Above: Chris Strub poses for a picture with, from left, Molly Melia, Katie Laughlin, Emily Gahafer and Cara Baribeau from the Community Foundation of Louisville at their Nonprofit Rally at 4th Street Live! in Louisville on Sept. 14, 2018. The fifth annual Give for Good Louisville broke its record from the previous year with $5.4 million raised in 24 hours.
Q: Who is the 'Giving Day Guy?'
A: The 'Giving Day Guy' is Chris Strub, a 33-year-old native New Yorker currently residing in Greenville, South Carolina. Chris comes from a traditional journalism background, having begun his professional career at the (Binghamton, N.Y.) Press & Sun-Bulletin in 2006. Chris is the author of '50 States, 100 Days: The Book,' about his solo summer 2015 roadtrip to work with nonprofits around the country, during which he became the first person to live-stream in all 50 states. Chris has served as a National Red Kettle Ambassador for The Salvation Army USA, completing the 25-state 'Fight For Good Tour' roadtrip in the winter of 2017. Chris co-hosted the 2017 Big Brothers Big Sisters of America national conference in San Diego, and worked in 2016 as a traveling social media consultant with Fortune 60 company Humana. Chris is also a contributor to Forbes, writing about social media best practices for nonprofits.
Q: What is the 'Giving Day Guy' concept?
A: As the Giving Day Guy, Chris serves a dual role: producing a full day's worth of live-streamed video content around a giving day; and appearing as the host of those videos, as required. From the start of the giving day (typically early morning) to the end (typically midnight, but some days operate on other time frames), Chris will help create live videos that serve multiple purposes: keeping stakeholders appraised of the progress of the day; sharing stories of the participating nonprofits; announcing prizes as they are awarded to nonprofits; and serving sponsors' interests, by either mentioning brands and/or live interviews.
Q: What makes Chris's work any different than what our organization can create ourselves?
A: Chris comes to your community as one of the most experienced live-streaming pioneers in the United States. Chris has been both on camera and behind the camera for over 1,000 live streams since the renaissance of the medium began in early 2015, and has spoken at over a dozen events nationwide, including Social Media Marketing World, about social media best practices. Chris is a LinkedIn Live beta tester -- one of the first six people in the world to use the medium -- and a power user of Switcher Studio, a third-party application that allows him to incorporate graphics, animations, split screens, B-roll and even live remote guests into Facebook Live broadcasts. Chris travels with a large briefcase of equipment that he has amassed over the years, including tripods, a state-of-the-art camera stabilizer, and broadcast quality audio and lighting tools that will help create optimal production quality in each video. In addition to his expertise working with other giving days, Chris is also a respected influencer in the social media space: he's been featured by Inc Magazine, won an award from PR News, and was named one of 2019's Top 50 Social Media Marketing Influencers by TopRank Marketing. Finally, Chris takes great pride in his physical fitness, training year-round to ensure that your giving day's social media presence will be fully energized through primetime and into the night.
Q: Why did Chris start the 'Giving Day Guy' idea?
A: In the summer of 2016, serving as a social media consultant for Humana, Chris met with the team from the Community Foundation of Louisville, and first learned about Give for Good Louisville -- a region-wide giving day that celebrates and benefits nonprofits around the Kentuckiana area. The idea that community giving is concentrated into a 24-hour period, combined with the stories of hundreds of. participating nonprofits, makes a giving day the perfect opportunity to use live-streaming video to connect in real-time with several audiences: the donors; the sponsors; the participating nonprofits.
Q: Where does this content exist?
A: Ordinarily, the live-streamed content will appear on the Facebook page of the organization that runs the giving day, like a community foundation or nonprofit council. But the content can live on any medium: a YouTube channel, a Periscope channel, the accounts of participating nonprofits, or even Chris's social media channels, if need be. As the day goes on, Chris will also assist as needed with creating content on Twitter, Instagram and any other social media networks as requested.
Q: What if our giving day doesn't need a guy like Chris to appear on videos?
A: As the 'Giving Day Guy,' Chris does not need to appear on any of your videos for the work to make a difference. Through years of trial and error, Chris has become an expert at producing live videos on social media. Specifically, Chris uses an app called Switcher Studio to create interactive, engaging content that can incorporate, in real time, lower thirds, social media handles, sponsor logos, full- or partial-screen images and even B-roll.
Q: Does Chris offer training sessions as well?
A: Yes! In fact, Chris has given training sessions in each giving day community he's worked in. Chris is a well-traveled social media speaker who is prepared to speak about any social media network, though his emphasis typically with giving day audiences is live-streaming video. Chris has a broad variety of presentations already created, although what differentiates Chris from your standard consultant is his strong impetus to localize every bit of content he is offering. Topics can be fully customized to fit the needs of the local community. Chris is particularly well-suited to take questions from the audience, and loves working in a hands-on environment to make sure that attendees leave feeling empowered to take action on what they've learned.
Q: How do we pay for this?
A: Giving days around the U.S. are seeing a tremendous return on investment from working with the Giving Day Guy. In fact, every giving day that Chris has worked with has committed to bring him back for the following year. In Louisville, Chris will return this September for a third year of co-hosting and producing Give For Good Louisville on Facebook. In San Antonio, The Nonprofit Council has fielded numerous phone calls about the superior production value of their videos, and is able to bring in an additional significant revenue stream by selling sponsored hourly blocks for The Big Give 2020.
Q: So, what does it cost?
Pricing is determined by a number of factors, including the size and resources of a giving day and the number of giving days taking place on a given date. Chris travels economy class via American Airlines, out of Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP). Consideration is always given to giving days that bring Chris in for both a training session and the giving day. Contact Chris via email -- chrisstrub - at - gmail - dot - com, for more information.
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To work with Chris Strub, aka the Giving Day Guy, contact him via email: chrisstrub <at> gmail.
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