Twitter has been hailed as an incredibly useful marketing tool for businesses and brands, both big and small, to disseminate information and engage with consumers on a massive scale. But what about non-profits? The ability to use social media to fundraise for charitable purposes has been questionable. A few months ago, the Washington Post reported that Causes, one of Facebook’s popular applications used by non-profits to raise money, was not netting much money for charities, despite its large amount of users (according to the application’s page, it has 26 million monthly users).
Twitter, the current darling of the social media world, is increasingly being used by charities. In addition to building awareness, Twitter has potential to raise charitable contributions. One of the more successful initiatives launched in the Twittosphere was February’s global Twestival, which raised over $250,000 for charity:water, a non-profit organization devoted to bringing clean drinking water to developing nations. The volunteer-run organization held events to bring Twitter communities in nearly 200 cities together. 250K sounds like an awful lot of dough to raise over the microblogging network, but this amount fell way below Twestival’s goal of $1 million.
Still, Twitter’s viral, real-time nature allows for a fast (and relatively low-cost) way to raise funds. Tweetsgiving, another Twitter-based charitable initiative raised over $10,000 in just 48 hours in November of 2008 to fund a new classroom for a school in Tanzania. Beth Kantor reports that she was able to raise over $3000 via Twitter in just 90 minutes.
Other charities have used guerrilla follower tactics, developing ‘follower-challenges’ to raise money for causes. For example, Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Foundation recently found a donor who was willing to give $25,000 if the Foundation’s CEO, Doug Ulman, could reach 25,000 followers in three days (he started with roughly 10,000 followers at the beginning of the challenge). Ulman was able to surpass 25,000 and reach the goal.
Ashton Kutcher added a philanthropic element to the race with CNN to reach a million followers by promising donations to Malaria No More if he won. And Kutcher even initiated a follow-up fundraising effort for the charity shortly after. Hugh Jackman recently issued a challenge on Twitter to give $100,000 to the any charity that is best described within the 140 character limit.
Even on a smaller scale, there are some capabilities that Twitter provides on its platform that other social media outlets don’t have. For example, hashtags are one part of a fundraising effort on Twitter that can make it easy to search and identify a particular trend. Blame Drew’s Cancer (hashtag: #blamedrewscancer) is a great example of this. Drew Olanoff recently contracted Hodgkins Lymphoma, and launched Blame Drew’s Cancer as a way to get Twitter users who are complaining about something to use the hashtag #BlameDrewsCancer. The tweets are pulled into www.blamedrewscancer.com with the hope the Tweets would be tallied to elicit a large donation from a non-profit organization. The site recently announced that Livestrong will be a partner.
The examples I mention above are just a sampling of ways non-profits and philanthropists are using Twitter to fundraise. Twollars and Tweet4Good also offer interesting ways for non-profits to raise money over Twitter. But it’s pretty clear that there are many compelling ways to use Twitter’s viral nature as a valuable fundraising tool for charities.
Some may argue that the thousands raised through social media sites doesn’t match the millions raised through traditional tactics, including direct mail and events. But most charities are relatively late-adopters to new technologies, and the success we have seen this early is probably a strong indication of the potential that is yet to be unharnessed. This isn’t to suggest that Twitter will replace conventional ways of fundraising, but it provides a low-cost, yet engaging way to diversify a charity’s fundraising efforts. And in this economy, diversification is too important to ignore.
In the future Twitter will be the most valuable social network … facebook will cry about that, good to hear about causes and charities.
John
http://www.encu...ntry/JobUsa.htm
—————————————
USA Job Seeker
Wrong. Twitter will slowly become a digg replacement and a web promotion tool, that’s it.
It doesn’t offer the level of interaction required to keep people coming back to visit the service (which Facebook does with 3rd party apps).
You are both wrong. In the future Twitter will be shown for the fad it is and will be remembered as Web 2.0’s most over hyped property.
Already we are seeing numbers that show that the majority of Twitter users create an account, send a couple tweets and move on as they quickly become bored.
I’m agree with you with the level of interaction you wrote with the app development on facebook, and the viral social it gets, but facebook became a hit thanks to the newsfeed system and I think also with the photos sharing with the improvement of the TAG’s concept in the photos, but then the question why hi5 is not as a big as facebook?, is the same thing, why twitter became a big player with facebook around there already in the game? … That what I wanna say is that, twitter take the people newsfeed concept to a high level, we all wanna know first what people close to us are doing, and then in a second grade play poker in facebook-zinga.
John
http://www.encu...ntry/JobUsa.htm
—————————————
Job USA Seeker
There is a comapany called everyday people they are who are a group of college kids raising money for caner research and diabetes reaearch and fighting hunger i think you should visit there site http://www.your...rydayepople.com I thinks it thime younger people start tying to make a difference.
there are cures for cancer and for diabetes. The blood-type diets work against diabetes really well. Cancer is most often cured with parasite cleanses and general tissue cleansing.
I use the name i use to show that I am slowing down, but I’m still on the move.
Use twitzu (http://www.twitzu.com) to promote this event.
I think it’s really important that people realize that to successfully fundraise online, the most important thing is the message not the medium.
charity:water (via Twestival) raised $250k because they already had an army of passionate supporters, and because their message was razor sharp and easy to share, not simply because they leveraged Twitter. Twitter is a tactical tool and should not be considered as a strategic imperative.
I agree with you. They shouldn’t rely solely on Twitter to get their message across. The economic slowdown doesn’t make things easier either.
I think Twitter is still undervalued in terms of it’s true capabilities. For the most part, mainstream still isn’t using Twitter yet. When that happens viral charity even in this economic climate is on!
Oprah is sending tweets to her daytime tv audience. It’s mainstream.
I have used Twitter to a degree of success to raise awareness and some cash for a charity in my country. I think it is the best social network site ver.
My wife and I personally raised around $4600 via twitter and facebook for the Multiple Sclerosis Society this year. This is a charity near and dear to my heart as my wife was diagnosed with MS a few years ago. Twitter and facebook have both been amazing resources in helping us raise funds for The MS society.
i did my first walk for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) last year in memory of my sister. thought it’d be great if i could raise $500 in 2 weeks. wrote a blog post. shared a story. sent one tweet.
over $800 in 24 hours from folks following me, many who i didn’t even know or had never met in person.
it’s not so much Twitter, but social media in general and the network of like minded people who can find each other, connect and activate for a cause they support.
Fund raising on Twitter is new to me, I’m holding a twitter bday party for a young mum on the kidney transplant list Aug 4. Would love people to Retweet and participate. I also need as much advice as possible to make this a success. Anyone like to donate a door prize? (ie to the 1st, 10th, etc. retweets or donors?) Here’s a great chance to promote your business. YrHelper
Why isnt TEch Crunch reporting on the MASS suspensions today via Twitter…. lot of people got suspended today System wide with no reason….
Where is the article ARRINGTON
CrunchPad becomes official —
http://www.pcma...,2349708,00.asp
Michael, Good Luck!
I work for a convergence marketing firm and we’ve had success on Twitter for non-profits.
Visit http://direct-i...ial-networking/ to download our Guide to Twitter for Non-Profits.
-E
I work for Tivix ( http://www.tivix.com ) and we’re working on offering deeper integration into Facebook + Twitter and focusing on the creative element in a structured manner.
There are so many causes you can “join”, but if we can bring brands to the table and create creative “campaigns” around this then users will remain engaged over the long-term.
Cause Marketing meets Social Media. Email us at connect@tivix.com
Mass Suspension On Twitter
http://www.twee...nt-suspensions/
Is TweetLater the cause?
Happened to me and I use TweetLater…
Most charities would likely use Twitter, but the Free Software Foundation prefers to use identi.ca because the source code for the microblogging script is made available.
Even charities and offline organizations can now raise funds for a cause using Twitter. This just means that Internet is really a big help nowadays.
I’ve really enjoyed following #blamedrewscancer. What a fantastic way to turn a terrible situation into something positive and relatable. And it’s fun reading all the creative mishaps etc that random people tweet.
Check Tweet4Blood too. Where you can request blood using twitter.
of interest – http://crowdfun...ng.pbworks.com/
Great idea. This should benefit a lot of charities in need
Twitter is useful to raise awareness.
Twitter’s certainly an excellent resource for charities and all sorts of businesses for generating user-interest and revenues, but it’s worth branching out into other areas. The apple never falls far from the tree, so why not build a forest to maximize internet potential? I know of a charity called Blessings in a Backpack which is using a reverse auction site called DubLi to generate revenue. They’ve had a lot of success so far, since DubLi guarantees the cheapest prices on the net, and sells stuff everyone wants (i.e. those shiny little gadgets that we geeks love so much!)
Let me share the fun -charity for Twitter losers at http://www.sponsoraloser.com
At the moment Twitter is the best product for socializing and will be the first until somebody will have another great idea.
Like 2 work with this!!!
Thank you for the big shout out and support. We have a bunch of people working super hard doing everything from talking to folks who have just found out they have cancer, to those who are losing loved ones to cancer. LIVESTRONG has been an amazing partner thus far for #BlameDrewsCancer
props to Drew and CharityWater for getting crunched!
Haha I confess. I saw a “Twitter” headline and came back to techcrunch for first look in a long time. I also confess I skipped and didn’t read this article, not a word except the headline. I read the comments for fun and profit.
I especially enjoyed, “Twitter is still undervalued in terms of it’s true capabilities.”
Twitters true capabilities = 140 characters, LMAO
Twitter is great for smaller charities that cannot afford to advertise. We started twittering 6 weeks ago and already have 930 followers . Great way to reach new younger audiences. Being creative and fun is so important and not just singing your charities own praises all the time
love a follow @childrens_trust
look forward to tweeting !
Its so important for charities and nonprofits to be engaging and interacting – what better way than Twitter and social networks?
I know that microdonations have been very successful for many charities. Twitter, the microblogging website, seems like a perfect fit to raise some money with microdonations.
Non Profits can use Twitter to help with the following strategies:
- Raising money (microdonations?)
- Building awareness
- Building/maintaining relationships with current donors
- Connecting with other charities
I never thought of using twitter this way, I guess sometimes you can can so focused on whats at hand that you just don’t think outside the box.
Great article, it has really started to get the mind ticking over on how to start using twitter for raising funds for a favorite charity.
Our church has just taken on a new charity to support and I think this could be another great way to help promote and get the word out, also by reguarly sending out tweets on the progress of the charity you begin to involve the people who have donated or contributed.
Your keeping them in the loop and it helps them to feel apart of the progress and development of the work.
Not just asking them for money but your actively engaging and updating them.
Leena, I agree that the early success stories you describe are an indication of the potential that is still to be unharnessed.
As more charities use Twitter for their campaigns, they will also set more realistic goals ($1 million sounds like an awful lot for a Twestival).
i have left a post on twitter for fundraising ideas or donations how ever small in this picture is my little girl evie we are desperatley trying to raise 50 k for stem cell tratment in china they have given evie a chance of a better quality of life she is blindand brain damaged and has cerebral palsy all due to an accident in hospital when she was 6 days old now my beautiful little girls life is ruinedunless we reach our target.but i have had no replies from twitter what so ever it makes me question if real people really use this site who care about anyone else otherthan them selfs boasting about wot they bought wot they had for lunch and about being back in the recording studio.it makes me sick this is only dreams for the real people in the real world i wish i had half of the money these people have and i know i would help real people in real life if i could just have a chance to prove it .
There is a comapany called everyday people they are who are a group of college kids raising money for caner research and diabetes reaearch and fighting hunger iwethink you should visit there site http://www.your...rydayepople.com I thinks it thime younger people start tying to make a differe
I’ll search for you on twitter & see what I can do to help.
My husband and I have a non-profit ministry to the Homeless and disadvantaged in Auburn, Washington.
We feed, clothe and provide basic needs to the most needy. Our main goal is to help people get off the streets and on to productive lives. We bring hope to those that have felt hopeless. Go to our website to find out more about us.
A couple of months back, I wrote a one-and-only post on this topic, here: http://nancycla...er-fundraising/
Twitter is a great fundraising source, and like any marketing or sales effort, charity tweeters need to be careful not to spam, and donors need to educate themselves about the organization.
There is a comapany called everyday people they are who are a group of college kids raising money for caner research and diabetes reaearch and fighting hunger i think you should visit there site http://www.your...rydayepople.com I thinks it thime younger people start tying to make a differe
I am starting a youth center in an agricultural town in the Monterey Bay, CA. I will need funding. I am working with the police dept to fight gang violence, etc.
New to Twitter. How do I use Twitter for fundraising? Need some guidance.
Dave
Also find some local people who do practical community work like community gardens. Family members love contributing to their families. Gangs provide this when the families are too busy or resources are too low.
As per usual, the “major” blogs gather their information from the other “major” blogs (yes, those are sarcastic quotes) and report on the same few causes and stories that show up elsewhere.
It’s lazy reporting, and fails to bring any new information or perspectives to the table.
And in the comments, the same old stuff, too: “Twitter is a fad! Twitter users are losers! Everyone sucks!”
Here’s the thing: in an economic downturn, most people view giving as a “luxury” item on their budgets — it’s really one of the first things to go. So not only are orgs not seeing donations, but they’re seeing their budgets for promotion and marketing slashed to the bone.
ANYTHING that offers them an ability to connect and communicate with their community at a minimum cost and a maximum reach is something they need to take advantage of. ANYTHING that helps get their message across is of benefit.
According to a recent survey we (Social Media for Social Change: http://www.sm4sc.com) did, more than 70% of our users said they’d followed or connected with a cause via Twitter, and that the relationship they developed or message they received there resulted in a donation.
More than 50% said they were influenced or compelled to give to causes recommended to them by friends on social media platforms.
Another 60% said they wouldn’t have known about causes they donated to in the past year without their involvement in social media platforms.
Another example: we did a purely online fundraiser that put together almost 2 K in four hours, all for a charity in a city that most of the donors didn’t live in, and maybe hadn’t even BEEN to.
I think that means it’s working, at whatever level. And whatever level it works on is still better than nothing.
I think you need to draw lines between awareness, communication, promotion, pitching, etc. Then you’d be able to gauge effectiveness.
And dig a little past your RSS reader to get information for your stories.
Twitter has been a beeken of helping organizations get recognized. I commemorate the non-profit sector for using technology to spread awareness to help those in need. God Bless!
Thanks Nick,you can help too!!!
Check out the not-for-profit ‘mock’ video, using the website link. Once the donation tab is embedded, this could be an excellent tool for orgs to use on social media, their website and emails.
I am not sure what Twitter will become. I do however know that WE will have a say in it. The more we use it the bigger and better it will be.
BTW… Please visit my group at:
http://groups.y...nelife_changed/
Keep tweeting and don’t join the small group of quitters.
Dan
Just learned computor,ME/CFS my young son is begining to feel better.Learned so much in 8 years.Healthcare,some people can’t do it but we all have a purpose I have no idea where twitter will take me life is like that to you never know
This is my first posting, I run a small charity in Skelmerdale Lancashire England. I need help and advice.
Our Charity recycle used mobility equipment e.g wheel chairs, power chairs, mobility scooters and much more. We then put this much needed equipment back into the disabled community helping disabled people to retain/regain their mobility. We have helped over 4000 people in the last 4 years.
My question: How can I best use Twitter charity charity pages to enable me to highten our profile and obtain more used mobility equipment for recycling.
Further to my last mail you can view our website http://www.bfworshop.com to check out the good works we do.
Peter Cousins
I apologise, I am a fool I miss typed our web address it is http://www.bfworkshop.com
“Twitter, the current darling of the social media world, is increasingly being used by charities. In addition to building awareness, Twitter has potential to raise charitable contributions. One of the more successful initiatives launched in the Twittosphere was February’s global Twestival, which raised over $250,000 for charity:water, a non-profit organization devoted to bringing clean drinking water to developing nations. The volunteer-run organization held events to bring Twitter communities in nearly 200 cities together. 250K sounds like an awful lot of dough to raise over the microblogging network, but this amount fell way below Twestival’s goal of $1 million.”
—–
–> As a basis of measurement for fundraising through direct marketing methods, Twestival would have to be considered a failure, not a success.
Let’s assume $1,000 was spent by charity:water to organize the events in 250 cities (and that’s generously unrealistic). That’s a total outflow of -$250,000; let’s assume that this outflow was incurred over three months for organizing time.
On an NPV/discounted cash flow basis, the variables look like this:
C0: -$62,500
C1: -$62,500
C2: -$125,000
C3: $250,000
If we assume a 2% discount rate (compounded), the NPV is -$12,959, which is a financial loss.
Unforunately, I have not been as lucky as others on twitter. Posted info bout our Aug 26. Golf Tournament in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA back in March and not one person has signed up for our tournament. We now have the Laker Girls coming to our Tournament and still nothing.
Twibbon.com was conceived and launched in July.
I think the popularity of the site demonstrates that Twitter is a suitable platform for campaigners to rally their supporters.
A couple of examples:
A visual demonstration of the fight against Terrorism in Indonesia: http://twibbon..../IndonesiaUnite
Twitter, taking a front seat in the prayer for late Philippine President Cory Aquino: http://www.yout...l/0/vMrBnxg577o
Proverb:1:2: To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
Proverb:1:3: To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
Proverb:1:4: To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
Proverb:1:5: A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
Dear Sir.Strange as it may seem.Our policey’s are set in the same manner as the words u have just read.I cant claime to be a none . non-profitable charratable orginization.That is not the truth.We also provide for any human bean when they cant provide for themselves.But our strongest is we will rathere give them the tools to provide for themselvs., and indoing so he or she still holds there fate in there hands and walks on tall into a more brighter fucherhttp://finegoldextractions.blogspot.com/?zx=598bd68d61e5d03c FINE GOLD EXTRACTIONS
MAN`S BEST RESOURCE HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOLD.FROM THE VERY BEGINING OF TIME.IT IS A GOD GIVEN RESOURCE.IT IS FREELY GIVEN TO ANY MAN.IF A MAN HAS GOD ,HE HAS EVERYTHING HE NEEDS.EVEN JESUS WAS GIVEN GOLD,MURR AND FRANKENSENS TO AID HIM IN HIS PURPOSE ON EARTH.WHEN THE THREE WISE MEN GAVE HIM GIFTS IT WAS GOLD, MURR AND FRANKENSENS.TO ADD TO THIS,BECAUCE SOLOMON CHOSE WISDOM GOD GAVE HIM ALL THE RICHES OF OUR WONDERFUL PLANET.SO AS YOU SEE IF U HONOUR GOD.HE LIFTS ANY MAN , WOMEN OR CHILD.
Our plane of action is that we can bring relief to the unimployed,destatut,strandid,the widow and the orfine financle aid.By giveing a cd or dvd or even a help line.The idea is to give them the wisdom to extract between 14ctgold .18ctgold,22ctgold and even plateniume 80% and lastly silver100% out of E-WAIST.As I remarked in the begimgin .The gold is then melted and sold to anyrefinry.As u understant there is a huge profit in gold . platenium.Gold at the moment on the gold exchange is btween $800 TOO $1200 A GRAM.The gold that is extracted is cermerciail.THE LAW HAS ALLREADY MET ITS CRITERIA.IT IS LEGAL.IN ALL STATES THIS ISAL SO APPLYED BUY THERE LAWS.Well as u can see it is perfict and does give the person a way’s to a mean’s.
For more info call me on my cell:My name is nic and I am a preast.CELL NO:+27820600370 .
mANNY THANKS
Nicolas Weise
Twitter and other online social networks have a tremendous potential to reach others who can really contribute to a cause or charity. I have recently come across a child who is in a dire fight for her life, and she is only 19 months old. We can use Twitter to help save her life. The story is real. She lives in my neck of the woods. Her life is in the balance, so please check out
http://www.exam...n-Orange-County
Even if you don;t think there is a way for you to help her directly, PLEASE keep circulating the story because I KNOW that there is somebody who can help her. Thank you!
My husband and I are both disabled and live in a small town in Illinois. We are in desperate need of a car to enable us to meet doctor appointments.
If you feel you can help us, please send a money contribution to 112 S. John St. Apt. E1, Dwight, Illinois 60420: or a decent car you could donate. We can be contacted via email at s.pillman@mchsi.com
please send a dollar or two to feed the children this charity is 100% legit and the work includes all the children even in this great country we have hungrey kids so look up feed the children send something ty god bless you
very grateful thing