A recent Social Philanthropy post noted a North Carolina charity that created a “Twitter Table” at an annual fund-raising dinner as a way to use the social network to prompt donors who were not at the dinner to give.
The post has since inspired Gail Hyman, a fund-raising consultant, to think about creative ways for other nonprofit organizations to use Twitter to raise donations and draw attention to their causes.
She offers several suggestions on the blog eJewish Philanthropy.
One idea is for summer camps to organize a “Summer Camp Scholarship Tweet Out” in which Twitter-savvy parents are gathered to raise money to make camp more affordable to those in need.
Another is a “Rosh Hashana Recipe Tweet Up” — an event Ms. Hyman writes would be a “promotional campaign to get the best 140-character holiday recipe file.” The effort would link to a full recipe area on an organization’s Web site.
Finally, she offers an idea for a campaign aimed at helping groups gain more followers on Twitter.
“Give priority seating to your cadre of Twitter supporters at your next event and encourage them to tweet the proceedings; announce a new campaign; identify 10 new followers for your organization,” Ms. Hyman writes.
What are some other creative ways for nonprofit organizations to use Twitter to increase philanthropy? We’d love to collect a master list.
2 Responses to Creative Ways for Charities to Use Twitter
mobiledonor - June 24, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Since most Twitter users engage with twitter over their mobile devices, non profits would be well served to equip their supporters with mobile giving web applications that are capable of accepting mobile transactions and engaging with public. Simply host the giving app at a mobile url address and tweet it out. This video explains how: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY1A0Qpko3g
allisonmn - July 2, 2010 at 6:07 pm
The organization I work at recently had our 4th Annual Advocacy Day in Washington DC. As the Manager of Social Networking, my purpose during Advocacy Day was to be a social media journalist. For two days, I used my iPhone and reported in real-time to the constituents who were unable to join us on Capitol Hill. The reportage consisted of tweets, Twitvid, Twitpic and Facebook updates. It was very successful.