Teaching Non-Profits How to Use Webinars Effectively

March 4, 2012

Tomorrow is an exciting day for me. I start teaching another “Build Your Own Webinar” course. This will be the third time I am teaching the program and I’m pretty excited. In the past, we’ve had participants from literacy and other non-profit organizations who run educational programs, as well as entrepreneurs, and people working in small to medium-size businesses.

The course basically teaches people how to build a webinar step-by-step, taking it from concept to delivery. The idea is that by the end of the program, participants have a webinar that is ready to go live.

Here is the course outline:

View this document on Scribd

Here’s what some participants of the webinar programs have said:

“I have nothing but gratitude and thanks for such a well planned and meaningful learning experience. This webinar was pivotal to a new career direction for me.” – Pat Minor, Canadian Parents for French, High River, Alberta, Canada

“Sarah is definitely an expert in her field. The breadth and depth of her information is excellent and she is very willing to share her time and expertise. I have attended several of her webinars. I highly recommend any webinar that she’s presenting in.” – Jeff Hough, Idaho State University, ISU Workforce Training, Pocatello, ID, USA

“Sarah is hugely knowledgeable in e-learning design to ensure that the audience is kept engaged. She also has a keen sense of what works and a broad knowledge of what tools are out there in the marketplace. I’d recommend this webinar to anyone contemplating developing their own programs!” – Peter Temple, Past President, Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, Calgary Chapter, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

“Great practical information for anyone who is looking at venturing into the world of webinar production. Sarah provided practical information and questions to ask when you are looking for a provider that will meet your needs.” – Laura Godfrey, LearningLinks Resource Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

I am excited to meet the participants who will be joining us for this new course. Love working with adult learners who are dedicated to lifelong learning, professional development and using technology to advance the good work they do.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

The effectiveness of enthusiastic fundraising

June 11, 2011

Pink RibbonA few weeks ago, a dear friend asked me if we’d like to attend a fundraising event being put on by her brother. He’s a super guy and is the manager of a local pharmacy. All the staff at his store decided to join in the Weekend to End Women’s Cancers. To raise money for the event, they held a fundraising dinner at a local pub. We bought tickets to the event and my friend, who has just started a business producing her own all natural beauty products donated items to their silent auction. I followed suit, and donated a coaching session on social media marketing for small business.

The event was brilliant! Over 80 people attended, over 30 silent auction items were donated (including one each from my friend and I) and there were over 25 door prizes. The energy in the room was incredible.

What struck me was that people were there mostly to have a good time and to socialize. Every single person there seemed to have someone else that they were cheering for. Good work is important, but it take good people, with good intentions to do that work.

It takes many hours to put together a fundraising event, especially when the people doing it aren’t fundraisers. But they were organized, energized, dedicated and sincerely committed to their work. Their passion was both effervescent and contagious. They use their personal leadership skills and collaborative teamwork to reach their goal. Personally, I much prefer fundraisers like that, where people are driven by their desire to come to together and fill a room with sincere enthusiasm, rather than those events where you stand around awkwardly with a glass of no-name chardonnay in one hand while you try to avoid noticing the cubes of cheese that are silently sweating on the plate in your other hand.

You don’t have to put on a big gala to raise money. A small group of people who are wildly enthusiastic, mobilized and organized can work wonders in garnering support of all kinds for their work.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

Comments Off on The effectiveness of enthusiastic fundraising | leadership, non-profit, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Best of Social Media Resources & Guidelines for Education, Literacy and Other Non-Profits

May 18, 2011

Over 20 Resources to Help You Develop Your Own Social Media Protocol or Policy

If you’re with an educational or non-profit organization that is new to using social media, you may find it helpful to establish your own Guidelines, Protocol or Acceptable Use Policy. Here’s my “best of” list of resources and guidelines to help you get started.

ABC LifeLiteracy Canada’s Social Media Guidelines (.pdf)

Social Media Governance Site – Over 170 sample social media policies and guidelines from non-profits and governments all over the world

Red Cross Social Media HandbookLinkedIn logo

NSW Social Media Guidelines for Teachers on Scribd

Creating a Social Media Policy for Your NonProfit

57 Social Media Policy Examples

Sample Nonprofit Policy on Social Networking by Blue Avocado

Social Media Best Practices and Guidelines by Tuft Unviersity

5 Simple Ways Non-Profits Can Measure Social Media ROI (Return on Investment)

What Non-Profits Need to Know about Social Media

How Non-Profits Can Maximize Engagement on Facebook

10 Must-Haves for Your Social Media Policy by Mashable

How to Write Your Firm’s Social Media Policy

Penn State’s College of Education’s Social Media Policy

Improving Your Social Media Policy

Ontario College of Teachers’ Professional Advisory on Social Media

Social Media in Plain English – A brilliant short video (3:33) to help you understand social media

Facebook for Educators by Linda Fogg Phillips, Derek Baird, M.A., & BJ Fogg, Ph.D.

Lake County Schools – Guidelines for Employee Use of Social Media Networks (.pdf)

The Principal’s Partnership: Research Brief: Social Media – Developing an Acceptable Use Policy

Social Media Acceptable Use Policy for Schools

Is there a great site that’s missing from my list? If so, leave a comment and let me know. I’ll be happy to add other great resources to the list.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

2 Comments | non-profit, social media, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Breathtaking Impact of Volunteers’ Contribution to Non-formal and Informal Literacy Education in Alberta

March 28, 2011

At the National Metropolis 2011 conference this year in Vancouver, I was part of a panel of experts presenting on Family Literacy and the New Canadian. My paper focused on the research I’ve done on Formal, Non-Formal and Informal Learning: The Case of Literacy, Essential Skills and Language Learning in Canada. I’ll post the entire paper shortly, but for now, I wanted to highlight one bit from it that generated some significant discussion.

My point was that when informal and non-formal learning for literacy and language learning are tracked and recorded, we can better see the impact. The example I gave was that in 2009, Alberta Advanced Education and Training, produced Living Literacy: A Literacy Framework for Alberta’s Next Generation Economy. The 19-page report talks about why literacy matters and outlines priority actions for 2009-2013.

Buried on page 12 of the 19-page report is a gem of information that deserves to be highlighted and explored, which is what I did at my presentation in Vancouver. It states that in Alberta,

“In 2008, 2,000 adults were matched with a volunteer tutor who assisted them with basic reading, writing and/or math. On average, these learners received 39 hours of tutoring. “

So what does this mean?

It means that volunteers collectively spent 78,000 hours assisting adults with literacy in non-formal and informal learning contexts.

78,000 hours. In one year. In one province.

Let’s put this into perspective.

According to the Government of Alberta, the average student will receive 950 to 1000 hours of instruction per year. Let’s look at that number of 1000 hours for a minute.

A student in school gets 1000 hours per year of instruction.

That means, collectively in Alberta, volunteers contributed the equivalent of 78 years of school, in the form of non-formal and informal education, helping other adults to improve their literacy skills.

That’s over three-quarters of a century in the equivalent of school years.

Doesn’t that just take your breath away?

Often when people think of adult non-formal and informal education, they think of developing countries, where formal education is harder to access than in developed nations. But the impact of non-formal and informal education in nations like Canada is significant. The problem is that we don’t track it. At least, not very often. And not very systematically.

What would we discover if every Canadian province, every US state and every developed country tracked the contributions made to language learning and literacy in the way that the Alberta government did in 2008? We’d be blown away by the results.

There’s a big push in the non-profit and education world to capture learner stories. I completely agree with that. But it’s not the whole picture. There’s a saying in evaluation: No numbers without stories; no stories without numbers.

The equivalent of 78 years of schooling, contributed completely by volunteers in one year alone is staggering.

One call to action in my presentation in Vancouver is that we must make a concerted effort to track the number of hours contributed by our volunteers – particularly those working in rural and remote areas – in order to understand the impact of volunteer literacy tutoring programs.

Stay tuned for the whole paper. It’ll be posted on line in a few days.

Related posts:

Formal, non-formal and informal learning: The case of literacy and language learning in Canada

Formal, non-formal and informal education: What Are the Differences?

Formal, Non-formal and Informal Learning: A podcast

Formal, Non-formal and Informal Learning (Infographic) https://wp.me/pNAh3-266

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

2 Key Questions to Ask When You’re Desperate for Funding

February 17, 2011

Earlier this week I was working with some colleagues at an organization I have a great deal of respect for. The organization needs funding. Over a dozen brilliant minds sat around the table talking about different ways to get the money necessary to continue the good work they’ve been doing for a number of years. At times, the conversation got lost in possibilities… ways they could bring in money to sustain the organization.

During this brainstorming activity, I could see a drift away from the values and philosophy the organization had always held. That kind of drift is OK during a discussion that remains theoretical, lingering in the realm of “What if?” It becomes troublesome only when an organization begins to shift away from their values in search of more money. At some point before ideas turn into a plan with deliverables and a timeline, it is worthwhile to ask two simple key questions:

What’s the work we value most? – What are the primary activities that brought you together and keep you going? What is the work that matters?

Who do we help? – Funding is a necessity to keep an organization going, but it’s not the only factor. People need to be invested, too. If you’re helping them in some way, benefiting them, encouraging them, nudging them towards growth and challenging them along the way, they’re more likely to stick around. Whatever activities you decide to pursue in order to get money should still somehow be focused on helping those who are most interested and invested in your success.

Once you get those two questions sorted out, the number of possible activities you can do to pursue funding decreases. And that’s a good thing. What remains after those two questions are answered are the choices that are most aligned with your vision and values. That makes the decision about how to move forward a whole lot easier.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

1 Comment | leadership | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

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