Recently, I introduced all of you to Journeys for Appalachian Youth. Which if you are here for the first time or a second time, feel free to browse around and look at ways you may be able to help. Amazon has a great program called Amazon Smiles that is an easy way to help a charity. While I would hope you would consider selecting this one, maybe you have a cause that is near and dear to you and you wish to choose something that has to do with that cause. I just encourage you to help in any way you can, it is easy and you don’t even have to do anything more than shop.

Back to tonight’s post. While this is all new and I am in my infancy. I would like to hear ideas that some of you may have for how you think something like this should be launched and maybe put together a first donation drive.

Fortunately there are a whole host of options out there for reaching the general public and I hope to use all of them but also reaching a big audience these days is critical to my success. I never want to pressure anyone into anything or make them feel obligated. It is uncomfortable to put people in that position. But at the same time I know that if you don’t promote, ask and get the word out there this will never take off.

Here are my thoughts for how I am going to start connecting and generating buzz:

  1. Connect with local civic organizations like Kiwanis.
  2. Reach out to the local schools.
  3. Connect with city and county leaders.
  4. Start to develop relationships with local companies that have an interest in the development of people in our community.
  5. Subscription email list offering newsletter and post updates.
  6. Use Social Media to post fundraising campaigns and encouraging others to share as much as they are willing.
  7. Start a Facebook Group or Account, people can choose to join and follow information specific to the organization.
  8. Create a separate Twitter account.

What ideas do you have if you were trying to start your own organization? Maybe some of you have and can offer a lot of insight. Maybe some of you would like to work with us. If interested let me know, my contact info is on the “contact us” page. I received a very nice offer with contact info to someone else who has done this. Share with me your ideas.