Update: Microdonations and Social Capital
Well, after about 12 hours of tweeting, blogging, guilting my online friends, and begging for retweets, my sister’s Relay for Life American Cancer Society fundraising page has received several hundred hits and her fundraising goal of $200 has been exceeded.
My question for you is this: With a network of more than 1,000 friends and followers across many networks, and with minimum donations of $5, is $200 enough? (Update: I just emailed Rachel and asked her to raise her fundraising goal to the “more realistic” figure of $1,000.)
What do you think would increase the amount of money we can fundraise for cancer research?
1) More time.
2) More retweets/reposts.
3) Smaller (than $5) minimum donations.
4) Paypal AND credit cards (rather than cards alone).
5) A different pitch/approach, such as incorporating multimedia (e.g., YouTube video mini-campaign or a Flickr challenge/contest).
6) Greater incentives for donations (e.g., retweets, shout-outs, links).
7) Involving more long-tail social sites with smaller concentrations of closer connections.
Yes, this is a plea for a good cause and to support a family member, but I’m also treating it as a case study. Now that we’ve begun, what can we tweak to generate greater results? If time and the attention of my network is my
investment of social capital, what can we do to increase the returns?
And in case you haven’t donated yet, do it now. Cancer research needs a heck of a lot more than $200.
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[...] actually do that, so no risk there, but the question is: where do I draw the line? Jolie herself admits that the fundraising goal has been surpassed in part by “guilting her online friends” into [...]
I like to think my investment in nanotechnology is helping cancer research, and as for actually helping people who have cancer, I support single payer health care, which will allow ALL Americans to receive a basic modicum of care and take decision making out of the hands of greedy hospitals and insurance companies.
I think a video of why it’s a personal issue for you or your sister, some Facebook (eww) presence (causes, groups, what have you) to leverage their social graph virality and Paypal!
This is a new area of social media, and experimenting is usually the best approach. What works for one person or group, might not work for another. I think your new goal is far more realistic than you think Jason Goldberg (aka Socialmedian), is someone I met online, but consider a friend nonetheless, is asking his friends to support his favorite charity on Facebook for his 37th Birthday. Instead of receiving 37 hugs, kisses, or pinches, he’s asking everyone to donate $37 to save Darfur. (Who? What? Where? Why?) Even though the cause might not resonate with me, his Birthday does. Planning this on his Birthday was a clever strategy. In addition, he opened the account with the first donation of $100. This sends a nice message of what he would like the ceiling to be on donations. I think this helps people feel a little more comfortable if they’re not sure how much they should contribute. In three days, he’s raised $1,124 from 29 friends. Therefore, your sisters goal of a thousand dollars seems realistic. I hope this example helps. I think a cause like your sisters, should generate more contributions than Saving Darfur, but I think how one asks for contributions is the most important factor in a good nonprofit campaign.
@Chris See, Facebook groups/causes are something I have ignored as a user; do others pay attention to them? Because I could get into that for a good cause. If it weren’t ending tomorrow, I would go for it. Might be a good tactic for the next wave!
And definitely agree w/you on the Paypal issue.
Causes, is the #1 app on Facebook. Trying to raises money through twitter or other services is a wild guess. Take advantage of the tight social networks of those who use Facebook. They also simplify the entire process, and everyone who uses it, benefits from their idea’s which they suggest as you sign up.
BTW, many non-profits have their own PSA’s which you can use, instead of creating one. I wouldn’t create one if your only trying to raise $1,000.
@Michael Thanks for stopping by and leaving such thoughtful comments! I hadn’t heard about @socialmedian’s plan, but it sounds like an awesome one… Too bad my sister’s 20th birthday has just passed this week. $20 donations woulda rocked the Casbah! But it’s a good thought for the future.