Project Proposal

Football for Peace (FfP) is an organisation that leverages the universal appeal of football to foster peace, unity, and development in conflict-affected regions. This non-profit charity works to promote peace, tolerance, and understanding among communities and nations through the universal appeal of football (Football For Peace, 2024). The concept is based on the idea that football, being the world's most popular sport, has a unique ability to bring people together, transcending cultural, religious, and political differences. By organising community-driven football events, Football for Peace aims to bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds, promoting dialogue, understanding, and cooperation. This proposal outlines the work I will be doing for the organisation alongside my two fellow students throughout our months working with Football for Peace.

(Football for Peace, 2024)

In addition to boosting social media outreach, we will focus on helping the Football for Peace team create marketing strategies for events and campaigns. This involves sitting in on weekly meetings to help the team brainstorm and create ideas for their current events and charity campaign involvements. Through this we hope to increase the organisation's visibility, attract more sponsorships or donations for events and causes, and engage a wider audience, thereby amplifying the reach and impact of the Football for Peace events.

Further, we are committed to ensuring that all charity events are executed seamlessly. For us this entails recruiting and onboarding volunteers, interacting with participants and teams through email, and managing logistics prior to events to help guarantee that the event runs smoothly. Through these efforts, we aim to help create a supportive, well-organised, and fun environment at events that enhances the experience for all involved, which further reinforces Football for Peace’s mission of peacebuilding and creating community development through football.

Market Review:

The market for sports-based peacebuilding initiatives is ever-expanding, driven by increasing interest in the transformative power of sports. Charity organisations are increasingly incorporating the use of sports to drive social change as there is a growing recognition of the role sports can play in addressing social issues, promoting health, and fostering community development (Hyndman and Liguori, 2023). These non-profit organisations primarily find funding opportunities from corporate sponsorships and public-private partnerships (Schets, 2010). In terms of sports-based non-profit organisations, several organisations stand out alongside Football for Peace. Organisations like PeacePlayers, Sports Fun 4 All, and FreeKicks Foundation focus on uniting communities through sports. Each of these organizations have a focus on a specific mission for themselves which ranges in focus from health education to life skills training to gender equality, making them a significant player in the sector (Hyndman and Liguori, 2023). 

While these organisations share similar goals with each other, Football for Peace differentiates itself through its holistic approach that integrates community engagement into its football-centric programs (Football For Peace, 2024). FfP has a unique model of combining football with structured community building opportunities, such as football tournaments and golf days, whilst educating participants on their charitable causes and fostering peacebuilding worldwide.

Football for Peace also has a solid social media following which sets them apart from other competitors as many sports-based charity organisations in the current market do not. With almost 150,000 Instagram followers, Football for Peace has the ability to reach a broader audience with this following. Through educational informational-graphic posts they can educate their followers on their current charity campaigns whilst also promoting upcoming charity events (Kunze et al., 2021). The utilisation of social media by nonprofit organisations is an integral piece to their success as it creates greater visibility for the organisation, offers cost-effective marketing, and creates a greater sense of community amongst supporters (Given, Forcier and Rathi, 2013).

While Football for Peace operates in an expanding market, their strong presence and  unique approach distinguishes it from other competitors. By leveraging its strengths and addressing current market demands, FfP is well-positioned to continue making a significant impact in the field of sports-based peacebuilding (Dennis, 2014).

Work Plan:

In June, our primary focus will be on creating a comprehensive social media plan to promote the charity golf day scheduled for July 11, 2024.. This includes creating engaging content and scheduling regular posts to maximise outreach. Additionally, we will conduct outreach by emailing potential company sponsors to help ensure participation. Efforts will also be directed towards onboarding and registering event guests and volunteers to ensure smooth event operations. I will also create a dedicated project webpage and begin updating it weekly with relevant content and updates pertaining to our work with Football for Peace.

In July, we will see the continuation of onboarding and registering guests and volunteers for the charity golf day, ensuring all logistics are in place. We will be actively promoting the charity golf day event on social media as a key task of ours, both leading up to and on the day of the event, to maximise visibility and engagement. Emphasis will be placed on maintaining consistency in social media postings for Football for Peace, on all platforms but especially Instagram. We also will develop a social media plan for the upcoming MVP tournament, which will tentatively happen in September of 2024, and start posting relevant content for this. In addition, we will be participating in strategy and communications calls with the Football for Peace team, contributing to the development and implementation of the "Rehydrating the Earth" campaign. Weekly updates on the project webpage will continue.

In August, the focus will be on finalizing our collaboration with Football for Peace by leaving them with an active and sustainable social media strategy for the MVP tournament scheduled for September. This includes ensuring that the social media plan is well-documented and easy to follow. I will also finish up work on the project webpage, ensuring it is comprehensive and up-to-date. Lastly, I will begin writing my final reflection on the project, summarizing the achievements, challenges, and key learnings.

Impact of Work :

In our time with Football for Peace, I hope that we can help the organisation improve their presence on social media to be more active and informative for its supporters. Through this I hope we will positively impact their event participation as we advertise upcoming charity events actively on social media platforms like Instagram, Linkedin, and TikTok. 

Looking forward, I hope to use my project webpage as an online portfolio to show potential employers when applying for jobs in social media management (Afanasyeva, 2018). This webpage portfolio will be a comprehensive look into my capabilities as a social media manager. Showcasing my abilities in content creation and design, as well as my understanding of social media marketing and management. 

References:

Afanasyeva, O. (2018). Key elements of a successful digital career portfolio for building a strong personal image in the competitive labour market. [online] www.theseus.fi. Available at: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018061113474. 

Crossley, L. (2023). The Ultimate Guide to Social Media for Charities | Boss Digital. [online] Boss Digital. Available at: https://boss-digital.co.uk/ultimate-guides/the-ultimate-guide-to-social-media-for-charities/#:~:text=They%20provide%20charities%20with%20a 

Dennis, D.D. (2014). Successfully Social: A Non-Profit’s Guide to Modern Social Media Marketing. Honors Program of Liberty University, pp.1–32. doi:https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/honors/454.

Football For Peace (2024). Who We Are – Football For Peace. [online] Available at: https://www.footballforpeace.org.uk/who-we-are/. 

Given, L.M., Forcier, E. and Rathi, D. (2013). Social Media and Community Knowledge: An Ideal Partnership for Non-Profit Organizations. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 50(1), pp.1–11. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/meet.14505001064. 

Hyndman, N. and Liguori, M. (2023). ‘Be a game changer and keep the ball rolling’: exploring linkages between football clubs, charitable foundations and doing good. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 37(2). doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-06-2022-5876 .

Kunze, K.N., Vadhera, A., Purbey, R., Singh, H., Kazarian, G.S. and Chahla, J. (2021). Infographics Are More Effective at Increasing Social Media Attention and Academic Impact in Comparison to Original Research Articles: An Altmetrics-Based Analysis. Arthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic & Related Surgery, 37(8). doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arthro.2021.03.056. 

Schets, S. (2010). Meet Charities Online : How Can Charities Utilize Social Media as a Promotional Tool? [online] www.theseus.fi. Available at: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2010091012963.