November 15, 2011
Openhill teamed with Laura Hartman Pincus, director of external partnerships for Zynga.org, and Boston-based nonprofit FATEM, Inc., to build a website called ecoledechoix.org for their new school in Haiti. After receiving seed capital from Zynga.org, the philanthropic arm of the fast-growing Zynga gaming company, a new school building opened its doors to 200 students in October 2011. The school serves children and families living in conditions of extreme poverty in Mirebalais, Haiti.
Openhill built the school’s website on our TopSoil website platform, which enabled us to create the backend of their powerful ecommerce website immediately. We designed a unique theme on top of the website to meet the school’s communication goals and host the website on our platform. Openhill is advising the school on its outreach and engagement strategy with an eye towards generating significant interest, and moving people from caring observers to active participants. Look for many blog posts on the lessons learned from this effort.
Why was Openhill moved to get involved? World aid agencies struggled to get emergency support to Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake that killed at least 220,000 people (source: Wikipedia), while every main media outlet in our country provided coverage to concerned Americans. But what next? How does a nation rebuild itself? When the media goes home, what will move Americans to get sustain interest for an ongoing basis?
There is a powerful story in this birth of this school that is emblematic of the spirit and character of Haitians, the heart of American volunteerism, and that foretells the rebirth of a country. The story clearly has taken root in our heart--and it can do the same for others if we plan for it. The birth of the school is a hopeful recovery story for a country that is craving constructive news. There is a place in this story for tens of thousands of engaged people and corporations. The outreach and engagement strategy we are rolling out will use the school’s new website to actively connect people (and their hearts, minds and resources) to this school’s story.
