In this week’s look at charities that are making a noise on social media, we look at the Prince’s Trust's Learn the Hard Way campaign, Scope's #100days100stories and #smearforsmear by Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust.
Prince’s Trust and Learn the Hard Way
Yesterday saw the launch of the Prince’s Trust's 'Learn the Hard Way' campaign, where employers are approached on LinkedIn by a “homeless” candidate. The campaign aims to make employers take a different view of young people from troubled backgrounds and take into consideration the skills they offer.
A profile for Lois Amanda Clarke was created on LinkedIn, who represents “thousands of disadvantaged young people in the UK”. The Prince’s Trust is asking people to endorse her skills on the page.
A “video CV” has also been created by the charity which shows young people in difficult situations highlighting their potential and the skills they have had to “learn the hard way”.
Why we love it: The video itself definitely leaves an impact, while the use of LinkedIn is an imaginative way of targeting employers and emphasising the difficulties that some young people from disadvantaged backgrounds face getting into work and training.
Scope and #100days100stories
Every day as we approach May’s general election, Scope will be publishing a different story from a disabled person or a family with a disabled child and encouraging parliamentary hopefuls to read just one story. The charity are hoping that if it they to this and are then elected, they will better understand disability. It is tweeting the stories under the hashtag #100days100stories.
It started the campaign on 27 January, exactly 100 days before the election, with a story from Angie who spoke of her fear of needing the loo now that the charity who had previously assisted her has gone bust.
Scope says it wants the public to get to know disabled people, so “we can understand each other better and feel less awkward”. It says that one way of doing this is by sharing stories, and that “nothing is more powerful when it comes to challenging attitudes”.
It is encouraging disabled people, or those that have a disabled family member, who would like to share their stories as part of the project to email [email protected].
Why we love it: This is a great way of using storytelling to draw attention to the needs of people with disabilities as we approach the election.
Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust and #SmearforSmear
Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust is raising awareness of the importance of smear tests by encouraging women to share a lipstick smear selfie, and nominate their friends to do the same.
The charity said that cervical screening saves 5,000 lives a year yet one in five women who are eligible to attend do not take up their invitation.
The campaign coincides with Cervical Cancer Prevention week and has received support from celebrities including Rita Ora and Georgia May Jagger.
Why we love it: Although presumably trying to jump on the success of the #icebucketchallenge and #nomakeupselfie, this campaign has successfully brought attention to a lesser known charity and not widely published cause.
