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Guest Post: Charity Spotlight: Building Twentyon

Building Twentyone helps teenagers develop positive habits and values by giving them a safe, constructive place to drop in after school. They offer tutoring, a large space for safe party alternatives, workspaces for homework and projects, and the only indoor skate park within 75 miles of Lansing, Michigan.

In this charity spotlight I spoke with the Executive Director of Building Twentyone, Benjamin Schartow.

Origin Story

About five years ago, tragedy rocked the Holt community. A group of seniors from Holt High School, who had been partying at MSU, crashed into a tree. Three of the seniors lost their lives. The driver had been drinking.

Members of the community met to discuss what could be done to change teen perceptions. This is when Benjamin knew he had to help.

“Who is offering an alternative for these teenagers?” was the question Benjamin asked. When no one answered, he decided to take action. After talking with students, he began offering 5th Quarter parties after football games. These parties provided free pizza, a DJ, inflatables, giveaways, and a safe alternative to other house parties.

These 5th Quarter parties paved the way to Building Twentyone.

Today

Building Twentyone’s campus consists of two large buildings between Mason and Holt. Students can be bussed there after school. There are a number of workshops offered, such as photography, DJ, and improv. Building Twentyone also offers tutoring, games, and plenty of space for personal projects. There is also a lake out back where students can boat and fish.

And then there’s the skate park. Benjamin says it wasn’t part of his original vision for Building Twentyone, but a couple of volunteers put their hearts and backs into it and made it happen.

Empowering volunteers is something else Building Twentyone does well. Most of the staff are volunteers who don’t have leadership backgrounds. It’s not just teens who are looking for a purpose.

Big Wins

There have been some big moments for Building Twentyone this year. They have started holding assemblies at Holt Junior High with uplifting messages. The teen center has also been around long enough to see the long-term positive impact it has on teenagers. Working with a teen for a year or more and watching their life completely turn around is a very personal accomplishment for Benjamin.

Building Twentyone also recently celebrated its largest fundraiser. With utility bills exceeding $900 in the winter, those donations help a lot.

Advice For Donors

Benjamin revealed to me that Building Twentyone is primarily volunteer-operated. The larger expenses are rent and utilities. It’s very easy for those expenses to exceed 33% of their expenses.

When donors look at that percentage to gauge the quality of a charity, it’s also important that they look at the value being offered by that number. Facilities like Building Twentyone’s are invaluable to teens, and letting them explore technology, art, and other indoor activities year-round have a high energy cost.

Fortunately, Building Twentyone was recently awarded a grant that will reduce their utility bills by 70%.

Goals

In the near future, Benjamin would like to add digital media, speech writing, and public speaking workshops to their programming. He is also working with Mason schools to help influence more teens.

Looking farther ahead, Benjamin thinks it would be great to see an additional Building Twentyone location in the Lansing area.

Advice to Nonprofits

For anyone running a charity, Benjamin suggests planning fundraisers well in advance. Pick a date and work backward on your calendar to decide when you should start promoting it. If you start too late, there may not be enough time to spread the word and attract enough donors.

Benjamin also recommends looking for volunteers who are capable in areas where you are weak. Keep people doing what they love for as long as they love it. Touch the lives of your volunteers and they will become champions of your cause.

Photography by Ian Kast

Erik Gillespie is a software developer and semi-pro advocate of amazing things. He founded Giving Jar, a blog and upcoming donation platform for Lansing charities, and helps people learn how to create websites and other software at Lansing Code Lab. He’s kind of obsessed with board games, too.

#BetterCallPaul – ACTYI Bloopers

2nd Brain Collective Podcast: Melik Brown of Lansing Made

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The Story of UnoDeuce

14 years ago something special happened. I created UnoDeuce Multimedia. It was a huge leap of faith for me as I really didn’t have entrepreneurial blood running through me. My grandmother ran a small brunch cafe, but that’s about it and she closed it up when I was about 5 or 6 years old. So, why did I decide to go out on my own? Why start a company? A few reasons actually.

First of all, the digital revolution was here. Cameras were coming down in price, editing systems were coming down in price, media, etc. There was starting to be this trend toward the one man bands, and it was time that I took my chance at this as well. Secondly, I built a pretty fair network before moving back to Michigan from Seattle. It was probably a tougher state to move on your own in, but I knew with my knowledge of the audience I was targeting, it would be a good fit. Thirdly, a video company, that a friend of mine worked out was selling off all of their equipment so I jumped at that opportunity to pick up a camera, tripod and microphones. Now was a good time to go on my own.

The creative side was easy, the business portion was the steepest learning curve. Even though I ran the day to day operations at my previous job in Seattle, I didn’t have to worry about a lot of the little things that I had to take of now. There was a lot of organizing and getting out there. It took awhile for me to really gain traction as I took some freelance jobs around the Detroit area covering high school sports that really helped me financially, but I feel I wasted a lot of chances to grow because I didn’t have time to do it all and I tried.

When I made the move to Lansing, MI, five years ago, it was my opportunity to start fresh as a business. I immersed myself in the business culture in this area, I no longer had those freelance gigs to take me away from the development of the business, so that would not be a distraction, and I grew up. I don’t look at the first 9 years of what I had established as a wash, it was just a learning experience. I wanted this business to be more of a business and so I attempted to create that atmosphere and be an employer as well as a creator and producer. We are now structured differently, marketing differently, talking about ourselves differently. We are a we, not just an I.

When I first started this business, I didn’t want it to be just an I. That’s why it’s always been a different name, not just myself. I didn’t know how to go about being that we at first, but I know now, and am looking forward to this expansion. So, never give up on your goals. Figure out where you want to be. You may not have the answers at first, but you will come to the right conclusions eventually. Make mistakes. Ask questions. You will never learn if you never get out of your box.

Running a business and a successful business is a marathon. Remember that. Keep your head up and your mind, heart and ears open. You never know where that may take you.

Guest Post: So You Have a Plan, Do You?

You’ve decided you’re going to launch a mini-campaign for a new service you’re offering. Congrats! The fact you’ve recognized you need to get the word out deserves kudos.

But wait! Do you have a plan for this launch? A marketing communications plan, I mean. You know, the document that outlines your ultimate goal(s), measurable objectives, strategies and implementation tactics? It’s also got target audiences, key messages and evaluation techniques? Yes? Awesome! No? Oh dear.

Construction site crane building a blue 3D text. Part of a series.

Don’t shoot from the hip. It doesn’t have to be a long, formal thesis on how to sell Happy Meals (remember to take out the fit-tracker watch incentive!). A plan illuminates the path to success. It should be revisited often to see if it needs adjusting. Throwing darts at the wall rarely leads to an organized effort or desired outcomes. What it usually does is lead to frustration and the question, “Why isn’t this working?”

So what are measurable objectives and strategies? How are they different from goals and tactics? How might I evaluate how it went? We PR folks call it the GOST formula:

Goal: Think of this as the umbrella statement that sums up your desired outcome. “Successfully launch Fancy Fido Styling’s new deluxe pedicure service.” It’s broad and doesn’t get into the details of how you’re going to do it or who you’re targeting.
Measurable Objective: Say what you’re going to accomplish, by how much, in what timeframe and among what audience. “Sell 25 deluxe pedicures in the first three months to existing customers.”
Strategies: These are the categories of marketing communication tools you’re going to use to sell your service.
1. Direct mail to existing customers
2. Signage
Tactics: Here’s where the rubber hits the road. Tactics are the things you need to do to enable your strategies, and ultimately get you to your measurable objectives and goal(s):
1. Create direct mailer and mailing list
2. Develop eye-catching signage for front windows and salon
Evaluation: How do you know if it worked? What would you do differently next time? This all depends on your goal and your measurable objectives.
1. Compare actual sales to measurable objective(s).
2. Do a satisfaction survey with pedicure customers (since Fido can’t speak for him/herself!).

Taking time to put something together can really help you stay focused and sell those pedicures. Still not sure about all of this? Check with a communications professional for help. Most of us like pedicures too!

Carrie Blog Bio

#BetterCallPaul – Keeping it Positive

2nd Brain Collective Podcast – Amanda Washburn of Rough Draft Solutions

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My Viewpoint of the Video Industry in 15 Years.

I’ve been in professional video production for almost 20 years. There have been a lot of changes in that time. In fact, in that span we have seen: DVD production set the standard and now start to wane, HD production evolve and HD distribution hit the web, YouTube become the dominant distribution platform for the web and so on…

Now let’s look at the future and where I see video heading, in my estimation:

A businessman is consulting a crystal ball to foretell the future.

Production: 4K will be mainstream and in fact we will probably be now looking at 8K as the new capture method, with cameras becoming more filmic in their look. However, I don’t see the pro cameras getting much smaller, maybe a little bigger with the ability to offer more for event videographers in the way of audio inputs and lens stability. I just don’t see the multipart camera rigs as playing as big a role for cameras. The smaller cameras such as GoPros will stay within the same form factor, but may have some stronger accessories to take them into more diverse arenas. The video technology within phones will be more advanced, and the phones themselves will have more space at a cheaper rate. I also think that cloud technology will be more advanced so that you can offload video right from the camera into the cloud space wherever.

Post-Production: Editing systems will be more advanced allowing more touch technology and integration with touch based tools to edit. In other words it will feel like you are painting your video or film, as you will be able to slide around whatever elements you need by hand. Also, they will be more robust by having either a better continuity with other programs in the bundle by either integrating programs into the system or having a situation where you open the program within the editor and not know you are outside the editor. The programs will work with each other within the same window. Plus to be able to edit from the cloud will be an important part of the workflow.

Distribution: This is what may change the most as we will see more aspects of live streaming from just about whereever. There will be greater instances of wi fi for that. The video codecs will be much more advanced so streaming live in 4K will not be an issue. Plus maybe even multiple streams 4K. YouTube may not be the dominant video player, but I dont see it’s dominance waning as it becomes more of a Netflix competitor. Video will be able to played more readily on what were static billboards and kiosks as the cloud and streaming technolgies become more stable. Plus more vehicles will have wifi hotspots and streaming video will play more a role in that as well.

Those are just some of the few ideas in the advancement of technology within our time in the next 15 years and I haven’t even touched Virtual Reality. I’m not sure if we will be more advanced because of the huge leaps in digital and web based technologies that happend in a short amount of time in the last 15 years. We shall see. Like I’ve said before, it’s a good time to be in our industry.

#BetterCallPaul-August 2016 in Review

2nd Brain Collective Podcast: David Smith of Vexti

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