Remember Project Reach anyone?

This is the feature from Today, This is the photoshoot we had for the article at SPH, This is the 93.8 interview, while Part One and Two of Project Reach held in the NVPC (National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre) can be found here and here.

To give a short recap, Project Reach is where students work directly with a Not for Profit organization (NFP)- To develop a communications plan for them, and if the client likes it enough, maybe even carry it to execution.

This year, they have decided to make it even bigger by introducing the Project Reach Causathon. Inspired by US President Obama’s successful use of social media during his election campaign, 85 students will be relying on the use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook to win over donors’ support for the causes they are championing.

All donations will be done via GIVE.sg and in case you’ve never heard of them, it’s a one stop portal where people can donate simply by browsing among the various causes and charities available in their site.

Personally I think it’s a very good idea. Built just last year in October, it has really facilitated the collection of funds online (not to mention saving them various expenses as well) as they are no longer required to pay the toll to move ahead in this digital age.

I was invited by my beloved lecturer Ms Piya Chee on wednesday 7th of July back to the SMa campus, where they officially launched the Project Reach Causathon by having a Starbucks coffee and tea promotion - each for just $2. And all of it goes to charity too! How often can you drink Starbucks coffee cheaply for a good cause after all?

Throngs of people having their caffeine shots~

The reason I was invited however, was not just to drink coffee. The student groups were there and pitching to the bloggers, telling them what it was all about and how they would go around promoting their cause.

As I walked in just a bit late, I decided to talk to the groups individually, and was able to hear from 4 of the student groups.

From what I hear, most of the groups were only allocated their NFPs a few days ago, so I wasn’t really expecting too much.

However, I was really impressed with the first group I interacted with- The Agency. They were representing Sanctuary House and what made them stand out from the rest of the group was how prepared they were. I was able to grab a professional looking folder with their agency name splashed on the front. On the inside were various press releases (in both English and Mandarin), bio-data of all 4 group members, and even their core values.

Even their projects are interesting. Project Baby Love believes that all babies deserve love regardless of race, religion or blood ties, and that all Singaporeans have a part to play in protecting the weakest, most unassuming and vulnerable segment of society- babies in need of medical and foster care.

How they intend to champion for their cause is through this project Bloggers in Big Shoes where well, bloggers in clown shoes will be facing SAF football club in a football game for charity. The event will take place at Fico Sports Hub (Opposite WestWood secondary school) on 25th July at 1030am so if you’re in the area and interested, feel free to attend.

More can be found in their website here.

I then spoke to GleeTime PR, who’s championing for Humanitarian Organization for Migrant Economics (HOME). While there are many organizations here that helps migrant workers, HOME is the only one who has a physical shelter house in Kallang where they can be housed in.

GleeTime PR with the bloggers (why does he look so stressed..?):

Mimosa Consulting were representing Asian Women Welfare Association (AWWA) which actually extends their help to the elderly, chidren and even males. Their previous Board of Directors were all women, which could explain the name of the NFP.

PRO consultancy is the one representing Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) which believes in a cruelty free tourism, and they’re targeting at illegal wildlife trade for this project.

That’s me with Michelle from PRO consultancy~

All their strategies to achieve their target from $500 to $800 for the duration of the Causathon are actually quite similar- but maybe that’s because they’ve only just started.

All 3 groups (other than The Agency) will have a video to spearhead their cause, from simple educational videos to heart-string tugging ones, and they’ll all be using Facebook, twitter and blogs to spread their messages.

What I realised however, was that most people (including organizations) don’t really have a plan. Everyone thinks that Social Media is simply about starting groups and posting messages in Facebook, but do people really read them? How do you encourage and get more participants? People are passive after all, and most of them (myself included) will usually not click on a link advocating for a cause without good reason.

Hence I shared with the groups a few ideas on how they can get more people to be responsive- one of them was to personally message everyone in their Facebook chat who happens to be online. And also the use of ‘give me feedback’. These two strategies combined will encourage people to pay more attention to the link that you’re giving them, and to the video itself as well.

For the use of twitter, having a # (hash-tag) will allow you to track how effective your message is, and how many people have been re-tweeting your messages for example.

The bloggers as a whole also shared with them some other strategies like working with related forums- The group working with Acres can work with pet related forums and so on.

Two groups (Top fund-raiser and most creative fund-raiser) will also be honoured at the Project Reach Conference on the 29th July 2010, where they will be presenting their pitches to their respective organizations.

Personally I believe that this conference is a win-win situation for both NFPs and students, as they will both learn more about how to be more effective in reaching out and raising funds through this project.

Here’s a video of Project Reach being featured in the Channel 8 news. It’s in Mandarin of course, but enjoy..~

Last but not least, do spare a thought for the less fortunate. A couple of dollars probably means nothing to you, a cup of bubble tea at most, but every $1 or $2 that you donate will add up to help the needy, be it babies, children with special needs, defenseless animals and so on.

Go to GIVE.sg now and do your bit for the society! It’s better to give than to receive, and every little bit counts! See you there!