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Manual: Tips for new partners — spreading the word
Whether you are a new Fuller Center covenant partner that is starting from scratch or have recently switched to The Fuller Center from another housing nonprofit, it is important that your community understand what your mission is all about. There’s no better way to do that than by picking up a hammer and getting to work, but here are some resources to help people in your community learn about your covenant partner and how it is connected to a larger movement:
Press release/letter to the editor
Send a press release to your media contacts and local news outlets. Also, newspapers have become desperate for local content with their shrinking staffs and budgets, so they are more likely than ever to welcome your letters to the editor. It’s a free way to get your name in the paper.
Sample press release/letter for new covenant partners
Sample press release/letter for partners transitioning from another nonprofit
Rack cards/brochures
4×9 rack cards (such as you see in hotels where they advertise local attractions) are inexpensive to produce and more convenient and concise than fold-out brochures. They are likely a more effective print distribution tool.
We have free Canva templates, which you can customize with your local information or print as-is with the basic Fuller Center information. These include an overall rack card, a Greater Blessing repair program rack card and a fold-out brochure. You must create a Canva account to access these, but you can create a basic account for free. Click here to learn more about these products.
PowerPoint presentation
Few people want to sit through another wordy PowerPoint, but if you have the chance to speak to a civic club or church group, you may find this PowerPoint helpful. It is mostly just images and designed so that you can talk to people eye-to-eye about the concept on each slides as the photos serve as a backdrop to what you are talking about.
"The Vision at Work"
Fuller Center for Housing President David Snell has stood before thousands of volunteers and supporters and told the story of how Millard and Linda Fuller started the world’s affordable housing movement based upon simple, grass-roots, Christian principles shared by theologian Clarence Jordan at Koinonia Farm. Now, the story is available in paperback along with explanations of Fuller Center programs and philosophies, as well as photographs and testimonials from Fuller Center supporters, volunteer and homeowners. Clocking in at 60 pages, the book is simple and decent … just like the homes The Fuller Center builds. You can order copies from headquarters for just $2.15 each plus postage. (Contact Cathy Smith at csmith@fullercenter.org for ordering details.) Or you can order copies directly from Amazon by clicking here.
Overview video
President David Snell outlines the history of The Fuller Center for Housing. This is an in-depth video featuring many photos of the ministry through the years. It’s good background for those who know little about our work. You can also find more videos about our work to share at YouTube.com/FullerCenter.
Facebook best practices, storytelling & more
From a webinar for our covenant partners, Vice President of Communications Chris Johnson, a former journalist himself, shares some quick social media and storytelling tips.
Search for a topic in the manual:
Helpful hint: If you want to search for a specific topic in the Operations Manual, search for the word “manual” followed by a “+” sign and then a specific term. For example, if you want to know more about hammers, you would search for “manual+hammers”.