Let's Work Together!

GK has always been so good in working with a lot of groups and individuals who shares the same vision and mission. I have met a lot of people from different background and beliefs and yet we share the same passion, showing our faith through GK, hoping to make a significant impact to the lives of others. But never was I this excited to actually share, work and learn from other NGOs who wants to make a difference in the world as much as we do, one step at a time, one child at a time, one sick person at a time, one family at a time, one community at a time. I was given an opportunity to meet a couple of them twice since I started working in GK. The first meeting, I was not yet that enthusiastic because I admit, I was too engrossed about GK being the best and so I didn't even mind not being able to meet fellow participants who where from other NGOs. Not thinking that they too are just like us, that we too started small, with a desire and mission to help, choosing to dedicate and commit our lives so others may simply live and start dreaming again. On my mid-first year in GK did I open my heart and my mind, less possessive about the GK spirit, and started and decided to embrace the mindset that for us to be able to spread the GK way and the GK spirit across a bigger network, we have to be more willing to work together with not only the usual organizations, groups and corporations we work with, but with NGOs too, big or small! And help the small non-profits to scale up and find a way for us to work together.  

I am in charge of everything online about GK and as a newbie in the digital world two years ago (and I still am at this time!) and in the working population, I tried to read everything that is related to the work I do. I have learn to love it as well. It is in those searching for knowledge and best practices that I came across blogs and online communities and even twitter hashtags of non-profit organizations that support and work and learn from each other. One perfect example is Connecting Up in Australia. They provide a venue for non-profits in Australia to meet, to talk to one another online and offline, to learn from each other and to share their respective non-profit's best practices. Very, very cool! I was wishing the same thing for the Philippines and so I posted in Facebook last night about that wish. And guess what? Ate Ish, our IT Head, invited me to sit in in their meeting with Techsoup. I was thrilled especially because I know they're working with Connecting Up and Microsoft who is by the way starting to provide a venue for non-profits to work and meet , just like what Connecting Up does in Australia. Innovative collaboration, knowledge sharing and digital landing. Those just stick in my mind after today's meeting. Last December's Social Media for Social Good Workshop too inspired me to be able to be of help to other non-profits in whatever way I can. And I'll be more willing to learn from them too!

So there. Just trying to release the excitement that  is inside of me right now. I am excited where this will lead us to and I know God has a bigger plan for GK, as always. I like what Ate Issa said during that meeting, that as GK, we don't mind that our name never got mentioned and published but as long as we are able to help our fellow non-profits grow and be able to help and reach out to more communities, to touch more lives. We cannot do this alone so collaboration and working together is indeed key for our 2024 vision to become a reality. For God and country! 

Social Media for Social Good by Heather Mansfield

GK was lucky (or should I say blessed) to have Microsoft now part of the GK family and us a part of theirs. Aside from the Microsoft grant that GK received, we also get to participate in a Social Media for Social Good workshop that they organized for their adopted non-profits, which includes us. And hopefully they'll continue to include us in their future workshops too. Thank you Microsoft!

With Heather Mansfield. I finally get to meet her in person. Fan mode here. :) It was an honor and a great privilege listening  and learning a lot from her! 

Guess who's in your line of sight when the elevator door opens: our dear Executive Director, Kuya Luis.

Last Dec 15, 2011, The Social Media for Social Good workshop was held in Microsoft's office in Makati City and we were invited to join the said workshop. And guess who the speaker was? It's Heather Mansfield! I do agree with the description given to her when she was introduced, a Non-profit Social Media Marketing Rockstah! She definitely is, because I've been following her blog since I started to realize and see the big role of social media to spread the inspiration and stories of hope of GK online. I love the simplicity and the tips and best practices of other non-profits that she always writes about and support. Very articulate and comprehensive for a newbie in the social media marketing world like me. She inspires me! And I dream to be able to write and share my journey as GK's digital/online marketing coordinator just so I can inspire more people and groups particularly non-profit organizations that even if we're short on financial resources to spend for our marketing, it won't stop us to spread our cause, our stories, our inspiration, so we can be heard, and reach and inspire more people. And there's no better way, and cheaper way to do that but to utilize online tools: websites, blogs and social networking sites.

Some points that I took with me after listening to her which are definitely worth pondering:

• Gone are the days that you are the only one broadcasting and controlling the message, the traditional communication. That's why social media is such an "in" thing these days because it gives the consumers, the donors, the volunteers, the partners the opportunity to share their side of the story. Of course they want to be heard. And that's definitely a plus point for you too because it will surely help you tell your story since you get to know what appeals to them, what will move them and inspire them the most so they'd want to volunteer and be involved in your cause. 
• Age range of people in the social media: 25-34 yrs old (coming of age => age range of donors). I was actually amazed by this trivia. It's not only the tweens and teens that rule the world wide web these days and it's a good news for non-profit like us. 
• Spin a story in a positive way. A photo or a video is the best way to tell a story. A picture is worth a thousand words.
• Follow/Like/Subscribe to large nonprofits similar to yours in mission and programs and watch/mimic them. They usually hire digital consultants and for those of you who can’t and doesn't have enough resources to hire one (like us!), you can learn from them, and you get to save from hiring one. Ha! (On my next post, I will be giving examples of non-profits that you can closely watch and mimic based from our workshop, or better yet, head over to Heather's blog).
• "You get out of social media what you put into it! There’s no such thing as overnight success on the Social Web." True story.

So stay tuned for my next posts. You might learn something new and interesting that could help you and maybe even convince you to try, see the relevance and importance and explore online tools to help you with your current dilemma on how to come up with practical yet efficient marketing strategies. Until the next post!

Epic 2011

My first post of the year! Woot! I hope to finish this post in one sitting but boy this is gonna be quite tedious. Imagine compressing your one epic year in one post. I see too much mediocrity here. Listing all the fun and inspiring experiences and encounters that I so wanted to write about but was too lazy or too distracted or too busy. Excuses, excuses I know. But then again, allow me to run you down of the many (and I feel major) things/happenings in my 2011 that made me sum it up to one word: EPIC! This is just a rundown. Not only am I planning but wants to execute it, and write more about the adventures that have the asterisk after them below. And with more photos. But for now, allow me to share with you a glimpse of my 2011.

JANUARY

• We get to spend our December 2010 Christmas and January 2011 New Year in Punta Cruz, Maribojoc, Bohol with Nanay and the rest of the Balatayos.
• Attended Liveloud Concert, a worship concert organized by Youth for Christ.  Because I missed long praise fests with full band and my YFC Kuyas and Ates, I decided to come over. 'Twas fun! 

YFC Liveloud Concert. Photos by Jeremiah Toledo.

Christmas and New Year with the relatives and extended families in Bohol. 

FEBRUARY

• SFC Icon in Camarines Sur

MARCH

• GK Kalinga sa Bayan in Calauan, Laguna. My tweets below of the experience. Thanks to twitter I am able to document my GK adventures when I'm too lazy to blog. Hihi Which I know shouldn't been the case because it defeats the purpose of my reason to blog: to be able to share and inspire readers of the different human and love stories I get to encounter in my every GK adventure.
• Today was moving and inspiring and we met one cool priest who's into guns, pets, motorcycles and seriously helping the poor.
• "Hindi ko nga alam kung paano kami papatahanin bukas sa pag-iyak" - Tito Ompong on their last day of their 2-mo everyday feeding program 
• Kung pwede lang isa-isahin yung mga kuwento nila at ibahagi sa buong mundo. Kung may walking dictionary, sila ang walking Bible. *saludo* 

APRIL

• GK Bayani Challenge 2011* in Bantayan Island, Cebu with family and friends! Fun, inspiring, and definitely filled with love! 

Mission trip and a vacation (for a day) with the whole family!

Let the GK Bayani Challenge 2011 begin!

• Holy Week with the Oquinenas
• Talaba,tahong,kinilaw na isda,sinugba na isda,shrimps,leche flan,mais con yelo.Thank you for the sumptuous lunch,titos & titas of GK Cavite! 
• Trying out Banapple. Banoffee cake. Oreo brownie cake. Coffee toffee cake. Yum!

MAY

• GK Leaders Conference in University of Makati and Batangas. My second mission trip with everyone from Team GK Marketing! One of the craziest time of my 2011. 
• This was also the time of the year that GK1world's traffic shot up. Thanks to Manny Pacquiao, Charice Pempengco, Jasmine Villegas and Taboo of Black Eyed Peas. All of the news were released all in one day and with Tito Tony accepting the Nikkei Award in Japan, that was one great and blessed day which (turned into a week) in the life of GK. See tweets below. 
• It's good news Thurs Pacman signs up 2 b GK champion, Charice & Jasmine sing "One Voice" for GK, TM wins Nikkei Asia Prize!!
• TabBep: My song is a Latino / Filipino world anthem to show our unity within brown pea-ple and it's gonna be the anthem for #Gawad Kalinga
• We were absolutely thrilled when we saw the GK flag being waved in Manny's fight! See that?

JUNE: My birth month!

• Was able to book a PISO flight so I was able to spend 5 days back in Cebu with family and friends. A gift that I absolutely love. And thank you for the midnight surprise roommies! My personal wish for myself tweeted by me during my birthday below. I don't think I wasn't able to do all. Haha
• My 23rd year's resolution: must organize. must systematize. read, listen, learn, absorb, write, do. love more. travel more. laugh more.

It's a triple birthday celebration! Happy Birthday to me, Matt and Mark! :)

• Sagip Conference with Team GK Cebu
• Started my Digital Mentoring class and I was really excited and looking forward to it. It's been more than a year that I realized that I wanted to learn website and social media marketing and those related to digital marketing to be able to become the best for my job in GK and to share my knowledge and experiences along the way. I am grateful for all the opportunities of growing in that aspect that God has blessed me with. Hopefully more learning and sharing opportunities will come my way this 2012.

JULY

• Our fellow GK workers decided to take us around old Manila: Binondo-Quiapo-Intramuros. I enjoyed every moment of it. I don't mind the walking at all. I would've wanted to visit that place again so I can elaborate my experience. History never fails to interest me!

What we saw when we went around Binondo and Quiapo. I want another tour because I can't remember even one place that we've dropped stopped by because I didn't take down any notes and blogged about it right away. Or maybe because they're in Chinese names. Hihi

Intramuros. Been here twice. I love its old, Spanish feel with the preserved, cobbled streets. But I still want to take the Intramuros tour with Carlos Celdran.

• Andrew Lloyd Webber Concert. Thanks to the cast who got in touch with us for a GK Tour, we got free tickets! Woot!
• GK mission trip in Mindoro with Ate Bai's ACT.
• GK Dupax mission trip for the SIGA Barkadahan Camp. I miss youth camps! I miss serving the young! What makes this trip more inspiring is we were with the SIGA coordinators from Las Pinas who were once SIGAs in their respective GK communities. It's inspiring to see them all empowered and sharing their stories and having fun with the youth in our GK communities in Dupax del Norte. 

Fun SIGA Barkadahan Camp. I want to serve more camps with these young(er-than-me) people! 

AUGUST

• Princess Diaries with SFC CC1B chaptermates. :)
• I love the talks, sharings and the revelations. :) I love the cooking session and the yoga-like exercise. Thanks Ate @teacher_tintin ! :) 
• Had an inspiring weekend. We are daughters of a great King. We are captivating. We are princesses. We are His beloved. 
• Tagaytay with the roommates for the long weekend. 
• Tagaytay. Highlights: short trekking in Picnic Grove, waking up to a breathtaking view, ukay-ukay. 

Tagaytay for the long weekend and looks like someone's got the rock and roll sign...rock and rollin'. Cutie RB! 

SEPTEMBER

• The Igsuons decided to splurge on a budget trip to Puerto Princesa, Palawan that most definitely deserve a separate post. Two thumbs up!
• We'll go firefly and dolphin watching, cave spelunking, wildlife trekking, diving, swimming and see the Underground River when I bring my family the next time around. 
• I was in awe the whole time. God's majesty and magnificence and awesomeness truly reflects His creations. Breathtaking as always.

• GK Headquarters moved to a new location. Thank you Tito Gerry Choa of Profriends.
• Showtime experience with Joyce and Kervin! They are as fun live as they are fun on TV. Total riot!
• Our last SFC household fellowship. Both of my household heads are moving to another chapter in their lives, one for marriage, the other for career. Sigh. I hate goodbyes. But that was definitely one awesome night.

OCTOBER

• GK Expo
• GK Hope Ball
• Isabela bound with Tito Bien to check the GK villages in Kuya Dan's area and bring relief goods to our GK families affected by Typhoon Pedring.
• GK Global Summit in Sydney, Australia. Wasn't able to actually attend the event but I feel like it. Been following updates all weekend through.
• Taboo visited a GK village in Taguig after their BEP concert and he's coming back!
• GK TGIF

NOVEMBER

• HOME for All Soul's Day and All Saint's Day and to spend family time.
• Explored Lilim with the Igsuons, the del Rosarios and new found friends. Thanks Ate Cha and Tito Oscar for sharing your paradise with us!

Can't wait for the Part 2 of this Lilim Adventure. I wanna take photos!!!

• My first Human Heart Nature Summit held in GK Enchanted Farm.

DECEMBER

• GK Planner 2012 is here! You want one? We still have them! :)
• Dinner with Saihai MMV. Three consecutive days with them drove me nuts. Aaaarrrgghhhh. Hahaha
• Social Media Conference with a social media nonprofit blogger that I really look up to, Heather Mansfield. 
• GK Operation Walang Iwanan in Cagayan de Oro, Dumaguete and Iligan. It was a devastating tragedy that cost the lives of hundreds of Filipinos but it again brought us together as one nation. And Team GK was there as always, on call. Everyone was busy in the relief centers, in ground zero despite the holidays. They all made me proud to be part of Team GK! A thought: I should learn and discipline to write my GK stories right there and then as to not let the inspiration "escape" me. I can do better than this.
• And...Cebu and Bohol for the holidays with the family. :)

There you have it, my EPIC 2011. It was a year of more self-discovery, more travel, more mission, more quality time with the family and friends, of goodbyes, of learning more, particularly for my work as GK's online marketing person, of meeting new people, of more inspiration and growing in faith, hope and love.

I would want to blog more this 2012 so I can give justice to the inspirations that I get to encounter in every mission, every adventure, every story of hope, faith and love that inspires me in one way or another. All I know is I continue to pray that God will use me powerfully and send me the right people and inspiration to bring me to a place where I am able to fully utilize my potential for His greater glory, to reflect His glory. Because that's the very reason of why I decided to tread this path in the first place. :)

If There's A Will, There's A Way

Today's learnings:

• If there's a will, there's a way. If I will it, I can wake up as soon as my alarm went off. Who invented the snooze anyway? Relate much? Hehe. Finally found time to actually just sit and focus and pray fervently...for as long as 30 minutes! It's been a month since my last (irregular) prayer time and I finally made time to just sit and do away with the noise in my head and just focus on the silence of my heart and listen to God. He just continuously reveals Himself to me and it was just this morning that my heart finally exploded and I decided to just pause and allow God to embrace me and His spirit to consume me. 
•  "Should not have doubted God' grace." My bestfriend's reflection after she passed her LET Exams which I made it my reflection for today too. :) Congratulations bestfriend! 
• There's always a first time for everything. 
• The beauty in one's heart never fails to exudes and show physically. 
• I've been reading through today's #adcon22 timeline in twitter and I picked up some simple yet (what I think are) powerful marketing insights. I actually dreamed of being able to take up crash course/s in online/web/internet/social media marketing. I dreamed of being able to attend conferences that will enrich me and help me with what I currently do for GK. And the Ad Con is one conference that I would want to go but it costs P20,000. Yes, you heard me right. Quite absurd and impossible for people like me, in my current financial state. That's like my tuition fee for one semester way back in college! Mag twitter stalking muna ako for now. Mwahaha. Thank you technology! I truly heart you. So insights reposted below:
• Act out your brand's purpose to be effective. - Mark Tutssel, Leo Burnett. #AdCon22 
• People want to play an active part in a brand. They want to be involved. - Mark Tutssel, Leo Burnett #adcon22 
• Create connections. Not commercials. #adcon22 
• Joeri Van den Bergh: New meaning of Cool = Surprising. #AdCon22  
• Today, products are about feelings and emotions, not the products themselves. - Joeri van den Bergh, Gen Y expert. #AdCon22 
• Keys to Gen Y Marketing Succes: 1. Stay true to roots. 2. Warm is the new cool. 3. Be open and respectful. - Joeri Van der Bergh #adcon22 
• Top 3 models of this generation: my friends, my mom, my dad - Van den Bergh #adcon22
• Just got reminded once again that happiness is a choice, a decision. Thanks Pearl! :)
• Most of the things in life are meant to go through a trial and error process.  
• And I've got lots of online finds that I would want to share here. Today, we had a quick marketing  meeting and a short presentation of the survey we conducted. We were asked to "profile" our assigned target markets for our pre-work for GK's Online Planning next week. The source of this week's Friday Finds (another "segment", not necessarily found online) are:
• Time's Top 50 Best Websites for 2011
• From the survey that we sent the target audience assigned to us: the non-working youth.

So there you have it. My notes and learnings for today. I am excited for Human Heart Nature's Humanity Fair tomorrow. Can't wait to see my friends from Cebu tomorrow! Yay!

What I Learned Today #1: The New "Segment"

This will be my blog's new "segment". As if I had an old one. Haha. Just would want to jot down my day's thoughts, notes and learnings worth sharing and worth remembering years or decades from now. So here I am in my DAY 1 of the WILT Segment. O di ba, may initials pa. Social. Haha

No segments from hereon. I don't blog regularly so it doesn't make sense. :) My learnings for the day below:

• I know my sister would do anything and everything for me...like skipping the first 30 minutes of her laboratory class just to send me an urgent email. Thank you my dearest Nyn-nyn! :)
• Passionate people are everywhere. Each and everyone of us has our passion that we are willing to live and die for. And we excel when we do it because we strive to become better til the better becomes the best. 
• Answered prayers just send you praying more because God has shown you once again of His faithfulness to you, to His plans and to His people.
• This question still left us all hanging:  Is Youtube already classified as a social networking site?
• "If Facebook were a country it would be the world's 3rd largest." - Wikipedia.org: Social Media
• Wikipedia.org is a not-for-profit website and it looks like they need our help to maintain the site. - Message from Wikipedia founder here.
• What secrets? HAHA "What happens in Vegas stays on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook…" - Social Mention Article here.
• Hope it'd be the least activity. "Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web." - Social Mention Article here.
• From WWF: Mark your Calendars: EARTH HOUR 2012 will be at 8:30 p.m., March 31, 2012
• "Masakit maging mahirap." - Mang Nestor Our GK Videos never fail to tear us up and it never fail to remind us that we still have so much to do! 
• Social Media is a PARTY (Plan, Act, Reply, Test, You measure) Taken from Dawn Gartin's twitter profile

That'd be all for today. Hope to be able to list more tomorrow! 

Happy New Year!

Yesterday was the first day of the Liturgical Year. Happy New Year everyone! So here comes advent. Can't wait! Sooooo excited! 21 days 'til I leave Manila to spend Christmas with the family. Woot! Hope to share more exciting adventures with all of you soon. But for now, aside that I'm counting the days 'til I am reunited with my family again, I am excited about a hundred other things. Will list down what I can remember from the other things though.

1. My first GK Christmas party! My first ever costume party that I will be attending. I've had lots of other invitations before but when I learned that you have to dress-up as some cartoon character, or a Hollywood star, I immediately backed out. Just because I'm KJ(kill-joy) that way and I just hate dressing up! Is that even normal? Haha Now, where do I get a 70's costume? Wigs, anyone?

2. My first SFC Christmas party! The second costume party that I will be attending. Wahaha. It's a Luau naman. So I was thinking of showing up in shorts and a shirt that says "I'm a Beach Bum", a corsage and a flower in between my ears. So is that good to go? Told you I'm not a fan of costume parties. Haha

3. Divisoria!! That place never fails to excite me. The energy, the people, the noise. We went there a few days ago and I was robbed (not literally) with only P20.00 left in my pocket, hungry, tired yet agitated. Left me asking why did I ever want to be a missionary in the first place. Haha. Joke ra na Lord. Some crossroads huh? But, sigh, I just want to bring my whole Cebu gang there. They'll surely looooove it!

4. I was hoping to meet this amazing, online, and inspiring person before December 20 and learn a lot from her! Lord, let our schedules meet. :) Go visit Ate Sky's website.

5. GK Marketing Planning. GK meetings and presentations doesn't fail to excite, inspire and make me proud of being a Filipino and being part of such an amazing and talented crowd. I am always in awe how God orchestrated all these. Bringing in crazy people together, with different backgrounds, faith and beliefs, to help end poverty for 5 million Filipino families anchored on faith, integrity and love, through the culture of caring and sharing. My first GK Marketing Planning too and I am excited where God's wisdom and leading will take us next year. I am definitely throwing away my "that cannot be done" attitude and my mediocrity. For life. Yes to more opportunities on how I can expand my territory and move beyond my borders. Nation-building is not a ME thing but it'd help if each and every one of us can give our best for the least.

I'm listing five for now. Can't wait for Cebu!! I'm gonna squeeze all of my boys really tight, in a giant monster hug. Yay!