Leveraging Your Social Media as a Coyote
Helps Volunteer
Note: Coyote Helps does not yet exist as a
nonprofit. All of the information on this web site is PROPOSED.
Please see the home page for more information about this idea
for a nonprofit.
Your social media - your Facebook page, your Instagram account, etc.
- is YOURS. Leveraging your own social media for Coyote Helps is
like hosting an event at your house for a nonprofit, or using your
own car to deliver meals for Meals on Wheels.
Leveraging BlueSky and/or Mastodon.
If you have a BlueSky and/or Mastodon account that you are ready to
use in association with your volunteering with Coyote Helps, you are
ready to get started with leveraging those accounts as a volunteer.
If you do not have such an account, and you want to be an official
Coyote Helps volunteer, you need to create one immediately.
Coyote Helps cannot provide you with guidance on how to create a
BlueSky account: you need to know how to do this on your own.
For Mastodon, we recommend you create an account on Mastodon.social or Mastodon.world or Mastodon.plus.
Remember that your account on either of these platforms must follow
the Coyote Helps Code of Conduct and
Guidelines if you are an official Coyote Helps volunteer.
For the sake of transparency: here is the
BlueSky account of the founder of Coyote Helps and here is her Mastodon account.
You do NOT have to follow either account yourself. But you DO have
to share your account names with Coyote Helps, if you will use them
for volunteering with us (and if you have been accepted as a
volunteer, you have received a link to a form to do that).
What should you post to or share on BlueSky and/or Mastodon as a
part of your volunteering with Coyote Helps?
- Volunteering opportunities in your community.
- Events in your community by local nonprofits.
- Seminars or informational sessions by local government
offices, such as how to apply for Medicare or Medicaid, or how
to find a pro bono attorney.
- Information about an upcoming town hall by an elected
official or people running for office.
- A link to a blog you have or someone else has written about
volunteering, registering voters, attending a town hall or
candidate's forum, etc.
Where do you find information to post and share?
- By doing keyword searches on whatever search platform you are
using (Google, Duck Duck Go, Bing, etc.).
- By reading the social media accounts you follow.
- By seeing the information on Facebook (which posting outside
of Facebook, try to find a web page to link to, rather than a
Facebook page).
- By seeing the information on Reddit (try to find a web page to
link to, rather than a Reddit page).
Please remember to ALWAYS verify information that AI generates: for
instance, if AI says there is a farmer's market in your hometown
this Wednesday, find the original information from the organizers
and draw your information from the web site or social media post of
that organization, NOT from what AI generated.
You could choose to search for and post information just once a
week. Or every Tuesday and Thursday. It's best to set a day and time
that you will regularly do this.
If you need to track and report your
volunteering hours, be sure to track the amount of time you
spend searching for this information!
Leveraging Facebook
Your activities on Facebook are NOT monitored by anyone from
Coyote Helps. In fact, the leadership at Coyote Helps will NOT
friend you on Facebook. Your activities on Facebook as part of
your volunteering with Coyote Helps are based on the honor system,
and should follow the guidelines provided here for Reddit, BlueSky
and Mastodon.
Facebook is an excellent place to find content to share
elsewhere.
On Facebook, you can follow:
- Your city government's official account
- Your county government's official account
- Any city or county government department you have a particular
interest in or you think will regularly post events (library,
parks and recreation, public health, etc.)
- Your public library's official account
- The accounts of nonprofit community theaters in your area
- The account of your nearest Habitat for Humanity affiliate
- Your nearest animal shelter and even other rescue groups
- Area food banks
- The League of Women Voters for your area
- Any nonprofit at all you are interested in.
- Your local historical society.
- Programs in your area that help immigrants and refugees.
- "Friends of..." groups that support wetlands, a hike and bike
trail, a river, a historic site, or another "cause."
When any of these accounts post a volunteering opportunity for
your community, consider reposting the information on your social
media accounts and Reddit, as appropriate.
DO NO REPOST ALL CONTENT FROM EVERYONE YOU FOLLOW. Pick and
choose. Maybe you repost something just once a week to your social
media and the subreddit for your community.
The goal is to remind people that there are great ways to come
together for good, whether it's a local nonprofit farmer's market,
a chalk art festival, a small music festival, a children's theater
production, or any opportunity to volunteer.
If you want to do even more on Facebook, you can:
- Look for Facebook groups focused on your local area and that
would welcome your sharing of nonprofit Facebook updates about
volunteering, for instance (make sure that nonprofit isn't
already sharing the info itself), and then start sharing (we
recommend just once a week).
- If your area doesn't have such a Facebook group, start
one.
Instagram:
Instagram is a photo-sharing site, and it's not designed for
resharing posts. When you post something to Instagram, you need to
also post a graphic. That means that Instagram is the hardest
platform to leverage in pursuit of the Coyote Helps "cause." But
if you figure out ways to do so, go for it! We'll provide
information on how to share your Instagram activities as a part of
Coyote Helps volunteering to those who are accepted as a volunteer
into the Coyote Helps program.
No need to ever mention Coyote Helps in
your activities:
We're not shy! And nothing about our initiative is secret! But you
own your volunteering activities, not us! We ask only that
officially registered volunteers declare that they are volunteers on
their LinkedIn page. But you do not have to note your affiliation
with Coyote Helps anywhere else. Your social media accounts are
YOURS, not ours.
Always Remember the Goal.
The primary goal of Coyote Helps is simple: to help make the
Internet a kinder place, one that is filled with opportunities and
information to help people engage with their communities and engage
in causes that are important to them.
Please do NOT start on any volunteering tasks
until you have received written notification from Coyote Helps that
you are now an official volunteer.
Reporting.
Reporting your activities each month
to Coyote Helps leadership is part of your commitment as a
volunteer.
Expanding Your Volunteering Contributions.
The aforementioned is the minimum for volunteering with Coyote
Helps. You don't have to do any more than what has already been
detailed.
But perhaps you want to do more. Perhaps you want to learn more
about online community management, online facilitation, how
nonprofits use online communities, nonprofit marketing, etc.
Perhaps you need a work study experience in association with a
university class If so, once you have volunteered successfully
with Coyote Helps for at least three months, contact us to let us
know you might be interested in taking on additional
responsibilities for a set period of time.
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