A series of three consecutive projects establishing DigiComs
DigiComs – The Voice of Mission-Driven Organizations
Duration: 12 months (August 1, 2021 – July 31, 2022)
Program: Bulgarian Fund for Women (BFW) 2020 Call for Proposals to Support Girls and Young Women
Funding: 10,000 BGN
Coordinator: IMPACT DRIVE Foundation
Partner: VIA CIVIC Association
With the financial support of the Bulgarian Fund for Women
Project Goal: To create a viable social enterprise model that empowers young girls and women to become the communication specialists that organizations so urgently need. They will communicate with audiences professionally and facilitate smoother, clearer engagement with the public. Civil society organizations will have access to their services to share their work and goals, ensure transparency, and garner support. Validation of the training program as a social business model
Long-term support for graduates from experienced mentors
Development of a module for civil society organizations, featuring a suite of support services and resources
Promotion of the model within the sector
Technological integration of components and establishment of the DigiComs brand
Communicating Causes and Activism Online – DigiComs
Duration: 6 months (October 1, 2020 – March 31, 2021)
Program: Bulgarian Fund for Women (BFW) 2020 Call for Proposals to Support Girls and Young Women
Funding: 5,000 BGN
Coordinator: VIA CIVIC Association
Partner: IMPACT DRIVE Foundation
With the financial support of the Bulgarian Fund for Women
Project Goal: To provide practical online training to develop the competencies of girls and young women in digital communication focused on causes, civic initiatives, and activist activities. Developing foundational information, media, and digital competencies, as well as tools for effective social communication in the online environment
Providing opportunities for interaction with professionals from various fields, along with mentoring and consulting support during the practical application of newly acquired knowledge
Assisting in the creation of a professional portfolio showcasing the skills of the trained digital communicators
Providing a networking space for trained communicators and representatives of civil society organizations to foster long-term collaboration
Developing a business model to empower girls and young women through digital communication skills
Implementation period: 01/08/2018 – 31/03/2019 (8 months)
Program: Bulgarian Fund for Women (BFW) 2018 Call for Proposals to Support Girls and Young Women
Funding: 3,000 BGN
Coordinator: IMPACT DRIVE Foundation
With the financial support of the Bulgarian Fund for Women
DigiComs Target Groups
Girls and young women who:
are in a vulnerable situation (due to illness or disability, remoteness from urban centers, single motherhood, ethnicity, religion, or other grounds for discrimination; women caring for relatives with illnesses or disabilities, etc.)
are seeking ways to balance higher education studies with work
are on leave for... ...maternity leave or child-rearing, or those who wish to continue raising their children for a longer period...
NGO teams responsible for planning and implementing communication activities
Why do organizations with a mission have digital communicators?
In today's dynamic times, everything happens online. From shopping for business or home, through a number of business processes, all the way to the school and social life of children. All kinds of specialists, artists, practitioners - all online. Therefore, it is inevitable that important causes and campaigns are recognizable, discoverable, reliable and adequate in the online environment.
Who are the organizations with a mission - NGOs, social entrepreneurs and social businesses, civic initiatives, all set out to change the world for the better. What they have in common is their commitment to a specific cause and the fact that very often they are focused on achieving their socially significant mission and are not always able to present themselves, their battles and achievements to the general public.
Impact Drive digital communicators are there to support civil society organizations in this aspect of their work - to create content for the communication needs of a particular initiative or project in a professional and sustainable manner and respecting the guiding principles for the specific cause.
Digital communicator – what kind of creature is that?
The "Digital Communicator" concept emerged as the solution during the first phase of the DigiComs project, implemented in 2019 by the Impact Drive Foundation with the support of the Via Civic Association and funding from the Bulgarian Fund for Women. We developed, tested, and validated an innovative social entrepreneurship business model aimed at girls and young women aged 18 to 35. The initiative has a dual purpose: on one hand, to provide training opportunities for acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to boost women's—including those from vulnerable groups—participation in the labor market (through remote work, freelancing, etc.); and on the other, to offer civil society organizations access to the expert services of professionals trained in digital social communication.
With the launch of DigiComs 2, the initiative enters its second phase: the creation of a specialized training program designed to cultivate competent digital communication specialists, with a particular focus on communicating causes and working within the civil society sector. The multidisciplinary program is grounded in principles of best practices in journalism, PR, digital marketing, and social media management, among others, and aims to broaden perspectives on communication from the standpoint of civil society organizations. The training is logically structured and practically oriented, fostering active interaction among participants, trainers, and experts. The online format makes the training accessible and convenient, while feedback, assignments, tests, and supplementary resources will help participants put their knowledge into practice. By the end, they will have built a portfolio that could pave the way for a professional career in the civil sector.
The role of a digital communicator within an organization is to build and maintain the organization’s digital profile, image, and online presence, and to populate the information flow with content that supports the dissemination of messages and the championing of causes and civic initiatives. They construct the organization’s "media skeleton," shape its substance and visual identity, and maintain the "blood flow" through social media and the communities they cultivate—ensuring that activities remain visible, messages clear, results sustainable, and democratic society strong.
Why should I become a digital communicator?
Why should young women actually develop professionally in the field of communications?
Why is the training suitable for home workers?
And why bother with the communications of civil society organizations at all?
The possible answers are more than the questions we can ask ourselves.
Here are some of them, and our participants will positively find more for themselves:
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Flexible employment
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Work from home
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Work in an online environment
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There is not a single boring day
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Wide application
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Commitment to a cause
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There is always more to learn
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It helps to instill in ourselves and in our children an attitude towards causes and civic activity in general
DigiComs so far
The DigiComs project started with the following steps:
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Research through different methods of the needs, desires and tasks of users. Two different questionnaires were distributed to the target groups of girls and young women and NGO representatives
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Analysis of consumer needs and development of Value Proposition Model
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Development of a prototype with a general structure and content of the training, sample materials to it, a demo version of the training platform, which were tested with real users
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Analysis of the results and completed business model with the strategyzer canvas (BMC).
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Development of a financial plan
In the second stage of its implementation, we conducted the course for digital communicators for a total of 9 weeks entirely online.
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Out of 40 candidates, 37 started the online course, 21 reached the end, and 9 developed the specially set wide-ranging final task for completing the course.
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Participants were given tasks for independent work and tried new approaches and tools, which developed their skills to create scripts, work on different campaigns, use a variety of techniques for creativity, creative writing and storytelling and more.
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We were visited by great experts working in the field of causes and communications, with whom we discussed details of the kitchen.
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Some of the tasks were immediately used by the organizations whose representatives participate in the course.
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More than half of the participants are already developing the communication of non-profit organizations.
