In the rise of technology firms and innovation in Silicon Valley, there is one thing that consistently drives these companies. These companies want to change the world with their product, but they want to make money, through differentiation. What appears different and innovative about us that would make you spend the extra money. While there may have been problems with connectivity, networking at the turn of the century, the solutions were brought upon by competitively driven businesses. Blackberry was nearly put out of business by the likes of Apple. While the effort was to change the way business is done, success and making money was the driving force, and therefore Blackberry was left in the dust.

In my last couple weeks at United Way of LaPorte County, I was exposed to the opposite of that. While on the surface, it’s easy to understand the difference between for-profits and non-profits, this exposure taught me the foundational differences between the two.

In three-pronged approach, UWLPC wants to help in the areas of income, health, and education. UWLPC isn’t the only group trying to solve these problems in LaPorte County. This is a good thing but there can be setbacks. If certain people are using both UWLPC as well as another service, such as a shelter or a counseling center, they may receive some of the same information and it may be inefficient to the user. Thus, collaboration is necessary. I was able to be a part of a couple of meetings that involved ways to unify efforts to help house the homeless, employ the unemployed, etc. In the for-profit world, there is little to no collaboration as it is all about the success of your brand. While in the non-profit world brand success is important, it is more important to solve the issues. Getting exposed to this help me really understand foundational differences between the for-profit and non-profit industry.

My first week on the job at United Way of LaPorte County (UWLPC) left me with many questions. Most of it was spent looking at the computer screen and researching different ways that social media can help non profits, specifically this United Way. With these long hours of research, at times it wasn’t the most interesting thing, and I wasn’t exactly sure how what I was doing was helping our organization. Was this going to be my role for the entire summer? Upon our first meeting with our supervisor to discuss what we had been doing, I soon realized the value and importance of our work. Most of the administrative staff didn’t have fundamental knowledge of social media. It was at this moment that I realized I was contributing a lot to this organization. The so-called “basics” of twitter, facebook, Instagram, etc, were not basics to most people. My generation of peers has an advantage because social media is mostly a pastime, and is second nature to us. However, when harnessed correctly, it isn’t just valued as a pastime, but rather it is valued very highly. Because of this I began to more intricately document what I was doing, so that when Tyler Ingersoll (fellow CAPS Fellow/co-worker) and I leave at the end of the summer, UWLPC can continue to succeed and maintain a presence on social media.

Being the young interns of the office, we understood what appeals, and what can attract attention on social media. Thus, we began brainstorming ideas as to how to grow the social media presence for UWLPC. So Tyler wrote a rap, and together we filmed and produced a video/song on 2-1-1, a free calling service available to help anyone with housing, food, transportation needs and questions. This idea has brought some more attention on facebook to UWLPC, and we quickly realized the value of having a posting videos like such. Our next video was a remake of a Sportscenter ad featuring world class golfer Jordan Spieth. We advertised both for 2-1-1 as well as the annual golf outing that United Way is putting on in August. (We are still waiting for George Lucas to call Tyler and I asking for help in the production of the next Star Wars).

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHQDXDmBEhO/?taken-by=unitedwaylpc

For the remainder of our time here at UWLPC, Tyler and I hope to produce more videos and to increase attendance at United Way events. I have begun to understand that the younger generations have valuable experience in social media despite most of us not realizing it.