UN LTD, the not-for-profit foundation representing the media, marketing and advertising industry, has appointed Ebony Beaton to head up its Mentor program and Communications for the organisation.

UN LTD seeks out charities it regards as best tackling youth-disadvantage in Australia – and provides funding and support – in its mission to UNdo the damage caused when young people experience injustice, abuse, trauma, neglect or illness related disadvantage.

The UN LTD Mentor program provides value to charity partners by aligning them with individuals and companies from within the sector with specific skills and expertise that they have expressed a need for.

Explaining the program and her new role, Ebony said, “As an industry we house a set of skills that are hugely valuable to the not-for-profit sector. My role will be to source the right expertise and match them up with our charity partners to drive success for specific projects.

“The Mentor program is about people in the industry working directly with our beneficiaries in a way that compliments, not competes with, day-to-day professional work.

“UN LTD is thinking differently about how our industry gives back. What was once corporates allocating staff time to one-off ‘volunteering’ or ‘charity work’, has turned into something much more meaningful and mutually beneficial.

Ebony was previously at Mi9 where as part of her role as communications manager she drove the partnership with UN LTD charity partner KidsXpressm, an organisation that works with kids impacted by trauma. Mi9’s Mentor relationship with KidsXpress saw a number of highly profitable digital fundraising campaigns, the creation of the now annual UN LTD Cup industry futsal competition and the establishment of an all new social enterprise in partnership with Leo Burnett, as a stand-alone ongoing funding source for KidsXpress.

UN LTD General Manager Carol Morris, said the UN LTD Mentor program was galvanizing the contribution of the $2.5m+ worth of marketing services provided each year by the industry to UN LTD’s charity partners.

“Ebony is uniquely placed to drive our Mentor program. Not only does she get the media industry, she has a PR and marketing background and also a rare understanding of the not for profit sector and our charity partners,” said Morris.

“As the industry becomes increasingly socially conscious – Ebony’s role as Head of Mentor will be to develop priorities and strategies that will be beneficial to both parties. The key advantage of our mentoring program is that we make it easy for individuals and companies to activate, on their terms.”

Also taking over the UN LTD Communications function, Ebony’s role will be to drive greater visibility on the impact of UN LTD’s work, uncover stories and case studies and track and report on the value and social return from both the financial and services contributions from UN LTD’s 45+ current corporate supporters.

UN LTD has developed a list of Mentor opportunities based on the specific needs of its charity partners. The call to action is to anyone willing to get involved and provide skills and expertise for organisational mentoring, personal mentoring and industry initiatives in the following areas:

• Creative awareness campaign development
• SEO
• Digital strategy
• Copywriting
• Finance and business modeling
• Website and app development
• Access to celebrities and talent
• Market research, brand tracking
• Pathways for youth to find careers in the industry
• Events
• Branding and design work
• Publicity, promotions, media training,
• Legal advice
• Social media and crowd funding strategies
• The establishment of all new social enterprises.