Fair Trade Jewellery Company CEO Ryan Taylor participated in Net Change Week in Toronto, where he spoke on creating social change and worked with nonprofits to harness new online technologies. Ryan drew on his experiences working on holiday fundraiser hohoTO for the Toronto Daily Bread Food Bank and SpinTO fundraiser that benefited the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation with the FTJCo as the top sponsor.

Ryan was part of an experienced panel sharing "Real Social Media Success Stories" alongside Meghan Warby of public relations firm Hill & Knowlton and James Topham of charity War Child Canada at the My Charity Connects conference, held by CharityHelps.org, one of the largest online philanthropic organizations in Canada. Ryan spoke on fostering community and his involvement with nonprofits and charities, including the unprecedented success of hohoTO. Promoted mostly through social media, Ryan acted not only as one of the organizers but also as an active, vocal promoter generating excitement within the technology community, which helped to attract a sell-out crowd of 600+. In addition, Ryan worked with nonprofits as part of Social Mastermind // Social Media for Social Change, a full day workshop designed to team up knowledgeable members of the technology community like Ryan with nonprofits to help use social media to create change.

Ryan and the FTJCo would like to thank MaRS for organizing Net Change Week, CharityHelps.org for inviting him to speak,  Meghan Warby and James Topham for being incredible co-presenters, and Sarah Prevette of RedWire for the Social Mastermind invite. Ryan is excited to have connected with organizations such as the Toronto Arts Council, Joelle Woodruff and Unicef, the Stephen Lewis Foundation among others and looks forward to collaborations that will help optimize the opportunities available through social media to create community, expand fundraising, and usher in a new era of volunteerism.

Update: James Topham of War Child Canada has written a follow-up post <here> about shifting to a new  collaboration model for non-profits rather than the current competitive one. Planning begins June 22 on what we hope will become an extremely useful resource.