Dallas Heroes Project Shines a Spotlight on Good Work of Local Charities

A nonprofit’s survival can be harder than people think. Major organizations like the Susan G. Komen and the American Heart Association are headquartered in the city, but after that, the competition for attention can be tough.Trying to break away from the pack can be a struggle. There were 31,234 nonprofits registered in the 16 counties that make up North Texas in August 2016, according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics. These organizations depend on funding from donors and grants. It’s next to impossible to stay afloat if they can’t get anyone to pay attention to them and donate.That’s where the Dallas Heroes Project steps in. The organization, which was created in January 2016, highlights and promotes the people behind nonprofits around the city. The Dallas Heroes Project acts as a sort of marketing agency for community members and their local nonprofits. Founder Maddy Kulkarni got the idea for the Dallas Heroes Project through volunteering for Social Venture Partners, which connects charitable donors to one another. She saw nonprofits that didn't get a lot of attention. Run by people mostly with backgrounds in public policy or social work, the nonprofits needed help in marketing, she said.This is a passion project for Kulkarni, who works in global marketing for PepsiCo. “If you’re not in a traditional nonprofit, if you’re not in the nonprofit space and you’re a professional ... you probably don’t know about these organizations,” she said.The Heroes Project showcases one individual and that person's nonprofit on the project’s website each month. The 10 board members receive nominees on the project’s website, from board members’ recommendations and through word of mouth. The board then sets up an interview to talk to nominese about their story and see what they need.The project’s website gets over 1,000 page views per month. The group receives a $10,000 in-kind grant from Google every month for advertising on Google. These tools are used to drive traffic to the home pages for nonprofits.  Continue reading...