Bringing Hope To Kyongera
How We Can Build A Dormitory For HIV Orphans In Uganda
According to the UN, in 2008 more than 14 million—yes, 14 million—children in Sub-Saharan Africa had lost one or both parents to AIDS.
Last year I went on a mission trip to a small village in southwestern Uganda to spend time at an orphanage. The orphanage—called Bringing Hope To The Family—is run by an incredible lady named Faith Kunihira. Faith was recently profiled in a fantastic article that explains how she got started, giving up her accounting job to return to her village to care for orphans.
I want to do my part to help Faith and her mission of helping orphans. I have decided to focus part of my charitable efforts on helping out the teenage boys at Bringing Hope To The Family. The boys live on a farm in Kyongera, where they learn farming and carpentry. I would like to help—both in giving and doing—to teach the boys the skills they need to become leaders in their community.
I will be returning to the village in June and am working on programs we can implement to teach them success and leadership skills. Last year I coached them in volleyball, just one example of a teambuilding exercise. While we take organized sports for granted, this was a new experience in this village in Uganda.
One of the orphanage’s pressing needs is a place for the kids to sleep. To build a dormitory at the farm will cost $6,500. This is a pittance compared to the capital campaigns that we contribute to here, but it will make a huge difference to these kids.
To raise the money we are using an exciting new website called KnowThinkAct.org. We have set up an Action Group on the site so that our friends can make a tax deductible donation directly to our specific cause. 100% of the money raised goes to building the dormitory—there are no administrative costs. We would like to see wide spread participation at $50 each. I would like to raise this money before I head to Uganda in June. If we all combine to donate, we can build a dormitory.
Faith quit her job as an accountant to take care for these orphans full-time. That is a life of action and contribution. Let’s do our part and donate $50 to help her fulfill her mission.
Thanks! Laine
Donate $50 Now!
Are You Social Media Savvy?
How To Use Social Media To Build Your Business
I recently attended a presentation by Blue State Digital to the YMCAs of Los Angeles on using social media to build their membership and donor bases. Here’s what they said about the five stages of social media work.
1. Acquire Audience. This can be done through web site optimization and data collection. Make sure your website has a “call to action” where they give you their name and email address.
2. Create engagement. Establish a tone and personality to your communications. Make your communications personal. Use your newsletter to look forward, not back. Spotlight superstars in your organization and the great things they are doing.
3. Be relevant. Be timely. Seize on cultural moments. Comment on something in the news rather than just pushing your services.
4. Integrate. Focus on driving unified actions across all of your platforms. You should have a unified message on email, facebook, twitter, etc.
5. Test, Test, Test. Measure your performance and see what works and what doesn’t. They used the example of a test on different versions of the same donor page for a non-profit. The page with photos had a completion rate 26% higher than the page without the photo.
The most important element of social media is to build an authentic relationship with your audience.
Save The Date! Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Our annual cocktail party is coming up on Wednesday, May 18, 2011. The party is a chance to see old friends, meet new ones and to raise funds for the YMCA’s Send A Kid To Camp Program. We will be sending out invitations shortly.
Last year’s cocktail party was a huge success in raising over $11,000 to send inner-city kids to camp.
Meet Our Friend…Bill Hobin
Bill Hobin is the President and CEO of The William Warren Group. Bill’s company develops, owns and manages self storage facilities throughout the western United States under the trade name StorQuest Self Storage.
Bill and his team have done a fantastic job of building the company from the ground up. I met Bill when he was first starting out and it has been incredible to watch how the company has grown over the years. If you are in need of self storage or are interested in investing in self storage, Bill is the guy to talk to.
I like the Jim Rohn quote on Bill’s website: “The worst days of those who enjoy what they do are better than the best days of those who don’t.” You can reach him at his direct line (310) 451-4231 or bhobin@williamwarren.com.
Thank you always for reading our e-news. If you haven’t done it already, please click on the link below to contribute $50 to help us build dormitory at the orphanage. I look forward to talking to you soon.
If you have friends or family who you think might be interested in contributing to the dormitory project, please feel free to forward this email to them by clicking on the forward link at the bottom of this email.