Monthly Archives: February 2013

The Hootville agenda…

Icon for Post #3357

Online: We’re building sites for Inner Melbourne VET Cluster, a family violence network headed by Women’s Health Goulburn North East and a campaign-specific website for an aged care peak body.

speakers available in australia

Hootville is ON.

Speaking: Rotary Kyabram and Our Community’s Grantmaking in Australia Conference.

EmceeingCommunities In Control 2013, Inner Eastern Lean Local Education Network, Minds At Work, Fundraising Institute of Australia, Coonara Community House, Disability Employment South Australia, Disability Employment Australia, Community Care Case Managers Conference.

Training: Australian Psychological Society, Victoria Law Foundation, Marriott Support Services, City of Gosford, City of Moonee Valley, Mitchell Shire, Monash Volunteer Resource Centre, Boroondara Volunteer Resource Centre, City of Boroondara.

Campaign planning: a breastfeeding alliance in regional Victoria headed by Women’s Health Goulburn North East.

And that’s why we never answer the telephone.

Tagged , , ,

Jobville unofficially launched. 16 jobs and counting…

Icon for Post #3310
nonprofit sector jobs

Did we mention that it's free - yes FREE - for nonprofits?

It’s been quite a gestation but our new baby Jobville.com.au is unofficially launched and in Beta mode. Jobville is a job-listing website that proudly allows nonprofit and community sector organisations to list their jobs for free. Yes – FREE. Why should nonprofits spend thousands a year listing their jobs? One change of habit could save your organisation thousands, many changes of habit could save the sector millions.

Recruiters, corporates and government employers are also welcome to list their jobs and will find our fees a comparative bargain. In fact, until May 1 corporate and government listings are also free.

Jobville’s first 10 advertisers of any persuasion won themselves an edible, ethical token of our appreciation. Free – yes FREE – listings and a Fairtrade treat.

Cancer Council Australia has already jumped on board and has a lovely gig for a Corporate partnerships co-ordinator. There are media and comms roles with Melbourne Citymission, CARE Australia, Animals Australia and Surf Lifesaving NSW. Gigs also from Ian Potter Foundation and Law Foundation Victoria. It’s a free for all! Geddit? Free… Oh never mind.

We list volunteer gigs too.

We will list a much broader range of jobs than similar sites: nursing, mental health, arts, communications, fundraising, community development, drug and alcohol, health promotion, social work, project management, IT; the lot.

Beyond being free – yes FREE – for nonprofit and community organisations we will be doing other things differently. For instance; we have a small mountain of Oxfam Fairtrade chocolate, coffee, jam and tea to give to retweeters, email forwarders and advertisers.

Once again we have developed this site with our development and design partner Sam Tzouramanis. Thanks Sam baby.

Follow us on Twitter @jobvilleau and we’ll the jobs your way. Retweet them for edible, ethical rewards. We’ll be rewarding one this week with a Fairtrade treat.

Tagged , , , , , ,

Have you a media monitoring recommendation?

Icon for Post #3332

A Citizen of Hootville recently asked for media monitoring company recommendations. Alas, in terms of a specific company we have none. Do you? If so, write your thoughts under this post.

media monitoring for nonprofits

A luxury you can afford?

To explain: media monitoring companies are paid by clients to monitor media in all forms and report any mentions of companies, issues or individuals that may be of interest. Eg: Squiggle’s NGO Dachshunds Without Leashes has an ongoing account with Media Monitors. The brief is to look out for mentions of: dachshunds, new off leash parks, Dachshunds Without Leashes, rival organisation Felines Without Empathy and of course Squiggle himself.

As soon as Media Monitors picks up any mention of these they alert Squiggle. It allows Squiggle to get on with more important things (Davos summits etc) yet be aware of how his issues are portrayed in the media. Squiggle can then order full transcripts or just get the vibe of the coverage from the summaries he receives. The reports should be sent ASAP.

Media monitoring is expensive and still they miss stuff. Most nonprofits can’t afford it. But here’s the thing: most of those shelling out the dollars for media monitoring are wasting their money as they don’t use it to full advantage.

Most media monitoring clients use it as a way to keep abreast of how the media is covering issues and organisations including their own. reps are met, budgets approved and contracts signed. Emails come in, get forwarded around, the occasional link is clicked and for a while everyone feels important and informed. Usually though, the media monitoring emails start stacking up like a piles of unread newspapers yellowing in the corner. Suddenly the monitoring ends up being a source of guilt rather than inspiration.

Inspiration? Whatever do you mean? Well if you are media monitoring (paid or unpaid) here’s how to get the most of it:

Use it to secure fast-breaking media opportunities: see who is covering issues to which you can add your perspective NOW. This is most relevant to radio but works across all media. ABC local radio spent 8 minutes on one of your issues this morning? Call the drive producer and offer your CEO for interview. Or perhaps they’d appreciate a background briefing? This is the best justification for media monitoring but it is rarely used for this purpose.

Use it to broaden your list of media contacts. See who covers your issues, learn who they speak to, the angles that are important to them and make contact with them before they go back to their usual suspects. Good news: we suspect that there is more coverage of your issue than you realise. This means more opportunities.

Use it to find interesting content for your website, eMarketing and social media. Subscribers look to you as a source of information – piggyback off the media’s efforts to keep your peeps in the loop.

As for some free alternatives we can say this: Google Alerts and a office radio can go a long way. So too can some helpers – volunteer or staff – who are charged with reporting in when they come across appropriate coverage.

Will you get value out of it? Try running Google Alerts as an alternative for web-based material. It’s free and fast and reasonably reliable. See how quickly your organisation turns the reports into something of real value. If you have what it takes, it may be worth the dollars – otherwise, it probably ain’t.

 

 

 

 

Tagged

You know what they say: from 0 to 16 in 7 ain’t bad.

Icon for Post #3352

Australia’s free-for-nonprofit jobs-listing website Jobville.com.au is proving a hit with the community and nonprofit sector. In the seven days since its unofficial launch the free website gained 16 listings from leading Australian employers including: CARE Australia, Animals Australia, Melbourne CityMission, Asthma Foundation NSW and VERTO.

“Business is booming and I haven’t gained a cent,” says site founder Brett de Hoedt. “That’s the whole point – there’s now no need for nonprofits to spend on online recruitment.”

free job advertisements

Will they embrace freedom?

Provocatively, de Hoedt, who will charge government and private sector advertisers from May 1, 2013, thinks that Jobville.com.au is a litmus test of nonprofit business culture.

“Jobville represents an opportunity to save millions but it will require very specific people to change their habits. These people are unlikely to be rewarded for saving money. Maybe there’s no incentive. The sector has a mantra – ‘we don’t have enough money’ but that doesn’t mean that they will act to save money. Maybe they won’t bother. I bloody well hope they do.”

Tagged , , , ,

Some wiki, wiki good copywriting

Icon for Post #3322
great copy writing for fundraisers

There are few more successful nonprofit ventures.

We don’t know this thankyou letter from Wikipedia was written in-house or via an agency but it’s a great example of good fundraising copywriting. We have the great Tom Ahern to thank for bringing it to our attention. (If you fundraise, read Tom.)

If only all copy were as passionate, personal, grateful and grand as this. Great Wiki copy.

Our only criticism is that it might, just might be 100 or so words too long. But who cares? It’s great copy.

 

 

 

Tagged , , ,

The nine secrets behind irresistible tweets.

Icon for Post #3317

According to Evergreen Search there are 9 specific characteristics behind great tweets. It’s a perfectly OK list but it neglects some proven, measured ways to gain more retweets (the proof that you are tweeting well).

1. Images. Attach interesting images whenever you can. Pictures still tell 1000 words.

2. Links. Tweets containing links are retweeted far more often than tweets containing no link. It makes sense – how interesting can one be in 140 characters? People who never tweet any links must be just talking about themselves, shooting the breeze or – mercy – sending inspirational quotes.

3. Opinion – strong, consistent, confronting – works.

Lots more advice about Twitter and tweeting on our site.

Tagged , ,

Audio production offer

Icon for Post #3341
podcast recording services melbourne

You may speak now.

Do you podcast? Do you have video or photography that could be brought alive with narration? Need help with the technical side of things? Or maybe the scripting is a challenge. Hootville’s pal Ron Killeen of Shack West can assist. He’s a good man – he is ex Victoria Police after all – and he is a comms all rounder.  He once supplied pre-recorded rants about the English language and other topics for Brett when he was on the radio long ago. Since then Ron has produced thousands of high-quality radio hours. As always, if Hootville recommends any service it is without any regard for financial gain on our part. We may – may – get lunch out of this but that’s it. We recommend based on quality, not perks. Take at the Shack West – Audio Production offer.

Tagged , ,