14 Feb 2024
- 04 May 2022
Glass Digital partners with Connected Voice to help local charities
We’re proud to announce a new charity partnership! Glass Digital has partnered with Connected Voice to share our digital marketing expertise with local charities for free.
Connected Voice is an initiative in Newcastle and Gateshead that works with charities to improve their business knowledge and boost their profiles. They partner with successful businesses in the area and ask them to provide useful skills and insights to small charities, such as marketing, accounting, HR, and event planning and management.
This connects the charities with experts who can either raise their profile or provide services and education free of charge, which they may not have the budget for otherwise.
The team at Connected Voice got in touch with Glass Digital to ask if we’d be able to provide training to charities in the region who need assistance with digital marketing. This training could be over the phone, face-to-face, or during a workshop, and we’ve committed to spending one hour per month with various charities in the region to develop their marketing skills.
The first charity we assisted was Friends of Jesmond Library, part of the Community Libraries Network, a nationwide organisation sharing advice and help for community-run libraries. The group must raise £30K a year to keep Jesmond Library open, so an effective marketing strategy is crucial for getting the word out and bringing in donations.
We advised Friends of Jesmond Library on their website and social media efforts, including reviewing their existing work, identifying shortcomings, and highlighting opportunities to generate more organic traffic.
Jennifer Macdonald, Glass Digital’s Head of Marketing, says:
“I was delighted when Connected Voice got in touch to ask if we would help charities in the local area. It is something I had already been looking into, as I think it is really important to help businesses in the region — especially charities, who would otherwise struggle to obtain our kind of services.
“My first meeting with Friends of Jesmond Library was a huge success, and I received great feedback from them and Connected Voice. During the session, I tried to give the charity advice that would be affordable, efficient, and effective by sharing information about Google tools, PR, social media, and organic search. I provided Chris, their Founder, with a document to enable him to share my tips with the wider team and national Board, which seems to have been well received.
“I am looking forward to doing more of these projects in the future, as it not only feels like Glass Digital are helping charities, but also like we are benefiting the region. The North East has some amazing charitable organisations which are crying out for free expertise, so if we can help even a handful of them it will be a worthwhile achievement.”
Chris Clarke, Director/Trustee of Friends of Jesmond Library, says:
“The first thing that I would emphasise is that the Board was very grateful for Glass Digital’s independent, expert advice. We were relieved that they found our efforts to date reasonably good, and that we can implement their suggestions without unaffordable expenditure or even unachievable technical expertise.
“There is quite a shopping list of specific action points. Personally, I will be stepping up my efforts on Facebook, and I will make myself more aware of events such as World Book Day. I was particularly interested in Jennifer’s explanations of how Google works, and I’ve also looked at Google analytics with more interest since our meeting!”
India Gerritsen, Volunteering Development Officer at Connected Voice, says:
“Connected Voice has a new arm ‘Sector Connector, Newcastle’ in hopes to support local Newcastle charities by pairing them with local businesses who are willing to offer pro-bono advice and support. Marketing and social media is an area that many charities are in need of support with. We approached Glass Digital on the basis that they have skills in this area, and a portfolio to prove it!
“The charity we paired them with initially wanted to know more about them, and after sharing their portfolio was keen to work with Glass Digital. The experience has been very positive so far – they met face-to-face with the charity, took photographs for their socials, and also provided written advice on how to market their events in a way that would be more successful. The charity contacted me to say the meeting was ‘very helpful’.”
“From Connected Voice’s perspective, it was lovely to have a business keen to support a local charity, and in turn, support our newest venture. We plan to stay in touch and see how this relationship progresses.”
After our successful meeting with Friends of Jesmond Library last week, we at Glass Digital are looking forward to meeting and helping other charities through our new partnership with Connected Voice.
Digital marketing can help businesses of every size, particularly those looking to increase their traffic and revenue from organic search. To learn more about how our technical SEO, content, and link building services could help your business or charity, book a free, no-strings ‘Grow via SEO’ consultation with one of our experts today. You can also keep up with all things digital in our free newsletter — head over to our homepage to sign up.
Siobhan Newmarch
Senior Content Executive
