Since Desiree Rogers began volunteering for Apparo she has used her digital marketing, corporate, and career skills to positively impact several nonprofits in our community and beyond.
Desiree Rogers, Marketing Manager of LPL Financial (Marketing for Financial Advisors) came to Apparo through one of her former colleagues, Mark Greenberg, who brought her to CXO Tech Insights. After being introduced to Apparo through Insights, Desiree became interested in volunteering with us.
Since then, she has volunteered in the following capacity:
- United Charlotte – Barre Belle – mentor
- InReach Tech Therapy – Social Media
- Georgia Center for Nonprofits – NP Bytes + Insights
- Cox Cybersecurity Cohort – Dunwoody Nature Center
Desiree shared, “Volunteering has always been a big component of my life. One of the reasons why I got hooked on continuing to volunteer with Apparo is because it was so well-organized which I loved. Yenting ran the first cohort I volunteered with on a dime, and it made it so easy to commit and to fold into things, because it was primarily virtual.”
Desiree’s first volunteer experience was through the Unite Charlotte cohort program as a mentor for Barre Belle. Bare Belle helps kids in the community have access to the arts, especially dance, yoga, and creative movement without barriers of cost. Desiree shared, “We focused most of our time on streamlining the process of donations for them, because they didn’t have a simple way of doing it. When you’re asking their constituents for donations—you want to make it easy. We also spent some time on their digital marketing, outreach, social media, website improvements, and security. In the end, we created a Give Lively page for them.”
“They were wonderful partners, and we are still in touch today. My husband and I went to their annual fundraiser last year. It was great to form that relationship with them on top of the feeling that you’re able to give back and help them facilitate donations and continue to grow their mission and make a meaningful impact.”
After Desiree served as a mentor for the cohort, she did a brief Tech Therapy social media engagement for InReach.
Then she participated in a Nonprofits Bytes + Insights with the Georgia Center for Nonprofits as a subject matter expert on an A.I. webinar panel with other panelists from Microsoft and Google.Desiree shared she “enjoyed being able to come alongside other industry experts who have incredible careers to answer questions and provide general guidance about A.I.” She also said she liked how interactive the panel was, because the participants were so engaged and jumped right in to ask a lot of questions.”
“I was able to discuss using AI skills to fulfill all digital marketing needs to social media website media, email marketing, and event digital event promotion. These tools help facilitate marketing functionality and reduce time and can help nonprofits when they’re really strapped for resources. A key tool for these nonprofits is to figure out how to use AI in Canva instead of hiring a Graphic designer like a larger company would. Showing a nonprofit how to get 80% there with AI, and then polishing it up, so they don’t have to spend unnecessary funds to hire someone.”
Desiree most recently worked on the Cox Cohort and led a Digital Marketing workshop.
“I was a subject matter expert, and I led the workshop on digital marketing. I had one hour to talk about everything digital marketing. The biggest challenge was not knowing what level everyone was at. There are so many platforms now. We spoke about how often you should post to socials, how to write effective copy to grab that attention, or do email marketing.
“We told them how to start out. First, know who your audience is. You can’t write the same message and apply to donors as program participants.”
“I also have them some easy-to-use tools to facilitate some digital marketing like Canva, Adobe Express, and also some A.I. copy tools like dot AI, chat GPT, Gemini, and Microsoft CoPilot.”
Desiree values her time as a volunteer.
She has recommended Apparo to her colleagues to volunteer, not only to feel good about giving back to their community, but also to polish their own skills and to meet others and network.
“Apparo is great about fitting types of volunteer experiences within your schedule and giving plenty of notice for you to make it work. I also feel like Apparo has really given back to me. I’ve been able to go to several volunteer and networking events, so it’s been great to get to know people within the organization while volunteering.”
Apparo’s Program Associate, Yenting Liu, who Desiree has worked closely with on several projects sang her praises, “Desiree has become one of my go-to volunteers since I first collaborated with her as a tech mentor for an early cohort. Her exceptional expertise in digital marketing, coupled with her active engagement in webinars, workshops, and tech therapy sessions, highlights her unwavering commitment to supporting nonprofits and her versatile skill set. Her willingness and eagerness to assist, even on short notice, have been invaluable, ensuring that nonprofits receive the best advice and guidance. Additionally, Desiree’s advocacy for Apparo within her professional network has helped to expand our volunteer base, bringing in new talent and fresh perspectives. Working with Desiree is a true pleasure, and I sincerely hope she continues to be a part of Apparo.”
