Working Together to Build a Better World
Julie Sexton from the Good Shepherd Food Bank
A trend among generation Y as discussed on Business2Community.org is their desire to give back to their communities by finding small ways to be big heroes. Good Shepherd Food Bank’s marketing and events manager, Julie Sexton, is living proof of this trend. “My advice for other marketing professionals is simple; we are all in this together. Think about the bigger picture and ask, ‘how can we all work together to build a better world?’ and be less concerned about what’s in it for me.”
Julie has worked in nonprofit marketing for most of her career, and though she finds it challenging at times, she also finds it more rewarding then the for-profit sector. She enjoys “finding what moves people to give back to their community rather than convincing a consumer that they need something to make their life better.” Sexton believes in finding the perfect story that will make someone trust you with their money and her greatest reward is seeing the light in someone’s eyes as they envision how one dollar will impact a life.
Julie is an essential part of the Virtual Food Drive hosted by the Good Shepherd Food Bank, and their understanding of social media helps the program’s success. “Food drives are a crucial part of our organization, but the Good Shepherd Food Bank has the ability to buy in bulk, which drives down the cost of food.” This ability allows them to turn every dollar donated into eight dollars; essentially feeding four people with every donation. “We are making it easy for people to make a donation. People are busy and we want to make it as accessible as possible for those who want to help.”
People do want to help and reaching your audience is crucial to the success of any organization, which is something Julie has realized. “Where are the people? They’re on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. These are free social media resources and we cannot be afraid to use them.” Julie suggests that all nonprofit marketing professionals should “spend one afternoon a week researching national and local nonprofit marketing techniques. What works? What doesn’t? Why recreate the wheel if it is already working?”
A recent event hosted by a family that wanted to give back to their community. They donated 10% of sales to the Good Shepherd Food Bank.
If you would like to learn more about their donation programs or would like to get involved with the Good Shepherd Food Bank please visit:
You are the best! Congrats!
Congrats!