The Salesians are a Catholic order dedicated to improving the lives of young people. As a documentary photographer, I began photographing their work in the US and Haiti. Over the next several years, I plan to expand the work to several other countries. The intention is to show the consistency of their mission despite working in highly diverse situations.

The purpose of the blog is two-fold. First, I would like to draw attention to the work being done by the Salesians. Second, I want to demonstrate what can be done with a micro-blogging platform. This is an example to NGO clients of how they can set up micro-sites for specific documentary and aid projects and the ease with which it can be integrated with other social media sites.

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Blogging for NGO’s

Micro-blogging on a site like TUMBLR allows your organization to get images and information to your supporters for free. Updates can be made from the field, giving supporters a real sense of where their money is being spent. The medium creates an opportunity for supporters to interact with the organization on an informal level. Content that may not otherwise fit into the organization’s main website can be displayed. This creates an opportunity to share more intimate images and thoughts.

Besides being free it is also easy. Having never used TUMBLR before, I created this blog and added the first few posts in under an hour. Much of this time was spent selecting an appropriate theme from the wide variety of available free choices.  It was a simple, straight forward process that staff who are not particularly technologically savvy can contribute to.