Bright One - Part 2

Welcome to Bright One’s Twitterverse

Dec 10

Posted in News | Tagged connections, mention map, online connections, Social Media, twitter | 2 Comments

We were playing around last week with a really cool tool which we thought we’d share with you: MentionMap.

MentionMap helps you to “Quickly find relevant people to follow.” You can use MentionMap to see Twitterconversations as a network and click any user to explore more about them, which means it’s a really neat way to visualise who you talk to most on Twitter.

It shows you your main connections and then who they are connected to in the thinking that you might also be interested in talking to them – almost like it’s suggesting new Twitter connections in a really nice visual way. Of all the tools available for checking out your impact on Twitter, this has to be one of the most visually friendly and easy to take future actions from.

We liked it so much, we thought we’d try it out for Bright One:

Bright One’s MentionMap shows we are heavily involved in conversations around some of our clients, in particular thePixelProject, Childsi and Junction 49. Interestingly enough we’re also strongly connected to organisations we’re friends with – Media Trust and UnLtdWorld. These connections are important to us, as it’s good for us to be involved in conversations around charity and social enterprise PR and communications, not just promoting our work and the work of our clients, but actively learning what is happening around the sector. That experience and learning will make us a more rounded team. It also highlights we might want to connect more with some of our other clients, and our volunteers individually, helping us to see where we need to focus our efforts on.

Pretty neat right? So why not check out MentionMap – either for fun, or to see how distracted you’re actually getting on Twitter!

We were playing around last week with a really cool tool which we thought we’d share with you: MentionMap.

MentionMap helps you to “Quickly find relevant people to follow.” You can use MentionMap to see Twitter conversations as a network and click any user to explore more about them, which means it’s a really neat way to visualise who you talk to most on Twitter.

We liked it so much, we thought we’d try it out for Bright One:

Bright One’s MentionMap shows we are heavily involved in conversations around some of our clients, in particular the PixelProject, Childsi and Junction 49. Interestingly enough we’re also strongly connected to organisations we’re friends with – Media Trust and UnLtdWorld. These connections are important to us, as it’s good for us to be involved in conversations around charity and social enterprise PR and communications, not just promoting our work and the work of our clients, but actively learning what is happening around the sector. That experience and learning will make us a more rounded team. It also highlights we might want to connect more with some of our other clients, and our volunteers individually, helping us to see where we need to focus our efforts on.

Pretty neat right? So why not check out MentionMap – either for fun, or to see how distracted you’re actually getting on Twitter!

Christmas Drinks and Networking

Dec 9

By nicolajones |

Posted in News | Tagged Bright One, christmas, contacts, drinks, networking, third sector PR | 21 Comments

Feeling the December spirit yet? Well then the next date for your diary has to be this one!

Bright One are delighted to be teaming up with The Facebook Third Sector PR and Comms Network for drinks and networking on 17 December from 6:30pm at the Roxy Bar And Screen (Near London Bridge).

We are inviting anyone who works in not-profit PR, comms, or digital / social media to come along, say hello, and it wouldn’t hurt to bring some business cards!

You can book your place here http://twtvite.com/gqr6sc and we look forward to seeing you there!

About us: Bright One is an award-winning volunteer-run communications agency for the third sector. TheFacebook Third Sector PR network has over 1,000 members; connecting charity comms, PROs, new media types and journos with one another.

thirdsectorpr

The Rise of Mobile in Charity Communications

Dec 4

By nicolajones |

Posted in BrightOne News | Tagged charity, charity communications, communications, donations, mobile | 1 Comment

This post was written by Ben Matthews for the CharityComms askCHARITY blog, a blog with posts about charity communications from a host of experts. You can read the original post here.

Although I’m usually wary of making predictions about the year ahead, I’m fairly confident that 2010 will be the year of the mobile for charities.

Barriers to adoption are crumbling and with a growing number of successful case studies and the removal of VAT on donations by mobile, now is the time more than ever for charities to take a closer look at how mobile fits into their communications activity.

Donations via mobile got given a big boost earlier this year when O2 announced that charities of all sizes will now be able to receive an estimated extra 10p in the pound for text donations of up to £10 made via dedicated 70 prefix short codes. This means that 90p out of every £1 is going to the charity through mobile donations and it should be expected that in 2010 all operators should fall in to line and Inland Revenue will be forced to treat everyone equally, with no VAT taken from charities through mobile donations.

That’s fantastic progress, as just 1 year ago out of every £1.50 donation only 95p went to charity. For more background information on the rise of mobile giving, take a look at nfpSynergy’s report, ‘Sending Out an SMS’.

Mobile donations uptake may still be slow among charities without strong case studies to point to. Text donations are currently encouraged by strong national campaigns, such the Tsunami Relief campaign that saw over 1 million text donations were sent within days. Similar take up has been seen with the Bhurma Relief and Children in Need campaigns, but perhaps the biggest case study so far is March’s Comic Relief campaign, which saw 7.8 million raised through text donation.

Success may be due to anonymity. Supporter can give small amounts without being seen to be giving “too little”. Giving via mobile is also a simple process – text messaging is easy and second nature for most participants.

Because of this anonymity and ease of giving, marathons are set to become a fantastic opportunity for mobile donations. Charity’s communications teams should be encouraging runners to print short codes on their t-shirts and fundraising materials, creating a moment of spontaneity and opportunism when potential donors spot a runner whose cause they can donate quickly and easily too through mobile donations.

Communications teams in charities also need to think about where they are looking to use mobile – is to recruit volunteers, ask for donations, spread thank you messages, drive awareness, or send traffic to mobile sites? Mobile communications are also good for charity’s internal communications, an efficient way of updating team members on a regular basis.

There is a real opportunity to create a healthy mobile communications ecosystem for charities, with charities making money through mobile donations and with communicating easily and efficiently supporters. I’m looking forward to seeing whether my predictions come true and to see whether 2010 is the year of the mobile for charities.

Bright One Donates 1,500 Hours of Communications Expertise in First Year

Dec 2

By admin |

Posted in BrightOne News | Tagged annual report 2009, ben matthews, bright one ag, economic impact, future 100, social impact | 18 Comments

Bright One held its first-ever Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Monday 30 November, celebrating the impact it has made in its first year of life. Bright One also presented its first Annual Report, now publicly available at www.bit.ly/AnnualReport2009

Bright One measured its economic impact by calculating the amount of resource that charitable organisations have been able to access thanks to its services. A remarkable total of over 1,500 hours of communications work was donated by Bright One’s volunteers this year. This equals an astonishing £180,000 worth of expertise that smaller charities have been able to enjoy, boosting their PR and communications activities.

Since its inception in September 2008 with a handful of passionate PR professionals, Bright One has grown to attract over 30 volunteers and nine clients. Over the last twelve months, Bright One has helped charitable organisations, such as Refugee Week, The Pixel Project and What’s Up Information, to access high quality communications expertise that they would have not otherwise been able to afford.

Bright One is also committed to continue to make a significant social impact through its own volunteers and the benefits they enjoy with volunteering. Not only do they get to give something back to the community, but they also learn new skills, receive coaching, add to their professional and personal experience, have the opportunity to network with other communications professionals and gain access to jobs in the industry.

In a recent survey, 85% of Bright One volunteers said that volunteering for Bright One had improved their communications skills and expertise, 100% said that it had improved their network and contacts within the communications industry and 100% said that it had increased their understanding of the third sector.

Ben Matthews, Founder of Bright One, said:

“Looking back at what we’ve achieved this year, I’m immensely proud of the contribution to society we have collectively made, and the changes we have helped to make in people’s lives. But we’re not going to rest on our laurels. There’s a long way to go and lots of organisations need our help.”

Ben’s remarkable efforts have been formally recognised by the Future 100 Awards, where he has been included as one of the Future 100 Young Social Entrepreneurs of the Year 2009 among young people aged 18-35 who are demonstrating entrepreneurial flair and innovation.

The Pixel Project Partners with “Say NO – UNiTE” to Help End Violence against Women

Nov 25

By admin |

Posted in News | Leave a comment

The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has invited The Pixel Project, a global Web 2.0-driven fund and awareness raising project, to be a launch partner in their global advocacy initiative ‘Say NO – UNiTE to End Violence against Women.’

Violence against women is a major public health and human rights problem throughout the world. It is estimated that 1 in 3 women will experience gender-based violence in her lifetime.

‘Say NO – UNiTE’ is a global call for action to end this pandemic. The multi-year initiative will contribute towards ending violence against women and girls through advocacy and outreach as well as spotlighting global efforts and demonstrating the groundswell of support and activism on the issue.

The Pixel Project will play an important role in supporting Say NO – UNiTE in reaching its ‘action’ target whilst also generating publicity and interest in the initiative. The campaign aims to raise US$1 milllion in 2010 by selling a world-exclusive million-pixel photograph of a group of global Celebrity Male Role Models online for US$1 per pixel, while using the power of the Internet to drive viral word-by-mouth awareness-raising. Each pixel sold will count as one ‘action’ in the ‘Say NO – UNiTE’ campaign.

The Ties That Bind

Nov 17

By nicolajones |

Posted in News | Tagged Bright One, communications, community, community manager, Nicola Jones, Social Media | 5 Comments

This is a note from Nicola Jones, Bright One’s new Community Manager. You can follow her on Twitter at @navigatornic.

I’ve been watching Bright One from the periphery since its very early days. I’ve seen it grow and become and exciting and creative player in third sector communications, a real alternative to the traditional forces at work, so when I heard Bright One were looking for a Community Manager the chance to combine my own skills with volunteering for an organisation I’ve admired greatly was too good to be true!

By day I am the Community and Communications Manager of UnLtdWorld.com – an online community that connects social entrepreneurs to the people, tools and information they need to change the world. I’ve been lucky enough to be at UnLtdWorld pretty much since its conception. It’s been a crazy ride, taking it from a simple idea to a community of over 13,000 members worldwide.

I think I’ve ended up as a Community Manager mostly because I’ve always liked teams. I like the idea of feeling a part of something. I strongly believe in the power of a united and strong community and how that will always succeed more than people striking out alone.

What will having a Community Manager mean to Bright One? Hopefully it will further strengthen the ties Bright One has to all its stakeholders, make everyone feel part of a movement, make people feel connected to Bright One before, during and after any interaction they have with us.

Community Managers are a fairly new breed, an important development in a marketplace where there are so many distractions and so many competitors. It is important to make people feel like they belong to something to ensure their loyalty and engagement. So whilst I could try and tell you what the best practice is for community engagement, I’m not sure there should be any. There are things that all communities need, qualities that Community Managers should have, but each community is so different that the only really key things are being versatile, relevant and listen to your community. What they say goes.

So that’s what I’ll try and bring as Bright One’s Community Manager. In practice I’ll be running Bright One’s social media presence, but more than that I’ll be working with internal and external communications to really look at how we all relate to each other. In theory, I’ll listen to how you all want to communicate and I’ll not be afraid to chop and change as you do, and as Bright One grows…

Oh and I’ll try not to talk about my Oasis obsession too much!

Bright One included in the Future 100 Young Social Entrepreneurs of the Year

Nov 16

By admin |

Posted in BrightOne News, News | Tagged ben matthews, future 100, global entrepreneurship week, striding out | 2 Comments

We’re delighted to hear that Ben Matthews, founder of Bright One, has been announced as one of the Future 100 Young Social Entrepreneurs of the Year!

The Future 100 Awards puts the spotlight on young people aged 18-35 who are demonstrating entrepreneurial flair and innovation in running a responsible business venture; one which demonstrates a balance between economic, environmental and social goals to achieve ultimate business success.

Ben Matthews, Founder of Bright One, said: “I’m delighted to be included in the Future 100 awards along with a range of other fantastic young entrepreneurs running successful and innovative projects. I’d like to share this award with the whole of the Bright One team – from the management team to our volunteers, our clients to our various supporters – as without their help we wouldn’t be in the position we are today, helping other charitable organisations get their messages out to the people that need to hear them the most.”

Enhance your organisation’s reputation with PR

Nov 13

By benmatthews |

Posted in BrightOne News, News | Tagged PR, Public Relations, shout out, social enterprise, Social Media, unltdworld | Leave a comment

This post is part of SHOUT OUT for Social Enteprise, a month long campaign where UnLtdWorld invited social enterprise leaders to write a blog post, which looks at social enterprise from an array of different angles and perspectives. You can read the original post here or discover the rest of the SHOUT OUT posts here.

PR – or public relations – is all about reputation. It’s the result of what you do, what you say, and what others say about you. It is used to gain trust and understanding between an organisation and its various stakeholders, whether that’s employees, customers, investors, or the local community.

PR isn’t just for big companies using national newspapers or television. Even the smallest start up or social enterprise can use PR opportunities to catch the eye of its local audience. But PR is often misunderstood, its practises are often unclear and how to ‘do’ PR is a mystery to many people.

I’ve pulled together some top tips to help make the practise of PR a bit clearer, help you generate some positive PR with limited resources, and offer some simple advice to get your organisation’s own PR and communications activity up and running.

What is Public Relations?
As I mentioned before, PR is all about reputation. Public relations professionals use many different techniques as part of their PR campaigns: from media relations and lobbying, to speaking at conferences, and more. PR is different from marketing and advertising, because with PR you do pay the newspapers and TV channels for the media exposure it secures. It’s the credibility of third-party endorsement that gives PR its power. For more information on the background of PR and its best practices, take a look at the free guides that the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) has put together.

The Media is a Channel
Many people misunderstand that PR is all about engaging the media and using the coverage generated to put a spotlight on your organisation. But should be made clear is that the media is just a channel, a way to reach your stakeholders. This means that your organisation needs to have its messaging right, its proposition and the impact it makes clear, before you undertake any PR activity. The basics of getting a PR campaign together are covered by Striding Out’s useful guides here.

The Rise of Social Media
Understanding that the media is just a channel to reach your stakeholders is especially important to understand with the rise of social media. Social media cuts out journalist and media organisations as a channel to reach your stakeholders. Organisations can now interact and engage directly with their stakeholders, using sites such as Facebook and Twitter, in an affordable but effective manner. A blog is also an effective way of getting your organisation’s messages, news and recent announcements out to a wide audience. There’s too much to cover off on social media here, but here’s a fantastic video from Common Craft that explains what social media is in plain English:

There’s too much about using social media to cover it here, but if you’re interested in creating a social media campaign but don’t know where to start, take a look at Content & Motion’s excellent guide here or PR 2.0’s free ebook here.

Get Your Descriptor Right
To help with your messaging, it is worthwhile creating a descriptor for your organisation. A descriptor is a short sentence, no more than a few words long, that captures what your organisation is and does. This acts as an introduction for any press releases you send out and is often used by the media to help categorise your organisation and provide a neat intro into any stories they might write about you. For example:

“Bright One, the volunteer-run communications agency, announced today that it had written a fantastic descriptor for its latest PR campaign.”

Other examples of social enterprises with good descriptors include Divine Chocolate (“The Fairtrade chocolate where the cocoa farmers own 45% of the company”) and MyBnk (“The education charity working with young people to build the knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their money effectively”). UnLtdWorld.com’s is very neat too – “a networking site for social entrepreneurs”.

If it helps you to keep your descriptor clear and succinct, try and keep it to a 140 character, twitter-style description. You could even post your descriptor in the comments below this post and we can help refine it for you.

Register on askCHARITY
askCHARITY was set up to help organisations in their work with the media. It is an online contacts book which lists organisation’s details including their key media contacts. It aims to make it easier and faster for media professionals to get in touch with charitable organisations. askCHARITY also aims to open up, hard to reach sections of the media, so by registering your organisation (which is absolutely free) you’ll stand a much better chance of journalists, broadcasters, researchers, freelancers, and every kind of media professional finding out and taking an interest in your organisation. Find out

Get Professional Help
There are lots of PR professionals out there who are looking to give back to the community and help organisations such as yours tell their story effectively. If you’re interested in bringing on some PR support, I would recommend taking a look at the Media Trust’s Media Matching service, which brings together media and communications professionals (advisers) with charities and voluntary organisations that want to improve the way they communicate. Also take a look at Bright One, the volunteer-run communications agency, who are on hand to offer charities, social enterprises and other not-for-profit organisations affordable yet effective PR and communications campaigns. Bright One helps organisations get their messages heard and offer resources so they can focus on core activities, so find out more by going to www.brightone.org.uk.

Further Reading
The PR industry has developed a fantastic culture of knowledge sharing, which means that there is plenty of information available for you to learn more about running your own campaign. As a starter, I would recommend visiting Volunteer Genie for advice on using the media to recruit the volunteers you want, reading the guide that Business Link have put together, or visiting the askCHARITY blog for lots of advice on communications.

2010 PR Graduate Schemes

Nov 4

By admin |

Posted in News | Tagged Ben Cotton, Grad Schemes, PR, PR Grad Schems | 4 Comments

This is a guest post from Ben Cotton, a researcher at the Centre for Public Relations Studies. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @bencotton or read his blog at www.socialwebthing.com.

I was thinking the other day what would have made my life easier in my final year at university. Looking back it was a hectic period – amongst all the deadlines, presentations, portfolios and exams we were looking for that dream graduate job. At times it was difficult balancing the two: trying to clear the immediate university workload, whilst attempting to plan for the future, namely searching and applying for jobs (all over the country) in the industry. It was an uncertain time.

So to make things a bit easier for PR students, I have put together a list of 2010 PR Graduate Schemes, when they open, close and links to apply. I’ll be updating it over the coming months. I hope you find it useful.

Note to companies: if you have a scheme please email us and we’ll add you to the list.

Band & Brown (via Facebook)

Open: Now
Closes: 15 November 2009

Blue Rubicon

Open: Now
Closes: 31 January 2010

Chime Comms

Open: Now
Closes: 15 January 2010

Diffusion PR

Open: Now
Closes: 31 Januray 2010

Edelman

Open: Late November 2009
Closes: TBA

Fishburn Hedges

Open: Now
Closes: 11 January 2010 and 8 February 2010 depending on when you want to start.

Fleishman-Hillard

Open: Now
Closes: FH continually run a scheme which lasts 6 months and candidates may be offered a job at the end.

Four Comms

Open: December 2009
Closes: TBA

Hill & Knowlton

Open: April 2010
Closes: TBA

Hotwire

Open: December 2009
Closes: TBA

Shine Comms

Open: January 2010
Closes: TBA

Weber Shandwick

Open: TBA
Closes: TBA

Online Charity Builds a House of Dreams from Virtual Bricks

Oct 22

By benmatthews |

Posted in News | Tagged @childsi, buy a brick, child's i, lucy buck | 11 Comments

Today sees the official launch of an online charity founded by former Big Brother Producer, Lucy Buck. The charity, Childs i Foundation, aims to help the hundreds of Ugandan babies abandoned and left to die every year in the capital Kampala. Through the foundation’s ‘Buy a Brick’ online donation scheme, the public can now donate by purchasing virtual bricks to fund the first phase of the project to set up a babies’ home.

Child’s i Foundation wants to help put an end to the problem of child abandonment in Uganda by setting up its ‘Child Abandonment Project’. Developed with leading experts in social care in the UK and Uganda, this unique model has three elements: a support programme to help mothers at risk of abandoning their babies; a transitional home to provide short-term life-saving care; and a family placement programme to ensure every child grows up in a loving family.

The idea behind the charity’s digital fundraising is to minimise running costs by carrying out all activity online. This means more funds can be spent on the things that matter and less money is wasted on bureaucracy.