Blackbaud in the News: The Case (Studies) for Social Media
From the August issue of Fundraising Success
By Joe Boland
There’s no arguing with success. These campaigns showcase just how much potential there is to empower constituents for brandraising and, yes, even fundraising via social media.
Tweetsgiving
Epic Change is a small nonprofit organization missioned to amplify the voices and impact of grassroots changemakers and social entrepreneurs. One of the ways it does that is through its Tweetsgiving initiative.
Being a small organization that does just about all of its communication and outreach via social-media channels, it has built a large presence on Twitter. And in 2008, it launched the Tweetsgiving campaign. Essentially, Tweetsgiving is a 48-hour event where Epic Change encourages participants to express their thanks using social-media tools. The process is simple. Epic Change lays out the four-step process on its microsite:
• Step 1: Share your gratitude. Share whatever you're thankful for on Twitter, your blog, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, or blip.fm. Include the #tweetsgiving tag and a link to TweetsGiving.org so we can share your grateful heart with the world!
• Step 2: Give. Contribute in honor of whatever you're thankful for. Each $10 donation brings us 1 brick closer to a classroom, orphanage/dormitory, library and cafeteria at the #twitterkids' school in Arusha, Tanzania, or helps us fund a future Epic Change project.
• Step 3: Spread the love. Most importantly, repeat step #1 as often as possible until noon EST on Thursday, November 26th, 2009. Then: Follow @TweetsGiving & RT often to fill your stream with global gratitude. (Update your avatar with the twibbon below) (Follow 1800Flowers on Twitter & they'll donate $1 per new follower to Epic Change.)
• Step 4: Follow the story. With e-mail sign-up and Twitter, Facebook and RSS feeds.
Through the sheer power of social media, Tweetsgiving raised more than $10,000 in 48 hours in 2008, enough to build a classroom in Arusha, Tanzania. In 2009, it raised more than $41,000 and was mentioned more than 22,000 times on social-networking sites. The microsite also acknowledges donors who've given $100 or more through Tweetsgiving as its Top Turkeys.
"[Epic Change CEO and Co-Founder] Stacey Monk and her crew over there just do an awesome job," says Frank Barry, manager of professional services at fundraising software provider Blackbaud. "They've done it two years in a row and raised a lot of money very quickly — purely through social-media channels."
The 2010 Tweetsgiving event is scheduled for Nov. 24-26.
Read more.