Category Archives: Non-Profit

Non-Profit, Work

Reaching new Movember Milestones with Recruitics’ team!

As an active Movember supporter for many years, I’ve been proud to help raise money and awareness in support of men’s health issues like prostate and testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention.  And I’ve written before about how Movember uses social marketing techniques to promote men’s health issues.

But this year was my first leading a team of fundraisers, helping my Mo Bros’ and Mo Sistas’ at Recruitics through “no-shave November”.  What started by a post gauging interest on Slack was quickly embraced by Recruitics’ leadership and with members signing up from across our company.  We even organized a “Waffle Wednesday” fundraiser to earn donations from our hungry co-workers! Continue reading Reaching new Movember Milestones with Recruitics’ team! →

Non-Profit, Policy

Speaking at the United Nations

This week I lived out a lifelong dream of speaking before the United Nations! I was honored to deliver a statement on behalf of HelpMeSee​ to the 50th Commission on Population and Development.

HelpMeSee statement to UN at CPD50

In April 2017, I was honored to deliver a statement on behalf of HelpMeSee​ to the 50th Commission on Population and Development. Lean more at: http://www.matthewhurst.com/2017/04/speaking-at-the-united-nations/

As part of my role managing communications and content marketing at HelpMeSee, I often write speeches/statements and build presentations for our leadership. Late last year I took on responsibility for managing our global NGO’s membership with the Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC), participating in membership events and submitting HelpMeSee’s initiatives in support of the UN’s agenda to support public health and sustainable development. I was thrilled when our submissions were approved, so when our CEO was unavailable to speak I was nervous but excited to present our statement before the the committee at the UN’s headquarters in NYC.

To read the full transcript of the speech and statement, please visit HelpMeSee’s website.

Non-Profit, Policy, Search

World Sight Day petition

Today is World Sight Day, a global holiday established by the UN’s World Health Organization to raise awareness about eye health and bring attention to blindness and eye health. To celebrate, today HelpMeSee submitted over 12,000 signatures to our petition calling on the United Nations to support an increase of training for cataract specialists needed to treat the millions of cataract blind around the world.

According to the WHO at least 20 million people are blinded by cataracts, despite the fact that sight can be restored by a low-cost surgical treatment, mostly due to poor access to health care in developing countries. Earlier this year I took on a new role as Content Marketing Manager with HelpMeSee to tackle this growing global health issue, including helping raise awareness and activism through this petition.

As part of my new role, I was asked to help represent HelpMeSee at the UN, using our NGO’s special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council. Then we decided to combine our UN advocacy with another common marketing goal: growing our list of supporters (and maybe leads as future donors) for email marketing outreach. So we partnered with Care2, a leading social network for philanthropy and activism, to share our UN petition with their growing audience.

Bringing it all together was our marketing funnel: we built a series of landing pages to share the petition, designed to convert interested advocates into active petition signers who would join our email database. At the top of that funnel we utilized our Google Ad Grant, available to any non-profit to looking use AdWords’ search engine marketing tools, to introduce thousands more to our cause through relevant search ads driving to the petition. This campaign worked in tandem with Care2’s support, adding 29% more signatures above our 10k goal! Along the way I learned more about tools like Unbounce and MailChimp then I ever thought possible, and HelpMeSee qualified to Google Ad Grants Pro (4x the total funding) by optimizing search ad spending to 99% efficiency for consecutive months.

I’m proud of the awareness we raised and support we’re building towards a critical public health challenge, and now I’m looking forward to delivering the thousands of signatures we gathered to the UN! But it’s not too late to add your name to the list- you can read the full petition and sign today here:

Sign Petition: Join The Fight to End The Leading Cause of Blindness

More than 20 million people are needlessly blind due to untreated cataracts. Tell the UN: I support training of cataract specialists in the developing world. (11947 signatures on petition)

Non-Profit, Professional Networking, Work

Joining HelpMeSee, the Campaign to End Cataract Blindness

I’m excited to share that I’ll be joining the HelpMeSee as a Social Media Coordinator beginning next week! In this new role I’ll be managing social media with daily updates and engagements to support fundraising for this global health care non-profit organization.

Founded in 2010, HelpMeSee is a global campaign to end cataract blindness, which is the leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide.  Over 20 million people are needlessly blind because of cataracts, and a further 82 million who are visually impaired will eventually go blind because they cannot access treatment. Cataracts can effect people of any age, race, or background, with women disproportionately impacted and less likely to be treated.  Most of the cataract blind live in developing countries, where there is a shortage of cataract surgeons trained to provide sight restoring treatment for the millions of people in need.

Fortunately HelpMeSee is developing a solution- using virtual reality simulators to train the thousands of cataract surgeons needed to fight blindness.  Continue reading Joining HelpMeSee, the Campaign to End Cataract Blindness →

Influence, Non-Profit

Marketing Movember: Promoting Men’s Health Through Social Marketing

Before and after for Matthew Hurst's Movember mustache in November 2010

Movember is about much more than growing a mustache, it’s also about putting a new face on men’s health issues.  When I first heard about No-shave November I didn’t know about the connection to men’s health, so I had no reservations about shaving my mustache for a job interview. But a year later when my new employer sponsored Movember participants I learned all about their fundraising for cancer research and raising awareness for health issues such as prostate and testicular cancer.  For a third year I’m participating in Movember, but the history of Movember actually goes back much further and serves as a great case study of using social marketing to promote men’s health.

When Movember started in 2003 it was just a fun idea between two friends in Australia, but it quickly grew into a global phenomenon. Within a couple years their small group of friends expanded to reach thousands in Austalia raising millions of dollars for prostate cancer research, incorporating into the Movember Foundation by 2006.  Gaining charity status in the US in 2009 helped the organization grow abroad, but also to attract partners to their cause alongside individual participants. Today Movember has nearly 1 million participants in 14 countries who raised over $100 million last year.

Key to Movember’s success is not just the great cause it supports, but also the global marketing campaign that promotes it.  Anyone who visits their website will be impressed by the creative media ; everything from videos starring famous mustachioed celebrities to personals flyers and smartphones apps, used by participants and for supporters of Movember.  But perhaps the most important promotional tactic is much more personal- their mustache growing participants:

Mo Bros effectively become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November. Through their actions and words they raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health.

Another popular part of Movember is their own social network, MoSpace, which gives each participant their own page to raise funds and interact with supporters.  Mo Bros and Mo Sisters use the social network to make updates on their progress and also allows them to share their Movember campaigns on other social networks.  The site also serves means to personalize their Movember efforts within their social group, a proven tactic whether to raise funds or awareness within a social marketing campaign.

Continue reading Marketing Movember: Promoting Men’s Health Through Social Marketing →

Non-Profit, Personal Branding

Happy Holidays to you, from Matthew

Seasons Greetings! I wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy holidays, however you choose to celebrate the season. This year I’m home for the holidays, traveling from New York to St. Louis to celebrate xmas with my family and friends, and I hope you’re able to do the same.

To thank my readers for their support over the last year, I’m sharing my 5th annual Very Indie Christmas mixtape.  I make this mix each year to share new Holiday songs besides those played repeatdly on commercial radio and in the shopping malls, so you might consider this my gift to you.

You can find more of my mixtapes and listening habits over the holidays on my Playlist page.

If you’re looking for a good last-minute gift for anyone, feel free to borrow ideas from my list of charities and philanthropic causes I support. Helping those in need is just part of the holiday spirit, so I hope the best for you and yours in the new year!

Blogs, Ideas, Non-Profit

Blog Action Day 2010: Measuring the impact of Water use

Bottled Water Bar in Chicago's Museum of Science & IndustryWater is one of those things we never notice unless it’s unavailable. Sure I’ve been known brag about my hometown’s great tap water and am known to enjoy tasty beverages made from this resource, but besides the occasional outage I rarely consider it’s impact on my everyday life.  Yet for millions of people, access to clean, safe drinking water is not available, even if the solutions to this basic Human Right are simple.

As long as Water is a finite resource with limited availability to many, we should conserve this natural resource while increasing access to those who deserve our help. When I was writing my Master’s thesis on Energy Conservation (and last year’s Blog Action Day post), I had water in mind as well because it is another resource subject to increasing demand and inefficient use we take for granted in the United States.  Among my findings were that consumers were best encouraged to improve their usage of a resource when they have concrete examples of steps they can take to reduce their consumption (and the tools to measure them).

To better understand this issue, here’s a few ways to measure how we use Water everyday: Continue reading Blog Action Day 2010: Measuring the impact of Water use →

Ideas, Non-Profit

Brooklyn Skillshare returns!


Because education doesn’t end after you graduate, last year I attended a day-long series of workshops during the first annual Brooklyn Skillshare. There I learned how to brew Kombucha Tea, an experience I speak about 0:30 seconds into this video filmed at last year’s event. That same curiosity to learn from my neighbors has me excited for this year’s Skillshare event, which will take place this upcoming weekend.

Bringing out the best talent and knowledge from around the borough (my new home at the time), the 2009 Brooklyn Skillshare (BKSS) focused on sharing knowledge for the purpose of community building rather than merely professional development. Organized by individuals who understand that learning happens best in a social context, these event demonstrate the motivation for adults when they learn from their peers. After all, Brooklyn is well-known to be populated by creative souls with talent and knowledge to match, which would ordinarily be lost if individuals kept these talents to themselves. Continue reading Brooklyn Skillshare returns! →

Facebook, Non-Profit

The Birthday Challenge

What difference can one person make simply by asking their friends to make a charitable contribution? Any individual can help change the world, and this story is just another example to prove that (click here to play the video).

For my last birthday I challenged my friends to donate to a cause, People To People International (PTPI), instead of buying me a gift. I used the Causes application on Facebook for fundraising, and was overwhelmed by their support. I’ve written about my efforts before, and have since raised a few hundred dollars for PTPI.

Facebook Birthday Wish post

My efforts earned the attention of People To People, who like most non-profit organizations are exploring all the new opportunities for fundraising that social media can offer.  We connected though Facebook, where an interview was published highlighting my fundraising efforts in addition to how PTPI has impacted my life both personally and professionally.

We wanted to share my story and inspire others to try the same challenge for themselves, so I flew to Kansas City, Missouri to shoot this video.  The birthday challenge has also been the subject of another recent interview accompanying the video, as part of a series highlighting the accomplishments of young people working with PTPI.

Thanks to Scenic Road Productions for creating this video promoting a good idea for a a great cause.  And Happy Birthday for my friends at People to People, which celebrates their 53rd year of fostering peace through understanding this week!

Blogs, Non-Profit, Twitter

Living Classrooms – Learning By Doing

Living Classrooms logoAny company can use online media to connect their brand with their audience, but how does a non-profit grow their organization despite expected declines in charitable contributions?   Even with a limited budget, digital levels the playing field to organic and earned media opportunities for non-profits such as Living Classrooms, a client I had the privilege of consulting for last spring.

Along with a team of classmates at American University, we set about creating a strategic communications plan for Living Classrooms, a non-profit organization serving underprivileged youth in the DC-metro community since founding in 2001.  One of the challenges unique to this client was their difficulty distinguishing not only from a successful parent organization, but also standing out from other non-profits in DC currently struggling for funds, so our team decided branding would become a strategy.  Their hands-on education approach meant almost all of their funding was used towards their programs, and presented a challenge to developing new sources of fundraising. Meeting these budget limitations helped us build a strategy with specific objectives (met through some work on our own part).

As discussed in our presentation (and memo), creating and using a blog and Twitter were critical tactics to meet the campaign’s goals.  These online tools serve an agenda-building relationship with the local news media, which Living Classrooms would try to earn media coverage without using expensive advertising. However social media is not synonymous with free media: even though these platforms are free to use, they require thoughtful and persistent work from dedicated professionals in order to work well.

Any organization can ask someone to Twitter for them, but only a professional can make it relevant for reporters, bloggers, and others who would want to tell Living Classroom’s story.  My role in this process was to build these media tools for them, and to start using these so that Living Classrooms would could model on them; unfortunately they did not have the budget to hire someone to write so my model was key.  While new media levels the playing field, a public communications professional can lift an organization above from the rest, so that a non-profit like Living Classrooms can stand out online.

These tactics also play a critical role in winning and retaining new donors, since they allow Living Classrooms to provide regular updates which demonstrate the value of their donation.  Because Living Classrooms, like so many non-profits, is involved in so many programs donors don’t always know about all the work their donation allows an organization to accomplish everyday.  These regular updates demonstrate the compelling work Living Classrooms does through stories told in words, videos, and pictures in the channels which new donors are likely to discover this cause.  This serves as a compliment to the newsletter and mailer our group designed, often adapting the same material for online use.

We’re still waiting to see which parts of our strategic plan will be used by Living Classrooms this year, so in the meantime please check out the blog I set up to learn more. For a communications professional with a strategic approach, online tools can become a successful tactic for non-profits to  overcome limitations and expand their communication budgets, ultimately changing minds and lives of those most in need of help.