HOW TO: Run a Global Charity Event From Your Laptop

On a Thursday in early February, Amanda Rose was sorting through non-profit applications from around the globe and setting up calls with her equally international team in a massive effort to organize Twestival Local, an international “Twitter festival” that uses social media for social good by connecting communities on a single day to support local causes. The next day, Rose came down with flu-like symptoms and spent most of the day trying to recover ? not just her health, but also lost time.

Began in 2009, the next Twestival event is scheduled for March 24. Its success, however, is tied to Rose: “I can’t be sick for a week,” Rose said. “It would just put me back too much.”

Twestival tries to leverage online tools to create offline change. The event takes place on a single day and alternates between Global, where communities help one cause, and Local, where those communities pair up with local charities and non-profits. This year, local volunteers will select a charity with a social media presence and throw an event to raise funds and awareness.

For two years, Rose did much of the work: reviewing submissions, spreading the word, vetting charities, coordinating press and follow-ups. This year is the first that Rose has been able to bring in staff to help her sort through the rapidly expanding charity event.

Considering the global scale ? more than 125 cities are holding events from Doha to Tunisia to Rochester, NY ? it’s easy to imagine that Rose’s phone bill must be terrifying. Thanks to social media, though, it’s actually pretty reasonable. Twestival is possible because of a suite of online tools, a little missed sleep, and an enthusiastic team of global do-gooders. Read on for a behind-the-scenes look at how it all happens.

Social Media Tools

How do you manage a team of 20 people spread across different countries and multiple time zones? Rose has assembled a paperless “office” (picture at right) and relies heavily on Skype and Huddle to both set up group calls and make changes to key documents.
Skype may not be “new tech,” but recent improvements in call quality and the ability to easily create conference calls regardless of geographic region have made it an invaluable resource for the Twestival team. Skype is also a great way to drastically cut the costs of the festival by eliminating hefty international phone bills.

Cloud computing has helped centralize Twestival’s planning process and make documents available to the entire team.
Huddle, which costs $15 per month/per person, is a project management application that operates much like Google docs. Rose said that Huddle offered its service to Twestival for a substantial discount, though, so for those on a tight budget or a gigantic team, Google docs offers comparable, though slightly less comprehensive, services.

You’re probably familiar with how Twitter works, but Rose and her team have made it a key component not just of the final event but of the planning stages. The global team regularly uses Twitter to send @replies or direct messages to local event organizers. Unlike e-mail, Twitter is a chattier, informal way to communicate ? a huge benefit when the global team needs to quickly befriend, plan, or problem solve with organizers who may come from different cultural backgrounds.

By regularly using Twitter to interact, Rose and the team are also training local organizers to become more comfortable with using social media to communicate and promote.

Systems

Twestival prides itself on being about the community, but Rose needed to institute some organizational hierarchy to have any chance at success. Rose leads a group of four managers that oversee key aspects like volunteers and digital communications. This group then works with 15 regional managers in charge of areas like the “Middle East,” “Canada,” and “Nordic Region.” These regional managers are responsible for talking to the local volunteers that actually host the events.

Despite their official-sounding titles, most of the “managers” are simply enthusiasts with applicable expertise. A journalist and teacher, Aleksandra Tsekhmistrenko is the regional manager for Russia. Tsekhmistrenko got involved with Twestival to help boost the profile of charities in Russia. “Project Manager” Ga

HOW TO: Run a Global Charity Event From Your Laptop