Dorian is in Ft. Myers, FL to speak “Social Media” at the 18th Annual CASE Conference for Institutionally Related Foundations. CASE, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, is a professional association s the professional association that helps educational foundations do their work: raising money, reaching out to their communities, and the like. About 60 percent of the attendees expressed at least some skepticism about what social media can do for a foundation in a survey we had them take before the conference. We’ll try to demonstrate that social media can be a powerful tool for a community organized around an educational institution — in fact, for those doing it, we bet that almost seems obvious.

Here’s the program description, and links to some material we’ll draw on.

“Harnessing the Power of Social Media.”

Twitter, Facebook and blogs are just some of the powerful tools you can use to build and solidify your foundation community. But how do you launch and then, and once they’re built, how do you get the community you want and keep it engaged and contributing — time, energy and money? What are the pros and cons, and when do you NOT want to use them? How do you establish goals, then measure your effectiveness in reaching them? In an engaging 75-minute session, digital media strategist, trainer and entrepreneur Dorian Benkoil will use real-world case studies and his own experience and knowledge to demonstrate in a hands-on yet strategic way what social media tools can do for you and your foundation, and how to use them.
Speaker: Dorian Benkoil, Founder, SVP, Senior Consultant, Teeming Media

How Charities Harness Social Media to Raise Awareness, Money (PBS MediaShift) (Client of Teeming Media)
Earthquake confirms value of social media (Miami Herald)
Social-Media Contests Bring In Donations and Enthusiastic Supporters (The Chronicle of Philanthropy)
The WhatGives!? PayPal Donation Widget For Nonprofits