The Challenge
“We didn't know how to utilize [social media] to the best of our capabilities...we didn't know how to make those work for our nonprofit.”

Affirmations is a nonprofit community center located in the heart of downtown Ferndale, Michigan dedicated to the wellness of people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions.
Very early on, the Affirmations team recognized the marketing and fundraising potential of online social media, but they didn't know how to leverage their social media presence to produce real results. “We didn't know how to utilize [social media] to the best of our capabilities...we didn't know how to make those work for our nonprofit,” says Communications Manager Cass Varner.

The Solution
“[NEW's social media] workshop was fantastic and was really the catalyst in our reshaping an existing campaign to better achieve successful results.”
Affirmations learned about NEW's social media workshop series and decided to give it a shot. Before attending one of the trainings, “we were somewhat tentative about social networking,” comments Varner. Covering the basics, NEW's workshops offer nonprofit leaders an opportunity to become familiar with a variety of social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The goal is to encourage organizations tell their story and strategically build a web presence and develop a thriving community around their organization and its mission. In short, NEW assists nonprofit organizations in using technology in a way that boosts visibility, and results in increased funding and social support. Reflecting on the comprehensive training she received, Varner insists “the resources [NEW] gave us were like the bible of social media...the workshop is so thorough....I'd recommend it to organizations anyday and twice on Sunday.”

The Impact
“After we went through [NEW's] workshop it was like a whole new world was opened. We ended up turning the campaign around and approaching social media a little bit differently.”
After the workshop, Affirmations began to think strategically about how to make the most of their social media presence to connect with their community and fundraise. For example, “We immediately increased and enhanced our Twitter use. We also changed our messaging surrounding the campaign. We tried to be a lot edgier--because tweeters only read short comments, we wanted to make sure and get the attention as fast as possible.” Before long, Affirmations was engaging with center users and generating great feedback. As a result, “we ended up raising over $600 in less than 24 hours,” Varner states. “[NEW] gave us the confidence and knowledge about how social networking operates differently than traditional marketing options, and how we can try new things and succeed...We still have a long way to go, but I definitely think we are well on our way.”