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Justina Caras and the Rising Sun Center for Opportunity found Peachjar after a brainstorming session with another partner organization of theirs. They needed to find new ways to increase marketing efforts for their various programs. Rising Sun Center for Opportunity focuses on providing non-profit jobs to local youth in their area as well as providing no-cost energy and water efficiency upgrades to their residents inside their service area.
“I like using Peachjar,” says Caras. “I like that we are able to choose what our demographics are and what schools we want to target. For our organization, we want to target schools that are in more disadvantaged communities. So with using Peachjar, we’re able to tailor who we’re targeting and what parts of the cities we want to target. I also think it’s an effective way to reach out to people through the school district. I don’t think there is any other platform similar to this.”
Since being founded in 1994, Rising Sun has served more than 3,000 youth and adults while helping over 52,000 households reduce their carbon footprint across the California Bay Area and San Joaquin County. “Organizations like the Rising Sun Center for Opportunity that provide vital resources that open up growth pathways and contribute to the lives of children are the exact types of organizations that we at Peachjar want to empower,” says Peachjar CEO, Mike Durham. “Their mission is much like ours in the pursuit of enriching children's lives.”
So Why Peachjar?
As Caras alluded to, Peachjar allows organizations like Rising Sun Center for Opportunity to pinpoint exact areas where they want to promote their programs by disseminating their flyers through the local school districts in those areas. By posting flyers through the school districts, which approve the flyers themselves, an organization can build immediate trust with the local families within those school districts.
“Peachjar is really straightforward and easy to use, that is what I appreciate about it,” says Caras. “It’s clear with you that your flyers have to get approved by the school district, which lets me know that Peachjar doesn’t let just anyone post. In our surveys, quite a few people have indicated that they learned about us through Peachjar and the school district.”
So If Peachjar Isn’t For Every Organization, Who Is It For?
Every district has posting guidelines specific to the types of content that they want going out to their families. A general rule of thumb is that the program your organization is trying to get the word out about is one that has child enrichment as the main focus. Peachjar’s mission is to elevate these types of opportunities for children by creating a place where school systems and organizations can unite to make that happen. A program that has the best interests of children at the forefront immediately has a much higher chance of being approved by school districts.
There are also the nuts and bolts of making a good flyer too. You can have an awesome program, but if your flyer is a little bland then maybe one too many parents' eyes will gloss right over it once it is sent out. “Parents are busy, so making sure that your information isn’t too clustered or too overwhelming and gets straight to the point really helps,” says Caras.
Peachjar can help with that as well. Read our best practices here on how to make a great flyer for your next program!