Getting started with Bluesky for charities
Wed 19 Feb 2025 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM GMT
Online, Zoom
Description
Bluesky is currently gaining attention and lots of new members as a new alternative platform for networking, sharing content and keeping up to date.
If you've joined or are just about to, Join UK Fundraising's Howard Lake for 90 minutes to learn how you and your charity can make much more of your Bluesky account.
As with other channels you can use it to spread the word of what you do and the impact you make, promote fundraising and other campaigns, find and connect with useful contacts (people and organisations), and keep up to date with news and developments in your charity sector specialism.
This new course is designed to help you get up to speed with Bluesky so that you are making as much as you can of it, while we all get used to it and learn how it might support our work.
While we'll look into Bluesky, who is behind it, and its welcome approach to privacy compared to for example X/Twitter, this course isn't really intended as a discussion over whether or not to use Bluesky.
We'll start from scratch with your new or relatively recent account and then run through the various opportunities you have, with plenty of examples.
We'll tackle:
* protecting your charity's name
* a quick look at how Bluesky works, what functions it has, including the privacy options
* how to post
* tools available (both from Bluesky and third party providers)
* how to find followers and grow your following
* the value of starter packs, lists and feeds
* automating content via Bluesky, and AI tools
* how much time will it take to run an account
* gaps and my questions to Bluesky
We'll invite you to share your experiences so far and of course your questions.
Bluesky isn't a new Twitter/X of course, but we'll offer some comparisons for those who have experienced Twitter, but we'll focus on Bluesky as a new approach to this kind of platform.
These are still early days, so expect some of the content and Bluesky's functionality to change and develop.
Who is the course for?
Anyone in the charity sector. Fundraisers, fundraising agency staff, service teams, CEOs and board members, funders, and more.
But small businesses, whether with a charity sector focus or not, might well find it useful too.
Your trainer
Howard Lake is a digital fundraising entrepreneur. A fundraiser since 1988, he founded UK Fundraising in 1994 and sold it in 2022. He has been using Bluesky since November 2023, and started using Twitter in 2008, building up over 100,000 followers over several accounts.
He has trained thousands of fundraisers in using digital tools to fundraise.
He was Chair of the judging panel for the National Fundraising Awards and was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising. He is founder of the Fundraising Camp series of events and Giving X Ltd, and co-founder of Barcamp Nonprofits and Goodjobs, the social enterprise jobs board. He is an associate consultant for Revolutionise International, home of 'Great Fundraising'.
What delegates will leave with
By the end of the course delegates will:
- gain confidence in using Bluesky in an effective and manageable way
- understand the ways in they can use it to support their charity, their role within that charity, and in their professional development.
- leave with some practical activities and processes to try out
- acquire a sense of how they might be able to support their colleagues in making more of Bluesky
We shall also send you a copy of the slides.
Cancellations and refunds
If we have to cancel this event then Fundraising UK Ltd will fully refund the ticket fee you have paid. We shall not, however, be liable for any other costs you might incur.
What do people say?
"I just wanted to drop you a quick note to say a massive thank you for this morning’s course. It was very interesting and I am looking forward to trying out Canva and Snapseed. We try to publish on social media but neither of us have much experience in that field so it has been really useful and I am looking forward to next week’s session. I only work a day a week so time is very precious and I think these hints and tips and new apps to try will really help"
Claire Edwards, Tony Elischer Foundation
2 June 2020
"Thank-you so much for part 1 of the course this morning. It was just what I was looking for and I am inspired to get creating my own images! Really useful with great suggestions of simple apps and tools to look at now too."
Nichola Heer, Charity Mentors
2 June 2020
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