Turning 60 is something to celebrate, but as the big birthday approaches, it often comes with the need for a tune-up so everything is working well for the decades to come. That’s why the Pasadena Senior Center turned to Jericho Road when its 60th anniversary came into sight. The staff wanted help putting the Center on the social media map, as well as telling its story to the community and potential donors, and fine tuning its work.
Many people think the Senior Center is funded by the City, but it is entirely donor-funded, so staff don’t have a budget to hire experts to expand its social media presence. It turned to capacity building matchmaker Jericho Road Pasadena (JRP) which found an intern from Pomona College who built the Center’s Twitter, Pinterest, Google and LinkedIn platforms so seniors and caregivers could learn about its programs. “The technical assistance has put us in the now.” Charmaine Nelson, the Center’s Associate Marketing Director explains, “It’s keeping us relevant for today.” She says the Center’s page views have doubled in the last year. “People are using our website more. We are investing in programs rather than print and postage of the monthly magazine.”
Another time the Center turned to Jericho Road, its request was a little tougher. It needed a volunteer with the time and ability to set up its app for Android users. Its IPhone app was already up and running. It took a while, but Nelson knew JRP Executive Director Melanie Goodyear would come through. “What I appreciate most is when I ask Melanie for help, she will see it to the end. She won’t let it drop.” Goodyear found Cesar Egoavil, a virtual volunteer who lives in Colorado, who built the app so everyone with a smart phone can find the Center’s schedules and services at their fingertips.
At the beginning of this year, the Center staff wanted to take stock of its work and to fine tune its focus on what it wanted to accomplish in 2018. JRP found volunteer Bob Harrison to lead a staff retreat, where staff members discussed their strengths and sized up the challenges facing the Center.
JRP is also helping the Center get its story out to the community
and potential donors. It found several writers to spread the word about the Center’s programs, activities, and success stories. It also found an expert to develop a marketing plan for the Center’s Scott Pavilion which is a venue available for all kinds of events. “Because JRP matches resources with needs, we are able leverage those resources, and do more with the funds we have,“ Nelson explains.
Goodyear says it’s a pleasure to work with a nonprofit like the Senior Center. “They’re a really smart staff who know what they need,” she explains. “A lot of people don’t like to think about aging, so the Senior Center never has enough support, despite their great services. JRP loves providing pro bono support to the Senior Center, which in turn helps the growing aging population in our community.”
Thank you to JRP volunteer Liz McHale for writing this article! Liz is a retired news writer and producer who loves volunteering, including a stint in the Peace Corps, and traveling in retirement.