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Stephanie Bluma's picture

Stephanie Bluma

Senior Vice President, Management Supervisor, Creative Director
“Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.” – Oscar Wilde. Stephanie will never be a morning person, but after a few cups of coffee she will be in full swing directing the creative process for a range of Social Impact clients. She has designed interesting, compelling and, most importantly, strategic campaigns for a range of clients, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. While she is known to like a clever strategy, what she truly loves is impactful results that make a difference. Stephanie splits her time between Weber Shandwick’s Washington, D.C. and Seattle offices where she coordinates the firm’s global work on behalf of a major family foundation focused on health, agriculture and financial services in the developing world. When flying back and forth, Stephanie passes over her family in Nebraska and the home state of her former boss Senator Tom Daschle. Stephanie has a bachelor of arts in communications from Augustana College and a master of arts in public communication from American University.

History

Member for
46 weeks 1 day
Jul 22

The Power of a Simple Idea

Stephanie Bluma

Thanks to Osocio's always informative blog, I was recently reminded of a campaign I came across two years ago while out to dinner at Brasserie Beck in Washington, D.C.: UNICEF’s  tap project. 

The idea behind this campaign was simple: ask restaurant patrons to donate one dollar for the tap water they usually drink for free. 

As seen on Osocio, the project has also found an innovative way to collect dollars with vending machines.  You can select from your choice of water flavors including cholera, dengue, dysentery, hepatitis, malaria, salmonella and yellow fever. 

Now entering its third year, this successful campaign is a solid example of how a smart —yet simple —idea with a strong and immediate call to action can keep reinventing itself.  

In addition, it reminded me that we all should start thinking of plans for World Water Week 2011.
 

May 27

A Wiki State of Mind

Stephanie Bluma

Yesterday, the Stanford Social Innovation Review released a great new article summarizing how non-profits are “Working Wikily.”   The article defines the style as  “characterized by greater openness, transparency, decentralized decision making, and collective action.” 

These are all terms we hear non-profits large and small asking about frequently.  They want to know how technology, Twitter, Facebook, and others can help them achieve this new approach.  From Askhoka’s crowdsourcing to the Case Foundation’s Make it Your Own Awards the article provides real concrete examples of how organizations have leveraged technology to meet their own goals. 

These real-life tactical examples are invaluable as organizations continue to move into digital spaces.   What’s more valuable, however, is the article’s reminder that success isn’t about the latest technology trend.  It is about changing mind-sets within an organization. 

For many, that is going to be a bit more difficult then mastering the protocols of Twitter.   One way to jump start or accelerate the shift is to focus on collaboration. As the article suggests, share information you would not normally share, connect people that should know each other, continue to slowly expand your circle of trusted advisors.  Start looking for more collaboration everywhere.  The impressive digital tactics are likely to follow….

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