COVID-19: How to Help in Austin
The How to Help Campaign was created to share participation opportunities with members of our community who want to help during COVID-19.
This guide provides information about:
- The COVID-19: How to Help Initiative
- How to generate support as an organization
- How to use GivePulse technology to create and manage opportunities
- What to do when you need technical support
If you have questions about the initiative, please reach out to Kim Caldwell (kimberly.caldwell@austintexas.gov); for questions about GivePulse, please reach out to Mariana Prieto (mariana@givepulse.com).
Initiative Overview
The goal of this initiative is to create an Austin/Travis County-based hub for opportunities to help during the COVID-19 response, directing community members to contribute funds and/or people power in a safe and meaningful way.
The City has created a COVID-19: How to Help site on GivePulse. GivePulse is an Austin-based technology platform to list, find, organize and measure the impact of service in the community. The site compiles opportunities created by nonprofits, faith-based organizations, and government entities. The goal of using GivePulse is to make it as easy as possible for people to learn about and support your urgent needs.
While the technology allows everyone to share opportunities, as part of the COVID-19 response, GivePulse is offering participating organizations access to a free Silver account to maximize the impact of each listing.
Community Partners supporting the campaign include:
- The UT Center for Community Engagement
- The Community Advancement Network
- Travis County
- ACC Center for Nonprofit Studies
- Generation SERVE
The campaign will launch to the public on June 15, 2020, promoted by City Leaders, Partner organizations, press releases, social media, email marketing and more.
What to Share
To be successful, this initiative requires that organizations like yours create opportunities for COVID-19 related support. This can include:
- Specific fundraising campaigns
- In-person volunteer events
- Distance and/or skilled volunteering opportunities
- Donation drives
- Ongoing opportunities to help
The site will be moderated by the City of Austin, only approving credible local opportunities related to COVID-19.
Getting Started
1. Develop Opportunities
The help needed most right now will look different for every organization. Whether you have safe in-person volunteer opportunities or increased costs for cleaning supplies, using the How to Help hub starts with clearly stating your need and what someone can do to meet it.
Examples of opportunities include:
- Contact-less drop off of meals or shelf-stable food
- Graphic design or web design project for program support
- Donation drive for clothing and hygiene supplies
- Fundraiser for increased service costs related to COVID-19 safety protocols
- Volunteers for online tutoring or group classes
Questions about what to include? Contact Public Information Officer Kim Caldwell at (kimberly.caldwell@austintexas.gov) to discuss.
2. Create Opportunity
Go to howtohelpaustin.givepulse.com/list to create a volunteer opportun
ity, fundraiser, or donation drive. This will associate your listing with the City of Austin COVID-19: How to Help Campaign.
Fill out all of the required information as prompted, and make sure that you specify that your event is in direct response to COVID-19. We recommend that once your event is listed, you enable guest registrations. through your event dashboard.
3. Manage your Listing
Now that you have created your group and listed your event, you will be given access to your admin dashboard (click here for help navigating your group dashboard), where you can manage your volunteers and their registrations, and create more volunteer opportunities, fundraisers, and donation drives.
Get the Support You Need
The goal of using GivePulse is to make it as easy as possible for people to learn about and support your urgent needs. GivePulse has many resources available to help you use the technology:
- Office hours
- Support portal
- Support Email: support@givepulse.com (available 24/7, answer most questions within 3 hours)
- COVID-19 Support Meeting (15 minutes each, but welcome to schedule as many as needed)
Public launch set for June 15, 2020
Join the campaign THIS WEEK to be included in next week's promotional push. To learn more review this guide, including the slides and recording from Info Sessions.
Details
June 12, 2020
GivePulse
Name: George Luc
Email: george@givepulse.com