Category Archives: Social Media

February 27, 2014 · 5:12 pm

Fundraising Millennial Style: Crowdfunding

Due to the overwhelming level of support, online fundraising in the wake of Hurricane Sandy was deemed a watershed moment for nonprofit fundraising efforts. By tapping into technology, nonprofits can capitalize on human emotions and a desire to help in times of tragedy.

With crowdfunding, charities of all sizes can solicit donations from large numbers of people, who in turn can engage their extended network of family members, friends and colleagues, through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Using websites like Fundly, Indiegogo  and Causevox, nonprofits can reach millennials not already in their donor base and cultivate the next generation of donors.

In an interview with Nightly Business Report, The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s web editor, Cody Switzer, summed up the benefits of crowdfunding – getting donors involved in your cause at that small level is a good way to get them to the next level, and make them lifetime donors, especially those younger donors who have years and years to give.

In 2012, while the holiday fundraising perennial, the Salvation Army, collected $147 million in their ubiquitous red kettles, they also added $2 million in donations through online kettle bell ringers. You could have almost heard coins landing in those virtual buckets.

And that amount of money can buy a lot more than Kibbles ‘n Bits®. The Warrior Canine Connection, a charity that breeds and trains service dogs for wounded veterans, used a live puppy cam to engage potential donors. Co-founder Molly Morelli’s fundraising efforts went viral when a large foundation starting broadcasting the puppy cam feed to their constituents.

Learn more about growing your online fundraising efforts:

You hear lots about crowdfunding, but what is it?

Millennials Want to Donate to Charities, Save the World. Really

The Effect Crowdfunding Has on Venerable Nonprofits Raises Concern

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August 13, 2009 · 8:01 am

Mid-Ohio Foodbank Welcomes Home Gardeners

Jalapenos © Pamela J. Willits

Jalapenos at Mid-Ohio Foodbank © Pamela J. Willits

Mid-Ohio Foodbank’s This Is Hunger brochure sums it up best – Hunger is not a one-organization issue, it’s a community issue.

As part of the local gardening community, I recently bundled up the surplus from my home garden and delivered it to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank’s warehouse on West Mound street.

There I had the opportunity to spend some time with Christina Christian, MOFB’s digital marketing manager. The Mid-Ohio Foodbank jumped on the social media marketing train long before must of us realized it had already left the station.

With a strong presence on Facebook and Twitter, Christina spends a portion of her day promoting fund raisers and food drives through social media. On-line networking sites have expanded their audience, helping to broadcast their message beyond the reach of their mailing list.

Since the economic downturn, the Mid-Ohio Foodbank has seen a 30% increase in need. Serving as a distribution point, the MOFB supplies food to more than 500 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and senior housing sites in central and eastern Ohio.

The statistics are staggering. Forty-four percent of those in need have had to choose between food and heat or electricity, twenty-nine percent have had to choose between food and shelter, thirty-eight percent of all requests involve children and fourteen percent are for senior citizens.

mofb

The good news is that their weighty commitment has them handling over 30 million pounds of food each year. And for every dollar they receive from donors, they distribute $8 worth of groceries. Thanks to the value of their non-profit status buying power, they’ve elevated stretching the dollar to an art form.

Come this October, the Mid-Ohio Foodbank will be stretching those dollars even further as they move into a new LEED certified (environmental friendly) warehouse in Grove City. The move will also triple their storage space.

My Garden Tomatoes © Pamela J. Willits

My Garden Tomatoes © Pamela J. Willits

So, while it’s too late to re-think this year’s backyard garden, it’s never too early to start planning for how you could expand your existing garden to create a surplus to share next summer. And between now and then, the Mid-Ohio Foodbank will still welcome any donation of fresh produce.

For up-to-date info and events, Join their Fan Page on Facebook, Follow them on Twitter @Mid_OHFoodbank or Call 614.274.7770.

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June 23, 2009 · 12:40 pm

Can Social Media Save Ohio Libraries?

Governor Strickland has proposed eliminating $200 million from the Public Library Fund over the next two years.

If approved, the proposal would cut the Columbus Metro Library’s state funding by 50%. The results would be devastating: closing branches, halting new books and materials and shutting down programs and services that are vital to our children and community.

ACT NOW – SAVE YOUR LIBRARY!

The Columbus Metropolitan Library encourages you to do the following:

* Post a tweet on Twitter or update your Facebook with the following message:

Our libraries are in jeopardy. I contacted my elected officials to save Ohio libraries. You should too. Find out more: http://bit.ly/B7IJ7
(or use http://www.columbuslibrary.org/save_our_library)

* Change your profile picture on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites to the Save Ohio Libraries image below.

Ohio Lib
* E-mail your family, friends, neighbors and colleagues.

* Call the Governor’s office at 614-466-3555 and state your opposition to this proposal.

* Visit the CML website to learn more.

* Visit the Ohio Library Council website for more information.

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June 17, 2009 · 4:11 am

Semper Fi: Leave No Woman Behind

AWP Logo 3

AWP Logo

What began as one young woman’s quest to document other young military
widows like herself, turned into a nationwide, non-profit support group called the American Widow Project. After creating a documentary film that tells the stories of six young military widows, AWP co-founder Taryn Davis, whose husband Michael was killed in Baghdad by a roadside bomb, has taken her stories of healing on the road.

If she rolls through your town, she’ll be hard to miss. She’s the 23-year-old
Texan behind the wheel of a black RV, with the names of hundreds of servicemen lost in Iraq and Afghanistan printed on the sides of the bus. You can track her route on the AWP Tour blog, whose tag line reads, “Unifying the New Generation of Military Widows…On Mile at a Time.”

Putting aside political party lines and individual opinions on whether
our involvement in the war was justified, it’s interesting to note
that it’s a young woman from Texas now on a mission to help carry other military widows through a time of great personal loss. “Military widow is an honorable title,” said Davis in a CNN interview last month. “It signifies our husband’s sacrifice.”

The American Widow Project website reminds us that these young women shouldn’t be the only ones to carry the burden of sacrifice. The site’s Help Board notes that anyone can place a yellow ribbon magnet on their car, but it’s the small deeds, like picking up groceries or offering to mow the lawn for a newly widowed, that are most appreciated.

The website also provides a page for women to post their own stories, while a MySpace page and a Twitter feed @americanwp give them a venue to chat. You can also donate through the website by sponsoring a military widow or helping to fund the AWP RV Tour.

Meetup logo
Mix & Mingle for a Cause, a newly formed Meetup group, will host a fundraiser on Friday, June 26 at the Hyatt on Capitol Square to benefit the American Widow Project, as well as the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. During this economic downturn, food banks across the country are striving to meet a growing demand for food assistance. And for military widows struggling to provide for their families, sometimes a little comfort food can go a long way to heal more than hunger.

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June 10, 2009 · 3:41 am

Non-Profits and Social Media – A Cycle for Change

If you’re in the non-profit sector and still aren’t sure how or if your organization can benefit from social media, consider the following story.

In addition to this blog, I also oversee and write content for Larry Hamill Photography’s blog. Last weekend, he photographed ZombieWalk Columbus 2009, as part of his ongoing documentation of Columbus events. Turns out the walk benefited the Mid-Ohio Foodbank, so naturally I linked to the organization in Larry’s blog post about ZombieWalk.

midohiofoodbank-logo

Once on their website, I followed the link to their Twitter feed. There I learned that if you shop at Kroger, you can use your Plus Card to benefit the Mid-Ohio Foodbank.

Scrolling down their list of tweets, I also discovered FOODFIGHT 6.30, a partnership between the Central Ohio Restaurant Association and Mid-Ohio Foodbank’s Operation Feed. It’s a hunger initiative scheduled to take place on Tuesday, June 30. Participating member restaurants will donate 5% of their sales receipts from that day to Operation Feed, a community-wide food and funds drive.

The event is part virtual food drive, so if you can’t visit a participating restaurant on June 30, you can still help by making an online donation. All donations will help provide food for the hungry in central and eastern Ohio.

Lastly, there was a tweet about ZombieWalk. The numbers weren’t in yet, but word on the street, or at least in the ethers, was that it was a great success. I learned quite a bit – all from a blog posting about zombies. Zombies who had their heads on straight when they created a MySpace page titled ZombieWalk, to promote their fund raising event.

When I log off my blog site in the few minutes, I’ll log into my Twitter account to post a tweet of my own about this blog post, completing the cycle social media tools afford us to help spread our messages for social change.

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