Social Media-Driven Fundraising

I’ve seen “12 for 12k” online numerous times, and must admit, I had no idea what it meant. So, I turned to Susan Murphy (@suzemuse on Twitter), who is deeply involved in the effort, to explain. 12 for 12k is so meaningful that I have asked Susan for a guest post:

Fundraising and the New Economic Reality: Social Media Rises to the Challenge

We hear it over and over again, every day.

“Times are tough.”

“This economic crisis is the worst we’ve seen since The Great Depression.”

People are losing their jobs, their lifestyles, and their homes. It is a pretty desperate situation.

Charitable organizations have it particularly tough right now. People just don’t have the cash to contribute anymore, and any time they might normally give to volunteer is taken up by just trying to get ahead.

CNN recently reported that 58% of United Ways are expecting a decline in donations this year. Not only that, but the average individual donation has declined from $225 in 2007 to $190 last year. [http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/13/news/economy/charity_donations/?postversion=2009021311]

The irony is, the further we go into this slump, the more people there are that need help. However, many people are no longer in a position to be donating larger sums of money. Traditional fundraising, be it pledge events, which are expensive to run, or fundraiser galas, which are expensive for participants, simply are not as effective in this climate. It’s clear that some new approaches are needed.

The good news is, people still want to make a difference. And they are turning to the Web and social media in a big way. The reason is simple – volume.

I have just shy of 2,300 people following me on Twitter. I have 400 friends on Facebook. Give or take the duplicates, that’s nearly 3,000 people that I have the ability to communicate with on a daily basis. I’m probably about average. So let’s say then, that 10 of my friends on Twitter also have 3,000 people in their network. Suddenly, without a tremendous amount of effort, there’s the potential for a message sent to just 10 people to reach 30,000 people. You get the idea.

This is the concept behind 12for12k [www.12for12k.org]. The fundraiser is the brainchild of Danny Brown [www.dannybrown.me], who saw the power and potential of his online network to do great things. The good thing about volume is that word spreads fast. And this means you can raise a tremendous amount of money in a very short amount of time – and nobody has to break the bank to do it.

The concept behind 12for12k is simple. Each month in 2009, a different charity will be chosen. For January it was War Child (www.warchild.com) and for February it’s Stop the Silence (http://www.stopcsa.org). The goal is to get 1200 people to donate just $10 each per month, which is an amount that many people can still afford. That’s $12,000 a month for each charity, or $144,000 over the year. And it’s all being done through online networks.

So far, we’ve had some really great successes. The network has exceeded our expectations with how they are getting behind 12for12k and every week we are seeing more awareness and higher donations. We’ve also produced a video [http://www.overlay.tv/overlay/39349] that has been getting some good exposure. We’re getting tremendous support from people like John Haydon and his blogger outreach program [http://my.socialactions.com/forum/topics/12for12korg-looking-for], have interest from corporate sponsors, and have even been invited to talk about the project at a Social Media in Government conference this Spring. We’re learning a ton and we’re infinitely grateful for everyone who has helped, not only by making a donation, but also by getting the word out to their networks.

For more information on 12for12k, or to find out how you can get involved, visit the web site at www.12for12k.org. We will be announcing the March charity shortly, so check the web site for updates. Thanks in advance for your generosity.

With special thanks and appreciation to Susan Murphy [www.suzemuse.ca]. She is a video and web producer living in Ottawa, Canada. She is part of the creative team of 12for12k.

Category: Featured, Guest Blogger, Social Media