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InfinityGreece: Empowering the next media professionals!

InfinityGreece: Empowering the next media professionals!
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InfinityGreece ΚΟΙΝΣΕΠ

InfinityGreece is a social enterprise based in Thessaloniki that helps young people acquire know-how and develop digital, media and business skills suitable for the job market.

Our vision is for young people to be creatively effective, which is achieved through projects and programs of education, mobility and volunteering.

The volunteer program of the organization has been awarded by the Hellenic Responsible Business Awards, while it annually hosts over 170 young people.



Objective Action

The purpose of the volunteering program is to give young people the opportunity to discover their potential, to find themselves in a collaborative environment with resources and ongoing empowerment, to engage in more interactive experiences than those in formal education (school, university), and to network with other youngsters, collecting supplies for the labor market. In addition, the organization offers young people unique experiences both through the volunteering part and through mobility programs or educational activities. InfinityGreece's vision is to provide a safe space for expression to the youth of the city where every young person will receive creative stimuli in the Media sector, will develop personally, broaden their horizons and learn empirically leaving its mark on the local community.

Through the volunteering program, we empower future creators, employees, and entrepreneurs. We build solid relationships and promote collaboration between different sectors, businesses and civil society. InfinityGreece maintains extroversion and friendships with organizations and professionals by acting in part as a Think Tank for youth-related activities and marketing (events such as the "Data Science Online Conference", the "Take a Smile" and the "Teamwork in Digital Media") bringing different people together and attracting creators and talents. Extroversion is deep in our DNA with the volunteers themselves systematically bringing new proposals and thoughts. This is further enhanced by the social enterprise’s involvement and contacts with entities such as the Network of Thessaloniki Volunteering Organizations, AIESEC Greece, Youthnest, Digital Nomads Observatory etc.

 

 

Target Audience

InfinityGreece target group is young people aged 16 to 30, with an emphasis on the 18-24 age group, ie university students. Participants in our programs typically seek creative experiences to fill their free time, want to grow personally and professionally, and seek to enrich their resume, contribute to the betterment of the community, and network with other young people, both personally and collaboratively. Most of them are students or recent graduates in Thessaloniki.

 

 

Duration

The volunteering program follows the structure of an academic year, starting each year in October and ending in May. During the summer months, the planning and preparation for the next year takes place.

 


Description

InfinityGreece is a social enterprise with the main focus on media and digital marketing. More specifically, it helps young people develop soft and hard skills through volunteering and training programs.

InfinityGreece started as a volunteer team in October 2014 in Thessaloniki by Giannis Charhantis. The idea at first was to build an entertainment media portal where youth would have the chance to freely create and share content. Along the way, it was understood that the real needs of those involved in the project were not exclusively the publication of some form of content but there was something deeper, that is, the need for learning, personal and professional development, networking with other young people and creating impact. InfinityGreece evolved into a place where young people can experiment, try new things, develop skills by applying to the job market and succeed or fail in a protected environment where they can find guidance and resources.

One of the innovations of InfinityGreece is the business model that follows. When mapping the organizations involved in volunteering and young people, we will observe two different categories. One category has to do with autonomous student initiatives that are coordinated by the volunteers themselves and very often come under the umbrella of a larger body (eg a university) for the necessary legal coverage. The other category is the independent Youth Organization, usually non-profit civic organizations, which rely mostly on programs or donations and are run by experienced youth workers.

In InfinityGreece, on the other hand, there is a combination of the two above. The organization systematically hosts a large number of young people who coordinate their own activities, while at the same time there is constant support and mentoring by experienced coordinators who maintain a constant relationship with the organization. Another innovative element is the economic model on which the organization is based, which is a social enterprise and not a civil non-profit company. This means that while it can receive programs, donations and funding, it also maintains a business (selling services to other businesses) which makes it independent and sustainable.

 


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Impact on Society

The work of InfinityGreece is particularly important for the young people mainly of Thessaloniki and the involved bodies, as it is a space that functions as a vestibule for professional life while at the same time leaving an impact through social initiatives throughout the city. The work of the volunteers includes awareness campaigns on racism, human rights and the organization of seminars with great impact.

 

Til today, more than 500 young people have participated in our volunteering program, with the organization helping with networking, personal development and career guidance. Still, participants get in touch with professionals through programs such as the "Training Weekend", "Summer Training", "Teamwork in Digital Media" and other educational opportunities. To date, the 65 digital or physical projects of InfinityGreece (trainings, seminars, campaigns, social activities, student events in Greece and Europe) have been attended by over 23,000 people!

 

We observe volunteers and the influence that interacting with other people and engaging in creative projects has on them. To a large extent, we see much stronger self-confidence, will and energy for professional success, development of organization and communication, while very often we act as a mediator between in companies that are looking for new employees and our community. If you look at the projects on our website, you will see the triptych "educate-impact-entertain". InfinityGreece is part of the student memories of participants, a place where they socialize, have fun and transform even the most fun projects (Student events) in learning experiences (setting up a 360 campaign).

 



Initiative Location

Based in Thessaloniki, InfinityGreece creates actions accessible from other locations. We utilize digital media and implement hybrid projects. The organization participates in European projects in various locations inside or outside Greece.

 


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Working with Organization

The volunteering program is managed entirely by InfinityGreece without being under the auspices or management of another organization. At the same time, of course, as mentioned above, extroversion is one of our main characteristics. In our network, we have remarkable partners who help us maintain a high quality of our programs through the exchange of good practices and support at multiple levels (communication, hosting in their own structures, etc.).

InfinityGreece has achieved significant collaborations both with city organizations such as the "Municipality of Thessaloniki", NGOs such as "Actionaid", "United Societies of Balkans", "Kids in Action" and "Youthnest", as well as with companies such as Multi-plex “WE","efood", "Lancom" and "Isomat", but also youth projects such as "TEDxUniversityofMacedonia" and "AIESEC". We have been trusted by over 90 organizations in Greece and Europe and together with our partners we make the difference. Collaborations involve joint actions, funding, training or the provision of advertising services. A common factor in all these collaborations was the strong bonds of friendship and respect that were formed with all those involved who saw the common goals being successfully implemented!

 


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Workers Participation

Today InfinityGreece’s volunteers participating in the organization's programs are divided into three major categories, each of which has its own subgroups:

  • Content (Radio, Blog, Video, Marketing, Photography)
  • Management (HR, Event Management, Trainings, Youthwork)
  • Technology (Web Design / Development).

 

One of the biggest challenges of the organization was and will be the continuous training of volunteers in issues related to what they are called to carry out daily. This is a real challenge as they are not employees and we do not treat them as people who have to know their subject well. Instead, the team helps them learn and evolve so that when they leave they have to transfer that knowledge back to new people. Everything that young people do at InfinityGreece is directly or indirectly related to the media and marketing and creates an impact on the city both through media awareness activities and through the education and knowledge they disseminate. There is also a collaboration between employees and volunteers. In case the volunteers need help and want some direction on how to do something, the employees are there for them, who will coordinate and direct them.

 


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Benefits for Οrganization

Since 2014, InfinityGreece has managed to host over 500 volunteers in its team, while counting more than 23,000 participants in seminars, activities and student events. This year it hosts about 150 young people. From last year, 76 members continue for the second consecutive year and 35 members for the third. The retention of members in the organization is very high, while we stay in touch with older volunteers in activities of the organization. One of the most important benefits for our organization is that InfinityGreece volunteers, in addition to the desire to be involved in the volunteer part, also have expertise in digital and social media, content creation, event management and projects, the integration of young people but also intercultural exchanges.

 

Dissemination of results benefits the social enterprise by organically attracting new collaborators and talents to work on InfinityGreece projects. Counts over 90 collaborations with agencies, companies and other organizations in Greece and the European Union. The collaborations concern joint actions (Youthnest, Kids in Action, Municipality of Thessaloniki), funding (Youth and Lifelong Learning Foundation, Social Enterprise of Municipality of Thessaloniki, Greek-German Youth Foundation), conducting trainings (Actionaid, Therapy Center for Dependent Individuals, United Societies of Balkans, LeadCompass) or providing advertising services.

 

The organization has managed to increase its turnover despite the general crisis in the market by attracting new partners and achieving even greater dissemination. With over 2000 subscribers in the newsletter, 9000 followers on facebook, 3000 on instagram and 1900 on Linkedin, our partners know that a project with InfinityGreece always receives the right promotion and communicates properly on all our channels.

 




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