Social Operations /
Task management
Public
Public/Back-office
Back-office
Website
Dropbox Storage
FB+ page
Gmail
Accounting Donor Management
Student Records
Trello Project &
Task Management
G+ Community
page Engage Alumni
FB (Active & Alum Communities)
x pages
Twitter (News feeds)
Public
Public/Back-office
Back-office
Crowd-fundingWebsite Google Ad Words
Dropbox Storage PayPal
G+ Community
page
Gmail
?
Yammer
eMail Campaign
Management
Analysis Tools
Stakeholder Priorities
people / stakeholders
• students
• alumni
• grantees
• university partners
• media
• ministry of education
• other community members who want to get involved
Stakeholders - Validation
stakeholder sample presence roleGrantees - Faisal Alami varied influencer, content
consumer, connectors
Fellows - local / international - competitors / collaborators producers, influencers,
Alumni - local / regional / international producers, influencers, advocates
Prospective students - by sector user, producer, influencer
Media - local / regional / international - digital / traditional connectors, advocates
Industry Research - MIT / Gartner / Forrester / Brookings Influencers, collaborators
Global Donors - Expats, MNCs, Individuals, INGOs, Diaspora NGOs funders, consumers
Partners collaborators, producers
MoE
Universities - Local, Global, Online
People
Business Process
Vision &
Strategy
Systems
Structure
Channel Priorities
resources & process - outsource / hire / intern
Your input
Website - what’s not
• Talks about you -> tell me how I can engage
• Designed for feedback - Who searched? How do I engage visitors who searched?
• Navigation - where’s home?
• Loading time of PDFs -> web-time
• Current information - Research is 2006
• News Dates
• Social Sharing & Calls to Action
Other Channels
• CRM
• G+ for the community buildout
• Facebook - Linked-in - Twitter
Brand Analysis
Brand Analysis
• Who are you addressing?
• Does it draw their attention?
• Does it connect with them emotionally?
• What action do you want from them?
• Does it represent your values & vision?
• How do you make it a rich experience beyond a financial transaction?
Brand Guidelines
• Youthful
• Trendy
• Not limited to Scholarships - inclusive of other education goals
Your input
The proposed approach ..
Develop a Digital Communications Strategy
• Establish near and long term integrated communication and engagement objectives
• Conduct a stakeholder analysis to assess their digital communication channel preferences.
• Draft the organization’s overriding messages and 2013/2014 campaign messages
• Build the digital communications plan (channels, targets, messages, timeline matrix)
• Align digital communications with existing communications activities
• Establish KPIs (key performance indicators) to measure the success of the digital strategy
• Set the communications budget
• Create a spokesperson training program - running parallel to an internal Social Media Engagement Training
• Setup the communications analytics tools
• Launch the communication strategy
2
engaging 2013
Evolve the brand & launch campaign
Evolve the HQSF brand while maintaining valued elements
Create the launch campaign assets
Set launch metrics and analytics
3
Train & Launch
Conduct training sessions over a month to:!• Introduce the brand• Train campaign spokespersons• Train the social media & content
marketing manager (in-house option)• Launch across media channels
4
On-going support
• Provide guidance, advice and support the HQSF management in implement the communication strategy for 12 months.
• Oversee the implementation of the strategy across channels
• Monitor and adjust outputs of the strategy implementation
• Provide spokesperson training to elected manager and first year fellows who will communicate with the public on behalf of HQSF.
• Handover to the head of communications.
• Support HQSF head of communications in planning the following year strategy and budgets.
5
On-going Deliverables
• Introductions to organizations & media channels that are suitable for partnership.
• Opportunities to expand project portfolio and donor-base.
• Training sessions (online) and select workshops for existing and new team-members on Content Marketing & social media .
Project Milestones
Q3
Project Timeline - 2013
Communications workshop
Strategy OutlineConduct
Stakeholder analysis
Examine existing channels & create
a channel / message matrix
Draft Communications
& Information Technology
Strategy
Develop the brand and Launch Campaign
Training program & Launch
campaign assets
1st phase Feedback & Adjustment first report
Project start
Project End 12 months from
initiation date
Deliverables
Client Review & Input
Incorporate feedback
brand outline detailed launch plan
Implementation oversight, analysis & adjustments
Q1 Q4 2014Q2
Q3
2014 - Q1
Setup Back-office Tools
Conduct Stakeholder Engagement Workshop
Activate Communications, Monitor & Adjust
Activate Next Communication
Channel
Third Stakeholder Engagement Workshop
Activate Next Communication
Channel
Project start
Project End 12 months from
initiation date
Deliverables
Client Review & Input
Second Stakeholder Engagement Workshop
Implementation oversight, analysis & adjustments
Q4 2014Q2
DesignWireframesSite Plan Development Test Seed Content Launch
RED Crowd Funding / Site Development
References
References
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/20/uc-promise-for-education-_n_3965021.html
• http://www.equals6.com/crowdfunding/discover?pg=1
• http://www.funding4learning.com/
• http://blog.saltmoney.org/find-your-scholarship-match-infographic/
• http://www.collegenet.com/elect/app/app
• https://www.wdhstore.com/hispanic/data/pdf/nov29-howsocial.pdf
• http://www.knightfoundation.org/press-room/press-release/free-to-tweet-event-at-newseum/