Today, we’re thrilled to announce a special collaboration with our longtime partner, the David Brower Center. The partnership is dedicated to helping environmental organizations adapt in the midst of this pandemic, creating more resilient communities for the future.

We are assembling a cohort of environmental organizations to participate in a virtual communications strategy coaching program that will help organizations adapt to better serve their communities in the face of the pandemic.

This is a pivotal moment for nonprofits, as the landscape is shifting constantly. Now more than ever, having clear communications, messaging and a delivery strategy is critical to be seen as relevant.

With this program, you’ll work side-by-side (virtually) with Rootid and other environmental organizations to design actionable strategies you can implement during, and immediately following, the program.

The 5-week training will focus on 4 key areas:

1. Adapting your communications strategy to our present reality, inspiring supporters, funders, and partners to take action

2. Identifying effective, results-driven methods for delivering your message 

3. Developing segmented messaging that resonates with key audiences, motivating your existing community and expanding your support network

4. Validating your messaging and approach through a series of stakeholder interviews

While we would love to work with each and every one of you, space in this cohort is limited. If you are interested in participating, you can sign up below for alerts when the application window opens in early June, 2020.

The Importance of Environmental Justice during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The current pandemic is as much an environmental justice and economic issue as anything. Vulnerable communities across the world are being disproportionately affected by the virus. 

The inequities that existed before the pandemic have been magnified and accelerated.

Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, was recently quoted as saying, “Low-income and poor people face far higher risks from the coronavirus due to chronic neglect and discrimination, and a muddled, corporate-driven, federal response [that] has failed them.”

Unfortunately, you needn’t search far to find an example of that neglect. A Harvard analysis suggests that if Manhattan had lowered its average particulate matter level by just a single unit, or one microgram per cubic meter, over the past 20 years, the borough would most likely have seen 248 fewer COVID-19 deaths by this point in the outbreak.

Environmental justice is a woefully underestimated issue right now, making the visibility of your hard work all the more important. 

Building on a Long-Term Partnership

The David Brower Center has partnered with Rootid since 2015, when we helped redesign and develop their website. 

A year later, Executive Director Laurie Rich played a critical role in helping us design and expand our communications training by serving on our advisory board to help select cohort participants.

How to Participate in the Virtual Communications Coaching Program

We know you’re busy, and the last thing we want to do is distract from your work. That’s why we’ve streamlined the application process—3 short questions, followed by a 20-minute call to answer any questions you may have about the experience.

Here’s a peek at the timeline:

• MAY 27TH - JUNE 5TH
  Applications open

• JUNE 10TH
  Invitations sent to select applicants 

• JUNE 22ND - JULY 24TH
  Coaching Program

• END OF JULY & EARLY AUGUST
  One-on-one consultations with Rootid for implementation support

Goal 2020: Serve 100 Nonprofits to Meet the Moment

Over the last 10 years, Rootid has partnered with over 150 nonprofits through training, group coaching and customized communications services. 

However, in this moment of monumental change, we need to do more to help nonprofits adapt and come out of this moment stronger than ever before.

Rootid is committed to scaling our impact to partner with over 100 organizations this year!

This communications training program will play a major role in helping build resilience and helping organization’s missions stand out in this moment of need.

Read about our project with 2015 BrandUP Awardee, Root & Rebound.

Evolution of the Communication Training Program

Before we built this cohort model, Rootid had provided one-on-one pro bono services for small and growing nonprofits, but we were only able to serve one organization at a time—a bittersweet victory, considering we received 80+ applications for pro bono services in 2016.

As we asked interested nonprofits what they needed, many had the same response: they needed clarity around how to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time. In response, Rootid developed a curriculum, called brandUP.

After a series of conversations with a client and partner, Full Circle Fund, we began and soon evolved brandUP into a series of 3-hour seminars/workshops that leveraged Full Circle Fund’s membership base as volunteers to guide nonprofits through the curriculum.

The new workshop series met three important needs:

1. They provided Full Circle Fund members meaningful, yet flexible, engagements with nonprofits.

2. They served more nonprofits and provided access to Full Circle Fund’s amazing membership pool.

3. They provided nonprofits an opportunity to work with Full Circle Fund outside of the normal grant cycle.

It was a win-win-win!

Read more about our partnership with Full Circle Fund.

Eventually, those workshops grew into the first brandUp collaboration in 2018—a two-day communications boot camp, including fifteen Bay Area nonprofits and over sixty volunteers. Participants were guided through a series of exercises that developed comprehensive communications plans, and Rootid facilitated four workshops, covering: nonprofit logic models, target audience and persona building, messaging, and campaign development.

Nonprofits commented that—in addition to the work accomplished during the event—one of the most valuable aspects of brandUP was the ability to network and leverage relationships to help further their missions. Our hope for the coming cohort is that you’ll walk away feeling similarly enriched and motivated.

Sign up for the cohort today!

Rootid is thrilled to announce our renewed partnership with Full Circle Fund in 2019!

Since 2016, the partnership between Full Circle Fund and Rootid has focused on accelerating nonprofit impact to make the Bay Area a more diverse, equitable and economically robust place for all to live and work.

In addition to Rootid’s ongoing membership and sponsorship of Full Circle Fund, our organizations have aligned around our belief that education plays a critical role in the strength and growth of nonprofits. This vision has been brought to life by our work together growing the the impact of Rootid’s brandUP workshop—a free two-day communications bootcamp for nonprofits.

BrandUP was started by Rootid in 2014 as a way to give back to the nonprofit community and help nonprofits at a critical moment in their growth. Through an advisory panel of nonprofit leaders, Rootid selected one nonprofit each year to provide pro bono communications strategy services that helps them overcome their biggest communications challenges.

The concept has continued to grow, and beginning in 2018, with the partnership of Full Circle Fund, brandUP has reached new heights.

Last year, Rootid and Full Circle Fund teamed up to hold the largest brandUP yet, including the participation of 15 nonprofits and over 60 skilled volunteers in one room for the two-day communications bootcamp.

Unlike most conferences and workshops, brandUP is information packed and hands-on; organizations walk away with actionable strategies they can implement right after the event.

This year, we’re taking things even further!

First brandUP, Now a Full Capacity Building Workshop Series

Instead of just one event, Rootid is co-designing a more cohesive capacity building workshop series for nonprofits in partnership with Full Circle Fund.

Nonprofits can attend five free workshops throughout the year that address the five key pillars of a healthy nonprofit:

1. Understanding how your business model functions
2. Understanding your target audiences and how to motivate them
3. Creating a clear brand position
4. How to build sustainability and governance in your business
5. How to measure and communicate impact based on data

For those organizations that are not able to attend these events in-person, online opportunities are available that will include all workshop materials, resources and tools after the live events. Nonprofits that need extra support can also reach out to our team for help in completing the work.

But, don’t miss out on the live events. The events provide more than just structured learning opportunities. They also facilitate great working partnerships between nonprofits, skilled volunteers and industry thought leaders. You won’t want to miss it!

Attending the Capacity Building Workshop Series

Nonprofits interested in attending the workshop series, and individuals interested in volunteering as an adviser at one of the Capacity Building Workshops should attend the Changemaker Happy Hour on February 28th to learn more about how to get engaged. Or, sign-up to stay up-to-date by email. Rootid will continue to keep you informed.

The Capacity Building Workshop series schedule will be:

1. May 7th, 2019 - Theory of Change Workshop, facilitated by Guidelight Strategies.
2. May 31st through June 1st, 2019 - brandUp 2-day Communications Training, facilitated by Rootid   
3. November 13th, 2019 - Measurement & Evaluation Workshop

All of the workshops are open to nonprofits interested in learning. Unfortunately, due to limited space and volunteer resources, nonprofits must submit an application to attend brandUP.

Nonprofits that are not invited to attend brandUP in person will have access to a live webinar series that covers the same materials as the live event. Your team will also have access to the learning materials covered during the 2-day workshop.

How to Attend the brandUP 2-day Intensive

Nonprofits can apply for brandUP directly on Rootid’s website!  

The application process includes just 3 simple questions for us to get to know your organization and your goals.

Please note that when you invite a nonprofit to apply, Rootid will reach out to a point of contact at that organization to confirm they are interested.

Although we’d like all nonprofits to apply, historically, not all invited nonprofits follow through with an application. Your best option as a supporter is to advocate to the nonprofit contact the value of this work!

Finalists will be asked to hop on a 30-minute phone call with us to answer a few additional questions.

Read our interview with 2018 brandUP attendee Frailty Myths Co-Founder, Erinn Carter.

The History of the Capacity Building Workshop Series

Rootid Co-founder, Valerie, had been a Full Circle Fund member for 3 years, when Full Circle Fund approached Rootid to help with their communications strategy. Their goal was to expand their membership and rebrand the organization to position it in the marketplace as a convener and connector (learn about the project here).

After a short period working together, it quickly became clear that the two organizations were kindred spirits and had aligned values that could lead to much larger impact.

Before the conversations started in 2016, Rootid and Full Circle Fund had been seeing similar patterns: a growing number of nonprofits that needed support with communications strategy, but a lack of education opportunities that were available.

Since 2014, Rootid had been holding the brandUP event - providing pro bono communications services to small and growing nonprofits. But, Rootid was only able to serve one nonprofit at a time. In 2016, Rootid received over 80 applications to participate. The need was great, but bandwidth was an issue.

At the same time, Full Circle Fund was looking for ways to provide more flexible and meaningful engagements to members. They also saw the same pattern of communications needs across all the organizations with whom they worked, and the lack of available resources.

Conversations started in 2016 about how we could work together to address this need. The conversations quickly evolved into a series of 3-hour seminars/workshops. The workshops filled three important needs:

1. They provided Full Circle Fund members meaningful and flexible engagements with nonprofits.
2. They served more nonprofits and provided access to Full Circle Fund’s amazing membership pool.
3. They provided nonprofits an opportunity to work with Full Circle Fund outside of the normal grant cycle.

It was a win-win!

Read about our project with 2015 BrandUP Awardee, Root & Rebound.

In 2018, the first brandUP collaboration was born. The 2-day communications bootcamp included 15 San Francisco Bay Area nonprofits and over 60 skilled volunteers.  Over the two days, Rootid facilitated four, 3-hour long communications focused workshops covering nonprofit logic models, target audience and persona building, messaging, and campaign development.

Nonprofits were partnered with teams of 4-6 skilled volunteers that guided them through the brandUP framework—a series that developed a comprehensive communications plan that organizations could implement soon after the event was completed.

In addition to the work accomplished during the event, nonprofits commented that one of the most valuable aspects of the event was the ability to build a stronger network of nonprofit professionals and leverage their relationships with the skilled volunteers to help them further their mission.