This is the eighth in a series of profiles that explore how nonprofits are using social media to raise money and connect with supporters. Check back tomorrow for the next article in the series.
For more on how groups are using social media to raise money, see The Chronicle’s recent special report and visit The Chronicle’s social-media homepage.
What it raised: $4.2-million through Facebook in 2010
The campaign: The organization wanted to see if it could get the more than 250,000 fans of its Facebook page to participate more actively in its fund-raising events, such as Bike MS and Walk MS. The group used Facebook and an application called Boundless Fundraising to motivate people to use Facebook as a platform to raise money and tell their friends that they were supporting the charity, says Graham…
Atlanta-based professional golfer Stewart Cink (right) attends a Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation event.
This is the seventh in a series of profiles that explore how nonprofits are using social media to raise money and connect with supporters. Check back tomorrow for the next article in the series.
For more on how groups are using social media to raise money, see The Chronicle’s recent special report and visit The Chronicle’s social-media homepage.
The campaign:The charity, the fund-raising arm of a children’s hospital, used its longstanding ties to a celebrity supporter, the Atlanta-based professional golfer Stewart Cink, to raise money and attention during a Twitter…
This is the third in a series of profiles that explore how nonprofits are using social media to raise money and connect with supporters. Check back tomorrow for the next article in the series.
For more on how groups are using social media to raise money, see The Chronicle’s recent special report and visit The Chronicle’s social-media homepage.
What it raised: $680,000 in 3.5 years. In 2010, it raised $8,000, mainly through Facebook.
The campaign:The Humane Society hosts an online photo contest that invites its supporters to upload pictures of their spayed pets. The contest encourages people on Facebook to register their pets for the contest and post the animal’s photo and contest profile. People can enter two categories. In one, a panel of judges determines the top pet;…
This is the first in a series of profiles that explore how nonprofits are using social media to raise money and connect with supporters. Check back tomorrow for the next article in the series.
For more on how groups are using social media to raise money, see The Chronicle’s recent special report and visit The Chronicle’s social-media homepage.
Epic Change asked supporters to post photos of their mothers and then pinpoint their location on a map.
What it raised: $16,910 in 2010 for a campaign with a Mother’s Day theme.
The campaign:Epic Change, a nonprofit that uses social-media tools to support and raise money for grass-roots activists worldwide, created a drive called To Mama With Love to give online supporters an opportunity to honor their …
But at least Chris Hughes, the Facebook co-founder, political-campaign wunderkind and Web entrepreneur, tried.
His dream to build a social network to help people interact with nonprofit organizations became Jumo, the much-publicized Web site that started late last year. The network’s name captured its ambitious global aspirations: It means “together in concert” in Yoruba, a West African language.
And now Jumo has been bought by Good Worldwide, a for-profit magazine and nonprofit consulting firm, for an undisclosed amount. Some reports say it was sold for nothing and that the deal was described as an acquisition so that Mr. Hughes could save face on a venture that didn’t quite take hold. “The partnership is more of …
On a normal day, Wendy Harman, director of social media at the American Red Cross, sees at least 1,500 references to her organization on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.
When a major disaster like the Japan earthquake happens, that number soars to 10,000 a day.
What’s her first step during a major disaster? “Update immediately, and listen more intently,” she says. In her role, Ms. Harman manages the official American Red Cross’s accounts on Twitter and Facebook.
Speaking at the Nonprofit Technology Network conference in Washington, Ms. Harman said that her social-media team is spread out across the country and has been well trained. For four weeks every year, staff members gather to learn lessons about social media and the use of Flip video cameras so they can provide a “voice and an eye on the ground” when disaster breaks, she says.
During a frank town-hall style meeting, nonprofit workers, who gathered at the annual Nonprofit Technology Conference here last week, discussed how to use social media to advance their causes. Some questions had good answers and examples of what worked, but others did not. So we invite readers to add their suggestions in the comments section at the end of this post.
* Do blogs with a call-to-action at the end of each post do well?
Oceana, an ocean-conservation group, says its blog items often include fund-raising appeals or requests to take action. They’re “particularly effective when timed along with an e-mail campaign” that also urges supporters to take action, a representative said.
* Do any organizations offer incentives to court more fans or dollars?
Camfed USA, which builds schools in Africa, offered a trip to Africa to the person who recruited the most…
Small charities may get a leg up on social media over the nation’s biggest nonprofits if Chris Hughes has anything to say about it.
The co-founder of Facebook and the online architect of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential run says that his highly anticipated social-media platform for the nonprofit…
Twitter name: @wharman, where she has 3,398 followers
Number of Facebook followers her organization has attracted: 213,761
Success story: In 48 hours, the charity raised $3-million for the Haiti relief efforts largely helped by 2.3-million Twitter messages posted by supporters.
Twitter name: @amyganderson , where she has 1,270 followers
Number of Facebook followers her organization has attracted: 134,629
Success Story: Using social media, the Nature Conservancy raised more than $350,000 to protect coral reefs in the Bahamas during 2010′s Earth Day campaign.
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