Elijah van der Giessen

I help nonprofits build community.

Month: August 2011

What’s Eli up to? — August 26, 2011

What’s Eli up to?

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The blog’s been dead recently, but I’m not dead yet.

Here’s a quick summary of my work life over the last six months:

The day gig

I’m the Creative Services lead at the David Suzuki Foundation. Shockingly (to me) I’ve been at the Foundation for over 4 years now. Who knew that I’d settle down? I guess I’m not immune to being in my 30s.

Events

I’ve been working as a consultant to Constructive Public Engagement. We’ve done two events:

It’s great to organize events and run around with an army of volunteers again. It makes me nostalgic for my years at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival.

Public speaking

Now that I’m old and wise and have done some stuff I’m being asked to do some public speaking. Some recent gigs include:

I’ll also be leading a workshop on word-of-mouth marketing using social media at the IMPACT! Youth Conference for Sustainability Leadership (a mouthful!) in Guelph this September.

Volunteering

I’ve been the organizer of Vancouver’s Net Tuesday for the last two years. Yowza! This monthly meetup connects nonprofits with their allies in technology and marketing.

I’m also exercising my Salesforce and fundraising muscles by volunteering with OpenMedia.ca and recently helped the Vancouver AFP chapter by facilitating a session to help focus their social media strategy.

In summary: fun!

I’m recruiting two interns for my team at the David Suzuki Foundation —

I’m recruiting two interns for my team at the David Suzuki Foundation

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I’m looking for two interns to join the David Suzuki Foundation Creative Services team.

  • Print designer (4 days/week)
  • web developer (2 days/week)
These are paid positions based out of the Vancouver office.
The application deadline is Sunday, August 28, 2011.
The gig is super fun and I’ll feed you cookies unless you’re all gluten-free.
For more details please go to http://davidsuzuki.org/about/employment/
Net Tuesday: How nonprofits win with word of mouth marketing with Darren Barefoot —

Net Tuesday: How nonprofits win with word of mouth marketing with Darren Barefoot

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This is the year I get off my duff and put some effort into my Net Tuesday meetups.
I’ve committed to one per month for the year, and I’ve brought on an organizing team to help. I’m super jazzed for the first event of the season:

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Darren Barefoot
Photo: "Scott Beale / Laughing Squid"

How nonprofits win with word of mouth marketing with Darren Barefoot
with Darren Barefoot

RSVP

Meetup.com or Facebook

If you only engage in ordinary outreach activities – petition asks,
email marketing and Google AdWord buys – you won’t get noticed in a busy landscape where every nonprofit is vying for attention and support. Why? When everyone does the same thing, no one organization shines.

Truly remarkable organizations get their marketing done for them – for free – by their most excited, committed, passionate and devoted fans. They earn it by providing exceptional member experiences, by being unique, bold and creative. Word-of-mouth isn’t just about one-off gimmicks or “viral” campaigns. It’s an overall approach to movement building based on a new online reality where everyday people have become the most powerful marketing department on the planet.

In this session, we’ll discuss how nonprofits and charities are creating
remarkable online campaigns based on the theory and philosophy of
movement marketing. You’ll learn from experienced practitioners how to augment limited budgets with creativity and technology that will help your nonprofit get talked about.

DATE: Tuesday, September 6
DOORS AT 5:30 PM
EVENT STARTS AT 6:00 PM
LOCATION
W2 Woodwards
#250 – 111 West Hastings
Vancouver, BC

RSVP

Meetup.com or Facebook

ABOUT DARREN BAREFOOT
Darren Barefoot is internet famous. He has an honest-to-goodness wikipedia page.

He likes to play on the internet. He’s tweeted more than 17,444 times and it has been suggested that he’s Reddit’s biggest booster. Plus he’s co-written several books, the latest of which is Friends with Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook.

For the official bio: http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/about.php

ABOUT OUR SPONSOR

The venue is generously provided by W2 Community Media Arts. They’re lovely!