BBB's Charity Symposium Foces On Social Media Strategy

Social media has been touted as THE way to engage with your audience. Charities are jumping into the fray along with companies, major brands and ordinary folks.

But not every medium is right for every person, charity or company. The Better Business Bureau's annual Charity Symposium on Aug. 29, Social Media for Social Good, will provide insight for charities who want to engage with donors, volunteers and other constituents.

Four speakers will address how, when and whether nonprofits should use social media, including how to match the medium to the audience. They are:

• C. Leilani Carver, director of Maryville University’s master’s program in strategic communication and leadership, had a varied career in business and nonprofit work before earning advanced degrees at the University of Kansas, where she taught for five years before joining Maryville’s faculty in 2012.
• Ryan Farmer, communications coordinator of the St. Louis Area Foodbank, has been responsible for the organization’s internal and external communications since 2009. Before that, he spent a decade working in radio, including CBS Radio in St. Louis.
  
• Gretchen Jameson, founder of Pure PR, has made a career of talking, listening, tweeting, emailing, Facebooking, producing media, blogging and using all types of platforms to talk about causes, mission and nonprofit work.  She previously worked on national communications for youth ministry at the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and at Concordia Publishing House.
• Jim Manis, chairman and chief executive of the Mobile Giving Foundation, has been a leader in developing direct business-to-consumer mobile channels. He joined the foundation in 2007 and has been pioneering the use of mobile devices for charitable giving. 

The symposium runs from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 29 at the Hilton St. Louis Frontenac, 1335 S. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, Mo., 63131. The cost, which includes continental breakfast, is $35 per person, $30 for a BBB Accredited Charity or $30 each for two or more from the same organization.  

Reserve your place online, email executive.assistant@stlouisbbb.org or call 314-645-0606 for more information. Symposium details are at stlouis.bbb.org/charity_symposium/.