Fiscally Sponsored Programs
|
|
Perseverance & Positivity
|
|
Founders and Program Managers,
Joe and Helen Drakeley
, started their Fiscally Sponsored program,
There's Value in a Smile,
in late September 2019, but they have been entertaining audiences of all ages and circumstances since 1987. They reached out to
United Charitable
in July 2019 because they had a passion to provide magical entertainment to audiences in need. Today, through their fiscally sponsored program, they provide entertainment by performing amazing magic shows for various children's charity events, Title 1 schools in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods,
homeless shelters,
and for qualified 501(c)(3) charities. To date, thanks to generous donors, they've put on almost 50 shows!
Their mission statement is:
Magic with a Mission... Spreading Joy, Hope, and Laughter!
As you may have guessed, all of their in-person magic shows have been placed on hold due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. But, that hasn't deterred them!
|
|
Picture below is from a previous live performance
when they could hear the cheers of their audiences!
|
|
|
|
"There’s Magic in... Teamwork!”
“There’s Magic in... Reading!”
“There’s Magic in... Giving!”
are themes of their weekly show.
|
There's Value in a Smile
has now gone virtual!
In mid-March, they were asked by the Catholic School's Office in Dallas, Texas if they would do their show on Facebook LIVE. They wanted to offer an engaging way to connect with their
thirty Catholic elementary schools and over 9,000 students who were home studying due to COVID-19.
Joe and Helen said YES
!
Even though
There's Value in a Smile
had little experience with hosting live Facebook events, they were up for the challenge.
Now you can catch their show every week on Facebook!
|
|
Here are some of their Tips:
|
|
 |
Picture above is from a previous live performance.
|
Connecting with
Your Community
Through There's Value in a Smile's social media platforms, the Drakeley's are able to stay connected to their community. They are very active on their channels. You can check them out on
Facebook
,
Instagram
, and
YouTube
.
So when they planned to have virtual shows, naturally they reached out to their Social Community. Posting videos, announcements, and invitations to their live show was a great idea to ensure views!
|
|
|
|
Spreading Joy, Hope, and Laughter!
Family in California were also able to catch the show! Sharing the virtual magic show with them was an extra treat.
One of their audience members, from their visit to the Ronald McDonald house in Dallas, now watches from Poland. A donor and their family watch from Maryland. And of course, all of their Texas friends are watching! Now that
There's Value in a Smile
has gone virtual, anyone anywhere can watch!
Great Tip:
Use
Community Input!
An Advisory Committee Member, and friend,
added his technical production expertise and offered great input and ideas.
|
|
|
|
Tune in for this week's event:
|
|
|
Virtual Tips from The Drakeley's
- Using Facebook LIVE allows interaction and engagement which breaks the barrier of an online screen and the sense of isolation that some of us may be feeling during this time of quarantine.
- Creating a Facebook EVENT on your business page is an effective way to get your message across to your friends, family, and viewers. By creating this event a few days or a week ahead, it allows time for your Facebook network to comment, like or share, helping you to have more viewers when you go LIVE.
- Getting set up takes patience! There will be a period of trial and error, so give yourself plenty of time before your actual event.
- The videos for There's Value in a Smile were all shot using an iPhone 7 from within their home. To help with their recordings, they purchased a microphone and a tripod with a phone clip. Lighting is another factor while filming in your home and should be tested by arranging lamps or lights as best you can.
- Be Advised: High online usage and signal strength factor into quality and reliability of going LIVE. You might consider, prerecording your event to upload to your YouTube first, then post it to Facebook on the day of your event. This way you ensure the quality of your video will be great and you also maintain control. Again, remember to allow time. It took 3 hours for one of the videos to successfully upload. Now that your video is uploaded on YouTube, you can share the link via email, website, Facebook and other social media platforms. You can still go LIVE on Facebook to introduce your event, but now your video quality is not compromised.
- We're all learning here! "Like anything, the more you do, the more proficient and easier of a swing when batting at the plate (to use a baseball analogy)." - Joe & Helen Drakeley
|
|
|
|
There's Magic... in Giving!
|
|
There's Magic... in Teamwork!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
