Growing Your Social Capital 20A

1. Dwayne  Durham, the founder and president of the Marion County Salvation Army.

2. This is acting as the domain expert in my assignment.

3. I found the person through the local website and exploring the board of directors and contact page. This allowed me to send a contact request to the board. I also looked on Hoovers for more specific contact info but did not find anything better than the website had to offer.

4. I explained my position in the email and provided a short description of my idea. I asked for any feedback on the idea and if they would be willing to hear my elevator pitch or idea write up which I would provide if allowed.

5. This person would be a valuable contact due to the influence and experience he has from leading the local organization for many years as well as being able to change processes and make changes. He also could have valuable insight to the product idea and offer feedback regarding improvement.



1. Carlos Tobon is the Vice President of Interfaith Marion County.

2. This is acting as the expert on my market since they deal specifically with growing their influence in the Marion County Florida area.

3. I found this person through Hoover and also through their website. It listed the Board of Directors for Interfaith as well as how to contact them.

4. I explained my position in the email and provided a short description of my idea. I asked for any feedback on the idea and if they would be willing to hear my elevator pitch or idea write up which I would provide if allowed.

5. This person would be a valuable contact due to the influence and experience he has from leading the local organization and being very involved in Marion County Specifically. He also could have valuable insight to the product idea and offer feedback regarding improvement. I am hoping that his contact would really help me grow my idea in the local community.



1. Frances Thompson is listed as a local manager at the Winn-Dixie in Ocala.

2. This is acting as the important supplier to the industry as the manager of a grocery store could help influence what decisions are made in regard to the donation of goods.

3. I found this person through the Hoover data base and Frances was listed as a contact of the organization.

4. I explained my position as a student and the idea for the organization. I also asked how they distribute donations and if this would be something that could potentially help them spread their donations. I also asked for feed back and if they would like to hear the elevator pitch or the idea write up.

5. This would be a great contact to have as Winn-Dixie is a large grocery store chain. This person could help provide insight into their process of how they donate excess food items and help connect with various supermarkets in the area.



I think this experience of networking was good for me. I have not even finished the wright up for this assignment and the president of the local salvation army emailed me saying he would like to call and talk to me later to hear more about this idea. This is both nerve wracking and interesting to be able to hear real feedback from someone in a position of influence. I was surprised at how effective contacting these people was and will help encourage me to be more willing to do that in the future. I would say the experience differed because I was reaching out to specific people electronically rather than just trying to walk in somewhere and hope to talk to the right person. So far this seems to be more effective.