Celebrate Altrusa Using Social Media

It is no longer a question of IF clubs should execute a social media strategy. The question for most clubs is how to best execute a meaningful and engaging approach that generates results. With so many social media marketing options available, communications teams must also decide best practices and what tactics to avoid.

First thing for each of us to remember is social media is social first, media second. Imagine yourself in a room with the people you are reaching out to. Speak to people as if they are there with you. You probably would not walk into a cocktail party and immediately shout out “Hi, I’m an Altrusan! Greatest organization ever! You should join, or at the very least, donate money to us!” Unfortunately, this is part of many organizations’ bull-in-a-china-shop approaches to social media.

There are a lot of nuts and bolts questions regarding social media. Let’s start with why we bother with social media at all. Nearly half of all Americans use Facebook. Based on ages, the group we are most likely to grab and influence using social media is Generation X, a group of people who typically have now settled into their lives and can think about giving back to their communities.

So who is Generation X? This is a group that is motivated by results; they are independent, flexible, and adaptable multitaskers, and they know how to work their computers. Generation X expects to change the rules and views change as an opportunity—which is why using social media to reach them is going to be important. New methods of communication like Facebook and Twitter are wide-reaching, easy to use, free, environmentally friendly, and most importantly, the way our target market is communicating with one another.

In other words: Get on this bandwagon or get left behind.

Tomorrow: Kicking Off a Successful Social Media Campaign

Deborah Hecht
2013-2015 Membership Development Committee Co-Chair (Recruitment)

Please let your voice be heard. Write your ideas, and send them to Governor Beth for publishing on “Thoughts From the Mighty Ninth.”

Convention Spotlight: Top 10 Reasons to Go

“It’s so FAR!”

“It’s so EXPENSIVE!”

“Oh, I just CAN’T this time. Maybe next time.”

Stop making excuses! We’re hot off the heels of a fantastic, liberating, and inspiring District Nine conference, where we all renewed our commitment to our Altrusa membership and to making our beloved organization the best it can be. Part of that commitment includes staying active in Altrusa activities, and that means representing your club and your district at International Convention, July 23-26 in Rotorua, New Zealand. If that doesn’t get your Altrusa blood a’flowing, here are my top 10 reasons to go.

1.        When will you ever have another excuse … er, opportunity … to visit this beautiful part of the world?

2.        It will be winter in New Zealand—average temps in the 50s—so get away from the blistering Texas heat!

3.        Oh yes, they have shopping in New Zealand.

4.        Proudly wave your new club banner and your American and Texas flags in the annual parade of banners at the Convention.

5.        Recharge your Altrusa batteries and get new perspectives from Altrusans from other Districts—if you’re a district or club committee chair this biennium, you will especially benefit.

6.        Widen your understanding of Altrusa as an international organization, and learn how we can work together to strengthen it from the inside out.

7.        Didn’t get enough of the brilliant, vibrant ladies of District Nine at Conference? They’ll all be going to Rotorua, so come join the fun!

8.        It will be yet another chance to see me in a dress. Those opportunities don’t come up very often, so you’d better jump at the chance.

9.        Martha probably will cry at some point(s).

10.     And you probably will, too. International conventions are bigger, grander versions of conference, filled with just as much joy and inspiration, with just as much potential for making lifelong memories.

You just can’t miss this one. Need help registering or finding a roommate? Just need some personal incentive to go? Give me a call, anytime!

Beth Blair
Governor

Please let your voice be heard. Write your ideas, and send them to Governor Beth for publishing on “Thoughts From the Mighty Ninth.”
 

World Environment Day

From the World Environment Day website:

The theme for this year’s World Environment Day celebrations is Think.Eat.Save. Think.Eat.Save is an anti-food waste and food loss campaign that encourages you to reduce your foodprint. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), every year 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted. This is equivalent to the same amount produced in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, 1 in every 7 people in the world go to bed hungry, and more than 20,000 children under the age of 5 die daily from hunger.

Given this enormous imbalance in lifestyles and the resultant devastating effects on the environment, this year’s theme—Think.Eat.Save—encourages you to become more aware of the environmental impact of the food choices you make and empowers you to make informed decisions.

While the planet is struggling to provide us with enough resources to sustain its 7 billion people (growing to 9 billion by 2050), FAO estimates that a third of global food production is either wasted or lost. Food waste is an enormous drain on natural resources and a contributor to negative environmental impacts.

This year’s campaign rallies you to take action from your home and then witness the power of collective decisions you and others have made to reduce food waste, save money, minimize the environmental impact of food production and force food production processes to become more efficient.

If food is wasted, it means that all the resources and inputs used in the production of all the food are also lost. For example, it takes about 1,000 liters of water to produce 1 liter of milk and about 16,000 liters goes into a cow’s food to make a hamburger. The resulting greenhouse gas emissions from the cows themselves, and throughout the food supply chain, all end up in vain when we waste food.

In fact, the global food production occupies 25 percent of all habitable land and is responsible for 70 percent of fresh water consumption, 80 percent of deforestation, and 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. It is the largest single driver of biodiversity loss and land-use change.

Making informed decision therefore means, for example, that you purposefully select foods that have less of an environmental impact, such as organic foods that do not use chemicals in the production process. Choosing to buy locally can also mean that foods are not flown halfway across the world and therefore limit emissions.

So think before you eat and help save our environment!

The World Environment Day website, http://www.unep.org/wed/, has a lot of great information about this U.N. observance day that you can use in your Club meetings to draw attention to the event.

 

Club Project Spotlight: Temple

I was fortunate enough to participate in a terrific service project during a club visit to Temple last year. The work the Temple Club does is in itself amazing, but considering the fact that several other organizations each do a portion of a much larger project, the results are truly incredible. And you can do this in your community, too.

Project Apple Tree, a faith-based program in Belton, provides hundreds of fully packed back-to-school boxes for underprivileged children in their area each year. The Temple Club provides the hygiene bags: gallon-sized resealable bags stuffed with full-sized shampoo, soap, washcloths, and even a card from the library. But it doesn’t stop there. Each child also receives a complete set of school supplies according to grade, a complete set of new clothes to wear the first day of school (sized for the specific child!), a dental care kit with their own full-sized toothbrush, and a personalized note wishing them—by name—a terrific day. When they pick up the package on the appointed day, each child can receive a back-to-school haircut and, sometimes, even a child ID fingerprinting courtesy of the Belton Police Department. Each of these items is provided or packaged by a different organization in the Temple/Belton community!

It was fantastic to see hundreds of these huge boxes lining a church gymnasium the night I got to help the Temple ladies create the hygiene bags, but I was touched to my very soul when Jeannette Kelley, Project Apple Tree’s founder, stood to explain everything that was in the boxes. Big ole Martha Hofmeister tears filled my eyes as I imagined some fresh faces all ready for a great year at school and all the volunteers throughout the community who cared and loved enough to put those boxes together to make a child feel special.

And as I said, this can be replicated in your community. Coordinating several different organizations to create such a huge project isn’t any small task, but you might consider starting small and branching out a little each year. If you have other Altrusa Clubs close, consider partnering with them to double your service power. Planning is key. This project is an example of “thinking big,” and thinking big is how we grow Altrusa.

Beth Blair
Governor

If you would like to donate to Project Apple Tree, send your check to Helping Hands Ministry, PO Box 1923, Belton, TX 76513. Make out the check to Helping Hands and write "Apple Tree" on the note or memo line.

Why I Became an Altrusan: Deborah Hecht, Dallas

Recently at conference I was chatting with a former Governor and she asked me why I became an Altrusan.  Easy question.  I had gotten to a point in my life where I was enjoying some of the spoils of my past hard work.  I recognized my blessings and new it was time to give back.  That’s why I joined Altrusa.  Thing is though, that’s not why I fell in love with Altrusa. 

My mother passed away at age 48.  In her short life, she was a tremendous community servant.  Her dedication was well known, but I think in the years since her death I had forgotten.  When I became an Altrusan I was flooded with memories of my Mom’s hard work for our town and our schools.  Each act of service I perform makes me feel closer to my mother.  As I follow my mother’s lead I know how proud she would have been of me.  THIS is why I fell in love with Altrusa. 

So, what’s your story? Why did you become an Altrusan?  Why do you love Altrusa?  Please share your story with other Altrusans, better yet…….share your story with potential Altrusans.  If everyone knew what we know; if they knew any of the many reasons why we love our organization, don’t you think they’d want to share in the experience? 

--Deborah Hecht, Dallas Club

Facebook Fridays

Can social media change Altrusa? You bet.

Social media thrives on friends passing messages on to friends, who in turn pass them to other friends, and so on. If an Altrusan sends out a message about Altrusa, and her friends pass the message on as well, before long we have a network of people who are being introduced to Altrusa (and whatever message was sent).

So, let’s try an experiment. Every Friday, check in with your Facebook account. Post something about Altrusa: why you love it, what it means to you, what your club’s recent service project was—whatever. We’ll even post reminders to you, sometimes with a topic to help inspire you to send a great message.

Keep in mind as you write your message that it’s meant to show off Altrusa to your friends. You want to pique their interest and get them thinking about how Altrusa could fit into their own lives. You might even close your message with an offer to “ask me about being an Altrusan.”

Send Governor Beth any successes you have from Facebook Fridays so we can brag on you and know that our experiment yielded results!

Please let your voice be heard. Write your ideas, and send them to Governor Beth for publishing on “Thoughts From the Mighty Ninth.”

 

Tags: Facebook, Membership

Happy New Year!

Light up the fireworks, baby, because it’s the brand-new Altrusa year! Activities are planned and the best is yet to come.

Presidents, start off the year right with some light housekeeping:

1. Make sure to fill out your roster of club officers and committee chairs online. This is imperative for the board and program team as we work with you to plan club visits and to assist you throughout the year.
2. Have your club members go out and “like” our Facebook page. We’ll be updating and starting discussions every day, so this is a great way to help your members stay informed and engaged.
3. Remember that your District Program Team is here to help you with any little thing! Keep us informed of your big events so we can come for a visit. Just send me those dates. Check districtnine.altrusa.org for a complete list of Program Team members.

Beth Blair

Governor

Please let your voice be heard. Write your ideas, and send them to Governor Beth for publishing on “Thoughts From the Mighty Ninth.”