“I could not believe the presenter was looking at our actual Facebook page. She looked at around 10 organisations’ pages and gave expert advice on each of them. It was great to see the different things other people are doing and I was also able to use some of the advice she gave to the others.”
Sports Chaplaincy New Zealand’s Rebecca Hawkins’ excitement shines through when she talks about what she has learned during Connecting Up and TechSoup New Zealand's recent “Facebook LIVE Feedback” webinar.
Having also touched on everything from how to choose a CRM to how to create compelling digital storytelling, it’s just one of several courses she has completed with Connecting Up and TechSoup NZ.
“I found the Facebook Live webinar particularly useful,” she says. “I went to a social media master class at the TechSoup New Zealand Conference last year that was given by the same presenter, Kirsty Wallett, so I already had confidence that she knew her stuff.
“We would not normally be having experts do this kind of work on our social pages and it was really encouraging.”
Ms Hawkins was prompted to take the Facebook LIVE Feedback course after receiving some constructive criticism about the Sports Chaplaincy Facebook page.
“I took that feedback on board and really wanted to talk to an expert about it because it made me question what I was doing. Mostly Kirsty said that what I was doing was really good and that if I continued doing what I’m doing I should see the page grow.”
Asked how the courses compare with other paid and free course she has completed, Ms Hawkins says the comparison is extremely favourable.
“I have spent a bit of time with other course providers and Connecting Up and TechSoup New Zealand courses stack up really well.”
What makes a huge difference, she says, is that the organisations are also not-for-profits and understand the needs of the not-for-profit sector.
“It’s really great that Connecting Up and TechSoup New Zealand’s courses are specifically aimed at not-for-profits,” she says. “Other course I do are focused on making money and that’s not my goal.
“My goal is to raise awareness and help people, and Connecting up and TechSoup New Zealand really understand where we are coming from, which is important. If I’m doing training and people are talking about how to make money that’s not really relevant to me.”
And it’s not just training that is helping Sports Chaplaincy NZ. Thanks to Connecting Up and TechSoup New Zealand donations and discount partners like Microsoft, Adobe and Cisco, they are also benefiting from significant IT infrastructure that otherwise wouldn’t be available to them.
“We are just in the process of getting Office 365 which is great to be able to have access to. I think it’s going to make a big difference for us,” she says.
“We have grown organically and picked up technology here and there and it’s getting to the point now where it’s not working.
“Often charities and not-for-profits end up using software that is free but is really slow. This means that rather than paying up front for something better we end up paying in wages.
“I remember one time sitting for two hours waiting for software to work. Now we get good products that commercial organisations are using so we know they are top quality.”
She also recently attended the Facebook Workshop for Good Roadshow, which partnered with Connecting Up and TechSoup NZ and stopped off in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland.
“The Facebook Workshop for Good Roadshow was really exciting,” she says.
“We are now looking at Workplace, and being able to get it for free and use all of the tools is really amazing and will make a difference for us.”
So, what does she think about the importance of technology for charities and not-for-profits?
“At the moment we are quite young as an organisation and technology is really important,” she says.
“We need good communications because we have people all over the country, so being able to communicate well and share through programs and platforms like Office 365 and Facebook Workplace is really important for us.
“It’s really important for us because our chaplains are often working on their own and can be quite isolated. Through technology we are able to provide information and resources that they can use.”
For more information on Connecting Up's capability building training courses and events click here.
About Connecting Up
Connecting Up is a not-for-profit organisation. Our purpose is to help our fellow not-for-profits leverage the digital world to positively impact their communities. The digital world is expanding beyond IT software-hardware and digital marketing to new innovative service delivery and measuring of social impact.
Connecting Up believes that not-for-profits with the right tools and skills can and do achieve great things for their communities. We have a long history of affordable software, hardware, educational events and group consulting. We partner with more than 40 organisations to deliver high quality products and services specifically meeting the unique needs of the not for profit sector.