Our first #nonprofitfair

Gearing up for our June 6 Friday for Good — a company-wide day of voluntary service that’s a tradition around here — we hosted a nonprofit fair at our HQ yesterday.

The fair, which we called “Community & Cupcakes”, was designed to welcome more than 25 local organizations in-house to talk about the vital work they are doing in the community and meet lots of interested employees who want to help. Tackling some of the greatest challenges in the Tenderloin, these nonprofits address critical issues such as homelessness, housing, seniors and youth through the arts, technology training and education.

Everyone seems really engaged and wants to know how they can help.
— Tyler Macmillan, @evictiondefense

You can find lots of Tweets via #nonprofitfair that capture the day, including these:

Some 300 employees came by to learn more about the missions of these organizations and learn how they can get involved. “Everyone seems really engaged and wants to know how they can help,” Tyler Macmillan observed. He’s the Executive Director of the Eviction Defense Collaborative.

In addition to the nonprofits, we also welcomed representatives from San Francisco Foundation (@TSFF), Dolby Laboratories (@Dolby), LinkedIn (@LinkedIn), Spotify (@Spotify), Trulia (@trulia), Workday Foundation (@WorkdayForward) and ZenDesk (@zendesk). “What a great introduction to the neighborhood. Thanks for bringing all of the organizations together,” said Dolby’s Joan Scott, their Director of Community Relations.

Photo courtesy of Aaron Durand for Twitter, Inc.

In addition to showcasing their programs, the organizations’ staffers spent time connecting with each other. “I’m discovering lots of ways to collaborate with the other orgs here, which is great,” said Jessica Van Tuyl, Executive Director of Oasis for Girls, over the groovy music beat coming from the Mural Music & Arts Program table. Greg Moore, program director of St. Francis Living Room described the fair as “inspiring”.

We recognize that for all of the organizations represented, there are others that were unable to attend the fair. Our goal at Twitter for Good is to connect our employees more directly, and frequently, into many worthy community endeavors, and help the community at large meet more of us at Twitter through events like this. We look forward to collaborating more in the coming days.

Here are the groups that joined us for this kickoff event. We encourage you to check them out too!

• American Red Cross — @redcross
• Boys & Girls Club of San Francisco — @BGCSF
• Catholic Charities CYO — @cccyoadsf
• Compass Family Services — @compasssf
• CounterPULSE — @counterpulse
• Cutting Ball Theater — @CuttingBall
• Curry Senior Center — @CurrySrCenter
• De Marillac Academy — @DeMarillacSF
• Episcopal Community Services — @ECS_SF
• Eviction Defense Collaborative — @evictiondefense
• HandUp — @HandUp
• Hospitality House — @HospitalityHous
• Highground Hackers — @HighgroundHack
• Larkin Street Youth Services — @LarkinStreet
• Mural Music & Arts Project — @muralmusicarts
• Oasis for Girls — @OasisForGirls
• Project Homeless Connect — @PHCSF
• San Francisco Main Food Bank — @SFMFoodBank
• Shih Yu-Lang Central YMCA — @SYLCYMCA
• South of Market Child Care, Inc. — @SOMACC
• St. Anthony Foundation — @stanthonysf
• St. Francis Living Room
• St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Francisco — @SVDPSF
• Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation — @TNDC
• United Playaz — @UP4LIFE
• Yerba Buena Center for the Arts — @ybca