If you work for a community group or nonprofit, there are people who would like to join you. We can help you find them.
For local philanthropic or service organizations, communication is key. Library of Congress
An important part of the civic fabric in every community are the nonprofits and other groups working to make things better. And yet, the community is often unaware of this work.
Getting the word out is vital to the success of community groups and nonprofits:
When the California Local team first began building this website, one of the key elements was to devise ways to amplify the voices of local groups and the work they do in communities.
Our Community Resources directory of local community groups and nonprofits (which can be found in the navigation bar of each of our eight County Overview pages) includes more than a thousand listings over dozens of categories.
This directory helps volunteers find opportunities to connect with groups that match their interests. Would-be volunteers can check out various group categories and find a good starting point. To streamline the connection, we include quick links to make it easy to volunteer with, donate to, and contact each organization.
To help nonprofits communicate their mission and reach donors and potential clients, we briefly present their basic information and simply send our visitors to their websites. Many groups tell their own story effectively, but if people don’t visit their sites, the story remains unheard.
California Local has been devising new ways to help get these stories out.
We began by inviting groups to sign up as California Local members and maintain their listing in our database, using the system to add their events to our community calendar.
We’ve now made it even easier for groups to share events and blog posts from their websites on California Local.
A new feature in California Local gives nonprofits the ability to automatically share their blogposts on our website, and automatically have their events appear in our calendar.
Once a day, an automated process on California Local imports blog posts into our Community Bulletin Board and events into our Community Calendar where they are displayed.
Most websites are built using the WordPress platform, and one of that platform’s superpowers is its built-in sharing capability. WordPress blogs can easily be shared via RSS, and events with RSS or iCal. When the title or description of an imported blog post or event is clicked on California Local, the user is redirected to the group website where the original content is displayed.
Adding these links to a listing in California Local’s community group directory is a one-time task that will help get the word out in many ways. Every announcement about events, volunteer opportunities, fundraising drives, and educational resources will be added automatically to the relevant countywide Bulletin Board. Blog posts and stories can also appear there—all available for an audience that reaches beyond the segment of the community that is already familiar with the organization and its good works.
You can access this outreach functionality easily and for free. Please contact our publisher, Mike Gelbman, and he'll walk you through this.
