Apply for a $15,000 Youtopia Grant!

Contests are springing up all over the Web!  I blogged about the Discovery Communications Creating Change initiative below.  This one comes from the super-creative folks at FreeRange Studio, of The Meatrix and The Story of Stuff, fame. 

Apply today for their 2010 Youtopia Grant.  You may win $15,000 worth of design and/or strategic communications services in the areas of:

• strategic consulting;
• identity design;
• web design;
• print design; and,
• online movies (super cool!)

Learn more about the grant and apply today!  Deadline is October 15.

Cheers!
Jocelyn

Discovery Communications Provides FREE Marketing Support to Nonprofits in DC

Awareness is the first step in the engagement funnel.  That's a basic marketing concept.  But talk ain't cheap!  There are those banner ads to produce and those creative types to hire.  What's a nonprofit to do?

Discovery Communications has launched Creating Change, a 12-hour marathon to help as many nonprofits as possible fulfill some of their marketing and communications needs.

Here’s how the pro-bono project works. 

1. Nonprofits based in or with offices in DC (that’s you!) apply for assistance on one or several of the projects below.  Deadline to apply is October 22. 
2. Winning organizations will be notified in November.  
3. Discovery Communications will match its’ creative employees with nonprofits in need.
   
4. The 12-hour marathon will be held on December 14.  All projects will wrap by December 15.

Eager to produce that gorgeous new piece of collateral?  Ready to FINALLY finalize that video spot?  

Apply today!  Good luck.

Jocelyn

• Print Advertising Design: Full-page print ad design (that can be applied to magazine, newspaper ad insertions, event-related programs, etc.)

• On-Air/Video: PSAs :15 or :30, Short Web Video

• Collateral: Logos, Brochures, Posters, Letterhead

• Event Support: Event Concepting, Event Collateral

• Online: Banner Ads, Electronic Press Kits, Evite/Email Design, Website Design, Widget

• PR/Media Support: Press Release, Fact Sheets, Mission Statement, Media Training, Crisis Communications

• Expertise: Social Media Tutorial/Set-up, Internal Communications  

Content, Content, Content

I just read a great post by my dear friend, Katya Andresen, author of Nonprofit Marketing Blog, which provides a great overview of ComScore's new study on how people are using the Internet in Canada. 

After giving us some great stats, she concludes that bad content is still a deal breaker. 

"These tools only work well when they are used to share amazing content.  Nonprofits take heed:  the tools are cool but if you use them to transmit tired message, they won’t do you much good."

I couldn't agree more.  It's such an important message but one that is clearly hard to INTERNALIZE for many.  (You know who you are!)

So I thought I'd create a list of my top 5 resources for helping you to create better content.  Any resources that you love that I missed?


Cheers!
Jocelyn


1. Copyblogger is hands down the best blog for learning to write (you guessed it) COPY for the Web.  I read it everyday.  You should too!


2. Andy Goodman is still one of my favorite storytellers and has some great FREE resources for helping nonprofits perfect the art of storytelling via PowerPoint, in particular.


3. Storycorps "provides Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our times."  NPR broadcasts many of their stories.  You can also listen to them via the Storycorps website.  They will inspire you to seek out, record, and share the PERSONAL stories of the PEOPLE attached to your cause, including your own!


4. TED.com, which stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design is a website which hosts "riveting talks by remarkable people."  Again, check out TED to get inspired to create your own great narratives.  Start with the talk below.

Annie Lennox: Why I am an HIV/AIDS activist

5. The Mercifully Brief Real World Guide to Raising Thousands (if Not Tens of Thousands) of Dollars with Email by Madeline Stanionis, CEO and Co-Founder of Watershed gives you exactly what it promises - a BRIEF and PRACTICAL overview of how to succeed with email marketing.  As you know, email is still the key driver of online giving.  (You know this, right?)  Be sure to master Chapter 5 - Compose Yourself.