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Introduction Free The Children works as an educational partner across North America and the UK to provide educate, engage, and empower young people to become agents of change in both their local and global communities. As an extension of the We Act program, which provides youth with free resources and support in taking action, Free The Children hosts a youth empowerment event that both celebrates these students actions and inspires them to continue to think we. We Day brings students together with inspirational figures like the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jane Goodall, and Queen Noor of Jordan. We Day started 7 years ago in Toronto, and has now expanded to 13 cities. The newest stop on the We Day tour is California. Current Situation Primary goals for outreach for the year, as outlined by the organization are below: 1. 500 schools/groups register their youth for We Act and We Day 2. 300 schools/groups receive outreach speech from Free The Children speaker 3. Schools/groups participate in Free The Children campaigns While Free The Children has had a presence as a service-learning partner in California for the past 5 years, the office is rapidly changing and expanding their efforts with the introduction of We Day and the formal We Act program. In the past 6 months, the office has grown from 4 to 10 staff members, and are introducing themselves in a whole new way to schools across California. In the 2012-2013 school year, Free The Children engaged 176 schools in programming. This year, the California office is expected to engage over 500 schools in We Day and We Act Programming. This means that the office must reach a 284% growth rate by the end of January. This year, there are four Educational Programming Coordinators (EPC) responsible for reaching out to over 1900 public and private schools for engagement. These schools consist primarily of middle and high schools. While press and ad campaigns will be utilized to promote the event, restrictions presented by various stakeholders limits outreach avenues during the registration process. Currently, the primary method being utilized for outreach to schools and youth is direct communication via phone and email by the EPCs, with outreach speeches acting as a secondary converting method for engagement. While direct communication primarily addresses the first and second goals (outlined above), outreach speeches, a goal itself, primary addresses the third. Each EPC is responsible for different geographical locations, with their full portfolio broken down into Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 schools, based on geographical location and population density. Tier 1 and Tier 2 schools receive active outreach contact. Annual Goals As an Educational Programming Coordinator, I am responsible for Sacramento, Contra Costa, and San Mateo counties (Tier 1), as well as Ventura, Kern, and Colusa counties (Tier 2). I actively outreach to 515 schools across these 6 counties. As an EPC, my individual goals include:

135 We Act and We Day Registrations 80 Outreach Speeches Booked 65 Schools Participate in FTC Campaigns

Current Portfolio Breakdown Total Schools Schools Contacted Schools Connected Schools Registered Schools Received Outreach Speech Schools Participating in FTC Campaigns 515 515 230 79 33 37

Within my portfolio, there is one district partnership and one community partnership, within the same geographical location. Of the 23 schools eligible to participate, only 3 have yet to register. While these partners have not done outreach for the program themselves, they have acted as a legitimizing tool when outreaching to local schools. Primary challenges faced include establishing legitimacy, cultivating relationships, connecting with educators. Establishing legitimacy has especially been a challenge. As an organization that established itself in Canada, and has reached nation-wide notoriety there facing a market where the name has little to no recognition means entirely new messaging and outreach tactics must be employed. The organization receives funding from large corporations to provide educational resources, outreach speeches and We Day free of cost to schools and students, but educators are skeptical that an organization they have never heard of would truly be able to provide all of this without cost. While outreach has by no means been unsuccessful, limited resources, outreach avenues, and partnerships has made the process difficult and time/resource consuming. In the following pages, I will outline goals for the rest of the school year and strategies, best practices, challenges, and lessons learned that would increase efficiency and productivity. Remaining Goals for the Spring 2013 January April: Goal Remaining Deadline

We Act & We Day Registration Received Outreach Speech Participated in FTC Campaign

56

January 31

47 28

May 1 Jun 6

Outreach Objectives In order to meet each of the larger goals, a number of specific outreach objectives must be met. 1. By January 5th, relationships with 10 new educational amplifiers in Tier 1 areas must be cultivated, and amplifiers must begin reaching out to networks 2. By January 25th, 100 additional teachers and administrators in target schools must be educated on the details and benefits of We Act and We Day programming 3. By March 1st, 70 additional teachers and youth must be educated on Free The Childrens international model and the benefits of supporting these initiatives These objectives are based on a number of lessons learned. From the example of the area with the partnerships, it is clear that with an established connection to organizations and individuals, it is much easier to get the desired response from stakeholders. This is often referred to as flipping the funnel [turning the outreach funnel] into a megaphone that every friend of the organization can use to speak out and recruit others (Sagawa, 156). A lesson learned from the outreach already done, is that it is important to establish a rapport and relationship with the stakeholder before stating your ask. Because of the limited time we have to connect with each school, it is important that we first establish the desires and needs of the stakeholders, and then educate them on the ways the program can address these needs. This will require a major shift in messaging for both the program itself, and then initiatives within the program that support the international programming. Target Messaging Retention Schools When reaching out to retention schools, it is necessary to honor them for the work and efforts they have already taken on, and share information without making stakeholders feel that their involvement is not recognized. For We Day, inviting them to honor their students for the work they are doing, and celebrate their efforts, allows the educators and students to feel recognized and supported. Often this kind of outreach is more effective over the phone than email. Schools with service-learning focus Similarly to retention schools, schools with a service-learning focus are already taking part in local and global actions, and should have We Day presented as an honoring opportunity for students. Unlike retention schools however, these schools have little to no knowledge of Free

The Children, We Act, and We Day, so must be presented the basic information in a way that highlights the benefit to the school for participating. Highlighting particular groups on campus is a great way to identify appropriate contacts, and well as needs that can be filled by We Act and We Day. Researching the school before outreach is crucial in with this target audience. For examples of service school outreach, see Annex I. Low-resource schools Low-resource schools, like schools with service-learning focus, must be presented the information in a way that outlines the benefits for the school and the students. Unlike service schools, however, resources should be the primary offering, as educators are particularly strapped for time and energy, and unresponsive to We Day offerings. Partially, this is because many do not understand that the event is free of cost, but also because coordinating logistics is time consuming, and even the cost of transportation may be difficult, if not impossible, for the school to cover. By offering the We Act resources and programming first, and We Day as a optional culmination of the programming, low-resource school are much more receptive to collaboration. Identify potential partners Potential partners for outreach to schools include community organizations, districts, and champion schools and teachers. Community organizations that already work with youth and schools can benefit from the resources We Act provides as much as the youth and schools can. Because the resources are free of cost, and community organizations often have limited budgets themselves, this creates an additional service for their beneficiaries, as it continues to serve Free The Childrens purpose. Partnerships with school districts can be especially beneficial to the organization, while school districts are able to both provide resources for their schools, and potentially highlight the relationship and programming to their own stakeholders. School district partnership make outreach much simpler within the district, as schools are much more likely to sign on with district approval, and may actually not have the power to do so without, in some cases. Champion schools and teachers are those retention groups that have had extremely positive experiences with the organization and are willing to share their network to involve more schools or groups in the programming. Identifying and cultivating the relationship with these schools or individuals can have a high rate of return for the organization. As stated previously, establishing connections and partnerships creates multiple pathways to converting groups, and can have an exponential effect. While this kind of relationship management can be time consuming, it can also eliminate time spent on unproductive, cold, outreach; Such partnerships can be a low-cost way to reach communities that might not otherwise be accessible (Sagawa, 191). Utilizing relationships that already exist, while expanding the organizations network, especially within the educational community, should be a top priority moving forward. Conclusion

Although there have been a number of challenges in outreach this year, moving forward, utilizing best practices and strategies developed, and progressing from lessons learned, the outlined goals should be well within reach and potential for further expansion highly probable. As previously stated, target messaging and partnership/relationship cultivation should be the primary foci during the rest of the 2013-2014 school year.

Works Cited Sagawa, Shirley, and Deborah Jospin. The Charismatic Organization: Eight Ways to Grow a Nonprofit That Builds Buzz, Delights Donors, and Energizes Employees. San Francisco: JosseyBass, 2009. Print.

Annex I: Schools with Service Learning Focus Outreach Template Hope everything is well, and you had a happy Thanksgiving! I wanted to get in touch to share some information for your Leadership class. My name is Lily Buchanan and I am an Educational Programming Coordinator for Free The Children, an educational partner that works with schools to either enhance existing service learning opportunities or build out new ones at the school through student-led initiatives. We work to empower youth to remove barriers that prevent them from being active local and global citizens. We Day is our free-of-cost, stadium-sized youth empowerment event which brings together 18,000 youth and youth supporters with world leaders, celebrities, and local social justice heroes to celebrate the work they do this year. Students cant buy tickets to this event, they have to earn it by taking ANY one local and one global action through service (so the efforts the Leadership class is already undertaking definitely count towards earning their way). We are so excited to be bringing We Day to California for the first time on March 26th, 2014 at the Oracle Arena. There is an amazing and inspiring video here that you can check out that shows highlights from past We Days. Former speakers include Martin Luther King III, Jane Goodall, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and former performers include Jennifer Hudson, the Jonas Brothers, and Nelly Furtado. Some links to check out are below: We Act Details Campaign Resources Lesson Plans and Curriculum Impact from Programming If you do choose to register your students for We Day, we ask that the educator register the whole group so the students dont try to register individually. You can find the registration page at : http://www.weday.com/we-act/. Please let me know if you have any questions. Take care and talk to you soon! Lily Buchanan