Archives by Topic: Community Partnering

As of this writing, there are 61 nominations on the Imagine Group Facebook page and 43 nominations here on our Blog! Eugene/Springfield really cares about its non-profits!

I hope you'll take a few minutes to read what other people have to say about their favorite groups. I have learned a lot already about the cool projects that familiar non-profits are undertaking, and also about non-profits that I have not been familiar with yet. It's so heartening and really makes me happy. There are some below this blog post, and if you scroll further down there are a whole lot more nominations below the blog post in which the Giveaway was announced. Read some. It will make you happy too, I bet. :)

HOW TO NOMINATE A NON-PROFIT:

• which group you would like to nominate,
  
• what you like about them (briefly)
  
• which of our products or services you think they would benefit from
• if they are not well-known locally, include their web address please
  

Thanks so much for your participation. And happy Thanksgiving to you all.

The Portland Independent Living Project is one of the organizations nominated by our clients in the Great Giveaway Game and chosen as a winner to receive a free banner. Recently they sent us this photo of their Case Managers holding the banner.  It's easy to see how the bright, hip look of their message can make both staff and clients feel proud of their organization.

They used the photo in their newsletter and posed the question 'Who's missing from the Case Manager group?' as a way to interest their client-readers and build the connection between clients and staff. The first person to call in with the name of the person missing from the photo won a movie pass from the organization.  Nice job PDX ILP of leveraging the graphics to advance your mission of supporting teens who are aging out of foster care! 

This is our second year of running the Great Giveaway to Non-profits where we take nominations from our clients and friends of which non-profits could benefit from donations of signage, banners, photography or a vehicle wrap. It is really a fun way to give away our services - in a big group, and with the energy and input of others! The entire Imagine Group staff feels very proud to be a part of this giving and excited to help make the chosen non-profits look fabulous and get their message out even more effectively. It takes a village.. right?

This year's 13 winners were announced yesterday in our Cool Projects eNewsletter and on our Facebook page. It's a great group.

There were many more great groups too among the nominees and I hope those who weren't chosen will get nominated again in the future and continue to have people giving voice to their mission and their needs. Part of what I love about the whole Giveaway is learning what groups do and helping to publicize that to others, whether they win or not, through the social media venues in which we accept nominations and communicate about the process. Spreading the word for all as well as providing in-kind donations to increase visibility of the winners is what this is all about.

So thank you all for your interest and participation. That's what makes communities great. Happy holidays to you all from the whole staff at Imagine Group.

P.S. We will be closed between Christmas and New Year's, as is our tradition, so our staff can relax with their families. We look forward to many exciting projects for non-profits and businesses in the New Year!

What a wonderful outpouring of support for a wide array of non-profits both local and at a distance. It's so cool that our community has so many great groups and ardent supporters. A whopping 49 organizations were nominated by 113 people (61 on Facebook, 46 as comments on our blog at our website and 3 on Twitter).

Here are some things I learned about local groups:

* Requests for scholarship help has doubled at Kidsports.
* More than 87,000 parents and children have been in Birth to Three groups
* The Science Factory (which gets 30,000 visitors/year) is converting their planetarium into a full dome theater
* MECCA just moved to a new location next to the train station
* Oregon Bach Festival brings classical music into K-5 classrooms for 5 minutes at the beginning of the school day
* The Boy Scouts' signature annual event is the Pinewood Derby where the boys design, make wooden cars and then race them.
* Oregon has the 2nd highest incidence of breast cancer in the nation..

The $25 gift card winners are:

Deana Lancaster for her poetic nomination of the Basenji Rescue and Transport organization,

Roger Scott who pointed out that Greenhill Humane Society puts the purr in purrfect!

And Amy Adams who submitted this poem about the Oregon Bach Festival:

OBF fans have great hearts:
Dedication is way off the charts
Every dime that you save
Could be one that you gave
To further the cause of the Arts!

Way to go Amy!

And now what you've all been waiting for the 2009 winning organizations:

Imagine Fleet Graphics will design, create and install a truck wrap for BRING Recycling! When they come pick up your stuff or send out their deconstruction crew, they'll be increasing their visibility by thousands of viewings a day, adding to the people who know about and support BRING.

Imagine Photographics will give a half day of photography to Ophelia's Place. Ophelia's Place is a young local non-profit that formed in 2005 as an offshoot of Womenspace. Their mission is to provide proactive programming and support services to girls, to equip them to be strong resilient, successful adults. Powerful photographic imagery will synergistically enhance the pro bono communications and website work that Verb Marketing + PR is helping Ophelia's Place with in 2010.

Imagine Graphics will support 10 non-profits with a free banner or the equivalent in exhibit graphics or other signage.

1. Eugene Relief Nursery - a favorite among nominators, making a difference in the lives of countless children locally and nationally through replications of their program
2. Save the Pets - finding homes for animals from local shelters and rescue groups
3. Kidsports who one nominator described as dedicated to physical literacy and helping all kids play
4. Just in Time Recovery Center for Meth Addiction who is on the move to acquire a rural property outside of Veneta where they can create a 1 year residential treatment for adult male meth addicts.
5. MECCA, the beloved local materials re-use arts organization with the brand new location
6. The Inn Independent Living Program - to raise awareness and donations to further their work with youth in the Portland area who are aging out of state foster care, providing them with independent living skills, housing, education and employment.
7. Greenhill Humane Society to help more animals find homes by creating better visibility at their off-site animal adoption events
8. Susan G Komen Race for the Cure - a fantastic fundraiser for breast cancer research, coming to Eugene for the first time in Oct 2010
9. Science Factory to get the word out about their expanding educational programming
10. Oregon Supported Living Program which is ready to be more visible in providing services to adults with developmental disabilities who want to lead ordinary meaningful lives despite their extraordinary circumstances

Runners up included several organizations who we recently awarded similar giveaways to as part of our celebration of the launch of Imagine Photographics:

Next Step Recycling - our busy neighbor working on many fronts to divert electronics from the waste stream, who recently got an AFrame sign to draw people to the Re-Use Store

and ShelterCare who were recently awarded a half day of photography from Imagine Photographics to illustrate the three populations they serve.


Thank you to EVERYONE who takes the time to be involved in the community and who participated in this Giveaway!

Have a wonderful holiday season from the whole crew at Imagine Group:

 

 

Imagine Group's 3 divisions are ready to give away over $8000 in goods and services to non-profit organizations!  Check out what we're giving away:

• a half day of professional photography from Imagine Photographics,
  
• 10 banners, or the equivalent in signage or exhibit/trade show graphics from Imagine Graphics,
  
• one partial wrap or vehicle lettering for a van or small truck from Imagine Fleet Graphics.

But with so many worthy organizations out there, we need you to help us choose who to donate to.

• schools
• social service agencies
• arts organizations
• environmental groups
• religious groups
• science and research

They're all eligible to be chosen.

1. The easiest is to post your nomination as a comment to this blog, since you're already here.
   
2. We think the most fun way will be to write your nomination on our Facebook fan page, 'cause then you get to see all the banter and conversation about the nominations that is the hallmark of social media.
   
3. Or if you are a Twitter user, and you like the challenge of using only 140 characters, you're welcome to nominate a non-profit in a tweet. (But remember to mention @ImagineGraphics in it so we can find your tweet!)
   

Nominations will be accepted through December 6th.

 

 

Wow! It was only 24 hours ago that we asked for nominations for which non-profits our three divisions should give photography, banners or a vehicle wrap to. And already more than 70 people have taken the time to go to either our Blog or our Facebook Fan page and nominate a group they care about!

I have been incredibly moved to read the nominations. To remember that there are legions of individuals and organizations freely giving of themselves to make one corner of the world a kinder, better, cleaner, stronger, safer, more beautiful place. To learn about groups I had never known about before. And to read the heartfelt descriptions and endorsements from people in the community who are connected in one way or another with Imagine Group. It really gives me such a hopeful, warm-hearted feeling about the world. Go team! 

Over 40 groups have been suggested. Some are the bigger, more visible non-profits that most people in the community know about, like BRING, NextStep Recycling, Greenhill and the Relief Nursery. Some are small and less visible, but still doing important and good work, like Ophelia’s Place, Oregon Supported Living, Donate Life NW and Just in Time Recovery Center for Meth Addiction. And some that have been suggested are unfamiliar to most because out of the area, such as City of Refuge International and Basenji Rescue and Transport. We humans are so resourceful and determined, aren’t we?!

I’d like to make a few clarifications about the process. One is that our intention is to choose 12 organizations who each will be offered one of the donation items we are giving away. Either one of the ten banners being given OR a half day of photography OR a partial vehicle wrap. It won’t all go to a single organization.

The second clarification I’d like to make is that we are not actually asking for ‘votes’. So while it’s great to hear multiple people supporting the same organization, what is even better is to have nominators tell us WHY they support that group and WHICH DONATION THE GROUP COULD USE. For instance, so far no one has told us about a group that has the opportunity to increase their visibility by having a vehicle wrapped. So if you think of one who could use that, by all means let us know. It’s fine to nominate as many groups as you want.

And for those of you marketers out there interested in the “how”s of engaging with our community, you might be interested to know that of the 70+ nominations we’ve received thus far, approximately half have come as comments on our blog and half as comments on the wall of our Facebook fan page (and only one on Twitter so far). However, I predict the blog comments will level off and the Facebook interactions will continue to increase due to being able to easily have conversation back and forth with people who nominate on Facebook and also the built in cross-pollination and interconnection of a social networking platform. On Facebook if Mr. X nominates on our fan page, all of Mr. Xs Facebook friends can see that he has become a fan of Imagine Group, inevitably prompting some of them to do the same. It’s a lot of fun to engage with people this way. If you want to see what’s been being said or nominate another group on the Facebook page, click here.  Thanks for your interest and Happy Thanksgiving to you all.