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December 03, 2008

Can Twitter Help Your Cause Raise Money?

Can nonprofit groups really raise money on the social-networking site Twitter?

The author and social-media consultant Beth Kanter has studied the history of fund-raising efforts on the site and answers with an unequivocal yes.

Writing on Beth’s Blog, Ms. Kanter points to several examples of successful fund raising-efforts on Twitter.

In one case, a heart surgeon in India raised more than $5,000 for his charity, the Heart Kids.

The popular blog Mashable raised more than $3,500 using Twiter for Charity:Water, an organization that builds wells in Ethiopia.

Ms. Kanter writes that charities need to make sure they build appropriate networks before they begin appealing for dollars.

“I can’t stress the importance of community building or rather network building,” Ms. Kanter writes. “You don’t go into using a Twitter strategy without having built up a little social capital.”

For more tips from Ms. Kanter on how to use social networks such as Twitter, check out the transcript of our recent live discussion with Ms. Kanter and Jonathan Colman of the Nature Conservancy in Washington.

In addition, the Chronicle recently hosted a live discussion on Twitter for Nonprofit Groups.

— Peter Panepento

Wednesday December 3, 2008 | Permalink

Comments

1. The lead to my post was about the Tweetsgiving Campaign which raised over $11,000 in 48 hours.

   Here are some of the metrics
   http://meshugavi.com/2008/12/how-do-you-measure-gratitude-a-tweetsgiving-wrap-up

   But, you have to ask, if your organization tweets it, will they donate?

   not unless you’ve built up a little social capital first …

   — Beth Kanter    Dec 3, 11:55 AM    #

2. Hi,
   I loved this blog. SO I’ve copied it to a Squidoo page and have given you FULL credit.
   I think it’s a great way to get people thinking.
   If you don’t want the page up let me know. Mary

   — Mary MacIntyre    Dec 7, 05:37 PM    #

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