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afranks-drawing-blog · 6 years ago

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Sprint #6

For this sprint and the next one we will most likely just be fine tuning the stuff we have already created, so that we can get final products.

Things we accomplished:

- finished social media graphics

- made a post schedule

- started making posts to Facebook

- went to last Circle’s meeting

- gained 3 more interviews

- started transcribing and getting together photos

Social Media:

The info-graphics were very text heavy with lots of data. We also did some that has a mix of simplified statistic visualizations and photo-based promotions.

Here are some examples of the new graphics!

The calendar for scheduled posting:

This was created for Kristin, so that see can see when to post certain things leading up to Giving Tuesday. I created countdown graphics leading up to #GivingTuesday to get people excited to donate!

In regards to The Booklet:

We attended the Circle’s meeting and obtained three more interviews for the booklet. I think this is our last meeting we will attend. So, from here on out we will be finishing up the booklet by transcribing interviews, finishing the cover, and contacting printing shops. Over break, Caroline plans to talk to some family members who own a printing shop to see if they would be able to help us out with costs and/or mass quantities.

Here is the general setup for these new pages in the book, also an example of a transcription.

Going forward with the last sprint, we are going to:

- refining the content of the book

- May make a survey monkey to get more responses (if necessary)

- Continue contacting print shops

- Design front cover

- Finish transcribing remaining interviews

- Keep up with scheduled posting

- Run the boosted posts and/or Ad before #GivingTuesday

- Make a graphic/big post for Giving Tuesday

- Continue trying to draw in donors

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afranks-drawing-blog · 6 years ago

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Sprint #5

For our fifth sprint, we had few set backs. But we were able to get through them by the end!

Things that happened:

-Working on the Facebook fundraiser, boosting posts and scheduled posts

-Separated Info-graphics, created a few more social media posts

-Booklet interviews and progress on final product

-issues with a boosted post

To start: Fundraiser:

So since the beginning we have now raised about $770 since Oct. 14th. We have 271 likes and 15 shares.

Kristin told us that she ran a general AD, and we encountered some set-backs with that. Our image was too text heavy, so we weren’t able to run the post for that long. Thus, we weren’t really able to tell if the post(s) will be successful.

This is the picture that FB had a problem with.

Going Forward:

- we are remaking posts that are able to be boosted

i.e. pictures with little to no text on them, maybe just even the logo.

I created this as a preface into the next sprint. This is what some of the posts will look like.

I plan to create these in bulk for the days leading up to Giving Tuesday witch is Dec. 3rd! Caroline and Collecia are making posts that will work for ads and boosts, so that we are still able to do that as well.

Booklet:

- The have started transcribing the interviews

- Most of the layouts have been finialized

- We plan to go to at least one more meeting before the end of this, all.

- We took pictures at the meeting of the people! (kids so so cute)

Here is the attachments of the updated pages to the booklet/photos from meeting:

Going Forward with Booklet:

- Continue going to meetings

- Interviewing a volunteer

-Begin interviewing multiple people

(We’re going to split in 2s and interview multiple people)

-Contact more printing shops

-Design front cover

Insights Gained:

I think that our group is really making a actual impact on CirclesRVA. Being able to raise them money, is really cool. I’m excited to see everything com together and I hope that Kristin gives us good feedback in the end. Hope to gain some traction from these AD��s and have a successful #GivingTuesday.

-Abby Franks

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afranks-drawing-blog · 6 years ago

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Discovery Summary #3 (sprint 4)

Abigail Franks, Blog Post #3, CirclesRVA

For this sprint, my team and I accomplished a few things that I think are notable. For the most part, we are just continuing to update things as need be.

The things we accomplished:

1. Launched the GoFundMe (Facebook Fundraiser) page 2. Reworked info-graphics 3. Different version of Social Media Templates 4. Book Template (basic layout altered and finalized)

Fundraiser:

I’ll start with the Facebook Fundraiser. Initially, Caroline and I wanted this to be a GoFundMe page that CirclesRVA could use to gain individual donations with no real end point, i.e. something they could use even after we are done working with them. But, Kristin mentioned to us that GoFundMe hasn’t updated their organization name from their old one, and did not want to promote a donation link without their updated information. Since they are non-profit and already embedded in the GoFunMe system, there was no way for us to change it. So we thought about it and decided that we could use Facebook Fundraiser and do something similar to GoFundMe. We started to see some great pro’s to using Facebook too, like that their biggest following is on Facebook, we did NOT have to give any of the percentage of donations to Facebook, and that we were able to customize and edit anything we wanted. It was fairly easy to set up and we were able to launch that on October 14th. We set a “goal” of $5,000 but it is not limited. So far, we have raised about $670 towards the goal, which is great!

(Below is a photo of the fundraiser, and here is the link for donating)

https://www.facebook.com/donate/3232566963450552/1376259945883078/

Going forward with the fundraiser:

We plan on posting info-graphics to the page that people can share and help spread the word to gain donations. We also plan on making a personalized thank you graphic to send to those who donate! Kristin is looking into using some of their budget at CirclesRVA to “boost” a few posts about the fundraiser to reach a following outside of the area, a bit. We have updated the info-graphics, as well so that all information is accurate!

(Below is a photo of the newly updated info-graphics)

Social Media:

Not much here, templates have been updated. We started with red and then did a blue one, to match CirclesRVA colors. These will eventually have updated statistics on them and be posted to social media accounts. We also might use one for a “boost” post for the fundraiser.

(below is a photo of a new version of the social media template)

Booklet:

From what I know the booklet template has been “pretty much” finalized. I’ve seen a few versions and it really looks great. We are trying to decide whether or not the booklet is going to be something someone gets after they make a donation, or more of a way to promote and spread work about the organization. Andy, Noor, and Kelly are deciding on what they want the front cover to look like. More graphic or a photo, just text? They also attended the CirclesRVA meeting last Tuesday to interview a few people and get stories for the booklet. We want to organize a small session, maybe, that members can attend so that we can photograph portraits or group pictures. Andy has the notes from the meeting, I wasn’t able to attach them but he should have them! Kristin has sent us more contact information if we can’t get in-person interviews with people for the booklet. We have a way outside of that!

(Below is attached photos of some spreads for the booklet)

Personal Insights:

So far, I think we are on the right track. For the fundraiser I’ve learned it is quite hard to get people to donate that don’t know much about the organization and I’m hoping that starting to use the info-graphics will help. I want to find a way to get it out to the greater masses so that we can reach our goal. It is also difficult to ask leaders to tell their story when they are currently in the program, because they haven’t necessarily had success with it yet and asking about their personal life is tough. I think that Kristin is really grateful for the things we’ve done so far and she has been great to work with! Our dynamic as a team as been working well, too. Having us split into different groups has been effective at getting things done. Going forward, I think we really need to focus on promoting the fundraiser and getting the booklet squared away so that we can get it printed and distributed. Kelly is looking into having a printing company sponsor so that we may be able to reduce cost, or not pay for the printing. Overall, I’m really proud of our team and what we’ve done. It feels great to help out a non-profit and see our work making a difference.

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afranks-drawing-blog · 6 years ago

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Discovery Summary #2

Abigail Franks, Blog Post #2, CirclesRVA

At the beginning of the first sprint my team and I came up with a lot of ideas to help marker and get the word out about CirclesRVA. The primary ideas that we came up with were:

Gofundme, social media refurbishing, Screen Printing event, creating t-shirts (merch), and a Booklet with stories from the organization.

Attached are our developed ideas for each project and what they would entail.

After formulating these ideas, we were asked to create prototypes that we were able to physically look at, so we did that for the booklet. Each of us created a quick layout to see the different kinds of ideas we could come up with.

Attached are photos of each members idea of a layout within the book.

Soon after, we gave our presentation to Kristin, the representative working with us from CirclesRVA. We explained to her, all of our ideas and asked for her feedback and help with certain things. We decided that the Pop-up event was a little too ambitious and we decided to narrow in on Social Media, creating a GoFundMe, and creating the booklet. In my opinion CirclesRVA’s biggest problems are individual donations and marketing. The ideas we’ve narrowed in on are important in helping these issues.

Starting the working process:

After we decided what our sprint would look like, we broke off into ~3 teams within our one team. People working on the booklet, social media, and gofundme. Within each category there is specific things that each person would have to do.

Booklet: (Andy, Noor, and Kelly)

Although this is not my area of work, I do know a few things that the booklet people have been working on. They have created 2 different kinds of layouts that could possibly be used in the end product. One layout is more commercial and the other is more formal/artistic. These members have out filler photos and text to show the general layout. Setbacks they are running into are: photography of specific people in CirclesRVA (also permission for that) AND receiving the stories that will fill the pages (via interview or forum). I do know that Kristin is working on contacting these individuals to set up interviews and photos. That should be figured out of the course of the next week or two.

Attached are some screenshots of what the Booklet Team has been working on:

Social Media: Collecia (for now)

Social media has been pretty simple as of right now. Collecia has been doing the majority of work in this category. She created reusable templates for social media accounts, that grab viewers attention. Caroline and I will most likely step into help her, after the GoFundMe is launched. For now, these templates will be used to get information to the public and hopefully draw in donations/volunteers/and or members.

Attached are some images of the templates Collecia created:

GoFundMe: (Me and Caroline)

This is were I have been spending most of time and energy! So for the gofundme, we decided to recreate/revamp some infographics that explain what Circles can do, and explaining some of the poverty rates in Richmond. We created a bio, for the basis of the page as well. Here is what we came up with:

“OUR MISSION

Circles RVA empowers individuals and families to permanently move out of poverty and thrive. We create intentional relationships that expand support communities and engage the wider community to reduce or eliminate the systemic barriers that hinder people from rising out of poverty.

WHAT WE DO

Circles RVA follows the Circles USA model which focuses on Circle Leaders, individuals or families who want to move from surviving to thriving economically. A Circle Leader is someone whose income is at 150% or below the Federal Poverty guideline and who wants to make a change. Circle Leaders meet for about 12 weeks of training which includes setting SMART goals, budgeting, stress management, assertiveness training and negotiating skills. At the end of the training, Circle Leaders have specific goals for achieving economic stability and present these goals at a graduation ceremony. Circle Leaders are then matched with two Allies who walk with the Circle Leader as they work to achieve their goals of economic stability.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

We have been conditioned to believe poverty is an unavoidable problem of society.What if that’s not true? What if we have normalized a condition we could actually solve?”— Scott C. Miller, Founder of Circles Circles RVA empowers individuals and families to permanently move out of poverty and thrive. We create intentional relationships that expand support communities and engage the wider community to reduce or eliminate the systemic barriers that hinder people from rising out of poverty.

WHO IS A LEADER?

The Circles® model centers on a Circle Leader, someone living at 150% or less of the federal poverty guideline, who wants to move out of poverty. Circle Leaders create an actionable life-plan and define their goals. They build financial, emotional and social resources through a required 12-week training curriculum. They are equipped for their journey by the provision of discipline, motivation, relationship building tools and the leadership skills they will need to be successful. A Circle ‘class’ starts with up to 25 Circle Leaders. The entire coaching process lasts 18 to 24 months. The Circles model does not permit direct financial assistance to Circle Leaders.Things someone who comes to Circles as a leader may think about:“I feel stuck and am sick of it. I need to head in a new direction.”“I want to make a lasting change.”“I am tired of living from paycheck to paycheck”

WHO IS AN ALLY?

A Circle Ally is a volunteer who is an intentional friend to the Circle Leader and is there for the Circle Leader on their journey to economic stability. Circle Allies attend training to ensure that the Circle Leader remains the driver and center of the change process. As a result, the Circle Ally offers emotional support when needed, shares life goals and experiences, and only when asked, gives advice. The Circle Ally meets at least twice a month with their Circle Leader as part of that intentional friendship. Circle Allies have a unique opportunity to work closely with an individual or family, build a meaningful relationship across class lines and witness the impact of change first hand.”

As for the infographics, we made a simple way to read and understand the information in way that is engaging but not too busy.

Attached are the documents of the Infographics we created:

After some talking we decided that using the platform specifically Gofundme, was not the best idea to Kristin. So we decided to use the Facebook platform called Fundraisers, so it was easier to access for the public and also so there was NO fee when transferring the donations. We launched the page on 10/07/2019 with a goal of $5,000 by December 6th. We have the page up, but we still need to tweak it and edit certain parts before we start sharing/promoting it.

Attached is the picture of the launched fundraiser on FB:

LINK IS HERE: https://www.facebook.com/donate/3232566963450552/

Going Forward:

The goals going forward with the next sprint are:

1. Make tweaks and share/promote the fundraiser

2. Finish up final booklet layout

3. Conduct interviews for the contents of the booklet

4. Take our own photography for the booklet

5. Continue making more reusable posts for social accounts, maybe start thinking of new SM ideas after fundraiser is finished

What I’ve learned:

So far, I’ve been learning that relaying important information usually has to be done in a simplistic way. It isn’t always about how beautiful something is, just Is if effective? OR what’s the best way to across something I want to say without being confusing?

Can’t wait to see where the donation goes... excited for the next sprint!

- Abigail Franks

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afranks-drawing-blog · 6 years ago

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Discovery Summary

Abigail Franks, Blog Post #1, CirclesRVA

My team and I having been working with a non-profit called CirclesRVA, they are located in Richmond, VA. This non-profit aims to help people connect with volunteers who are they to help guide them out of poverty and to lead a better life. CirclesRVA consists of leaders and allies. The leaders are the individuals who are affected by poverty and have come to CirclesRVA to help improve their life. The allies consists of volunteers who get matched up with leaders to be their “guide” and help them make those changes in their life.

As we have been working with them, we asked them where they would like to see improvement within the non-profit itself. Through talking with them and hearing what they had to say about poverty, donations, leader-ally connections, etc. We developed this problem statement for an overall reminder as to what their sole purpose is, as a non-profit.

Our problem statement was refined to: Families lack a support system to permanently move out of poverty in Richmond.

We came to realize that unlike any other poverty non-profit, CirclesRVA has a different approach by making personal connections, having someone to turn to for help during the process, it’s not just donations.

The people/who at CirclesRVA:

We attended a meeting for CirclesRVA on September 10th. We went to get a feel for what the org does at these meetings and also to meet the people are apart of it. We collected a few points while we were there, to help us with out research. We are soloving the problem, I think, more of the volunteers and staff at CirclesRVA. They already to a great job caring and supporting leaders, but I think getting the word out of the non-profit itself is key in raising awareness.

“Everyone at Circles RVA meeting is close-knit despite their economic or social status; I also did not perceive any racial disparities or any racial tensions for that matter. Circles have done an amazing job of making everyone feel valued and on the same playing field. They have created an intimate family relationship with the allies and leaders.“

Before going to the meeting we came up with a set of research goals to look into. We were each assinged 2 goals from the session, my personal ones were #6 and #12. Here is the set.

1. Statistics behind poverty in the Richmond area. 2. History behind the CirclesRVA Organization. Bo Millner attending next Monday or [email protected] 3. What do leaders use as funding while their at CirclesRVA? Helen Rai, Circles Coach [email protected] 4. What are the relationships like between the leaders and allies? Helen Rai, Circles Coach [email protected] and/or Tanyqua Williams, Circles Facilitator [email protected] 5. What is the average day like for someone who works at circles? Helen Rai, Circles Coach [email protected] 6. What is the main method of advertising to the public? Kristin Blalock, Community Coordinator [email protected] 7. What is the entry process like for an ally? Kristin Blalock, Community Coordinator [email protected] 8. What is the entry process like for a leader? Helen Rai, Circles Coach [email protected] 9. What is the main motives for an ally to join CirclesRVA? Attend Circles to meet with Allies over dinner? 10. What is the main motive for a leader to join CirclesRVA? Attend Circles to meet with Leaders over dinner? 11. Where is the main source of donation coming from for the organization? Bo Millner attending next Monday or [email protected] 12. Comparisons to other organizations. Online research? Or I can share with you what sets us apart in my opinion. Kristin Blalock, Community Coordinator [email protected] 13. What is the process like to pair a leader and an ally? Tanyqua Williams, Circles Facilitator [email protected]

In my research I found lots on things on the internet. For #6, the main method of advertising to the public, I found that CIrclesRVA really dosen’t focus on social media and things like that very much. The biggest platform that they had was Facebook, without around 200-250 likes/follows. The posts they make seem to be mostly photos from the weekly sessions. There isn’t much advertising per say, which I think is something they could improve on. They had a few articles in small magazines around Richmond, but nothing much more than that. They’re branding is that of CIRCLESUSA, which I don’t think is bad things but making more of uniqueness to their specific chapter I think would be beneficial. More info in attached photo!

For #12, I was comparing a few organization to CirclesRVA just to get a sense of their impact and also what might be working for them, that doesn’t work for other non-profits and vice versa. Generally, what I found is the CirclesRVA is smaller chapter to CirclesUSA. They’re chapter isn’t an impact world-wide, but they do a lot for the Richmond area. Finacially, comapred to other places they don’t make as much. But, I think this due to how small they are and also how new they are. Their chapter of Circles I think is one of the more popular chapters. Their statistics on their Annual Report were awesome, and they made a huge impact for people who joined. 2 big non-profits that have to do with poverty are The Borgen Project and Families Forward. One of the huge differences I noticed is that these non-profits don’t connect on a personal level like CirclesRVA does and I think is something huge we need to conisder. It sets them apart! More info in attached photo!

Outcomes/Potential Ideas from this research:

We did a few activities to sort out of research into categories. One of these consisted of things we could do that are: Low impact easy, high impact easy, low impact hard, and high impact easy. On the sticky notes you’ll see what we deemed to be in these certain sections on what we could accomplish and also what would be of impact. Customer outcomes vs. business outcomes seemed to be very different, but they overlap in the sense that helping CirclesRVA in anyway would benefit almost everybody.

Customer outcomes: Building trust between leaders and allies, getting leaders 200% above the poverty line, gaining social support, and improving overall relationships with the community.

Business Outcomes: increase sustainable partners, increase numbers of leaders and allies, increase number of donors, increase online engagement, and expand the reach of CirclesRVA.

Constraints: We do have some constraints however, these are problems that we may face or constraints we do need in order to make the project helpful. These are: personal boundries with leaders, volunteer based org, money, cohort training for allies (3 months coming up), outreach of org, and contact with leaders and alllies.

Conclusion/Personal Insights:

The main things we gained and are looking at going forward is mostly making a campaign to help CirclesRVA with advertising. We think this would be a great way to gain more donors and also help get the word out about the organization. We plan to spend some time on social media cleaning as well, to help that show the uniqueness that CirclesRVA has. I think this organization has so many great qualities vs others that people would be really interested in if they hear about it. We want to also create a gofundme as a way of bring in donations from individual donors. We have been researching articles and other non-profit ideas to help us with the way we want to execute this. We are really excited to see what CirclesRVA thinks about out plan.

(attached are some more screenshots from my research goals)

#6