The goal of the Summer of Social Good is to use the power of "Social Influence" via Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Blogs and other online media to money for the Summer of Social Good fund benefiting The Humane Society, LIVESTRONG, Oxfam America and WWF. The campaign runs from June 1st until August 28th, 2009.
100% of funds raised will be donated to charity through the Summer of Social Good fund. All proceeds will be split equally to between the four charities.
Donate $10 or more using the widget above and start spreading the word today!
Twitter really is a great place to do good! Epic Change have used it to great effect with their Tweetsgiving campaign, then there was Twestival successfully raising $250,000 for Charity:Water and TwittaCause working to raise $1 million for charity. Now there are Twollars!
Twollars are Twitter's currency of appreciation. They are designed to do good by rewarding positive actions on Twitter - posting a great link, sharing a useful tip or inspiring tweet.
How do you get them?
Every Twitterer starts off with 5o Twollars to pass on to other Twitterers as a Thank You or donate to Charity. When you run out you can buy more from a Charity registered on Twollar (so far there are 27 to choose from) at an exchange rate of $1 for every 10 Twollars.
Passing them on is easy - all you do is tweet something along the lines of @acfusa 5 Twollars for doing great work.
Twollars is a great way to help out some great charities even if you have no funds to donate. It offers charities an opportunity to raise awareness for their cause by having supporters tweeting Twollars to them. Its also a great way to launch a campaign via Twitter - supporters can help by tweeting Twollars or by purchasing them for cold, hard cash.
The #charitytuesday tag is a way to find charities who tweet and was started by John Carnell and others to help Charity organisations (and their supporters) raise awareness for their cause.
On Feb 12th, 2009 Twestivals were hosted in 202 cities around the world. As at Feb 18th the total amount raised stood at $250,000 USD. What a superb effort!
This $250,000 USD translates to 55 Clean Water projects in Ethiopia, Uganda and India . . . which means clean water for over 17,000 people.
At the beginning of April the first of the wells funded by Twestival donations will be dug in Ethiopia. Twestival organisers will be documenting this and posting updates online.
Once again Twitter is at the forefront of Digital Philanthropy!
On Feb 12th, 2009 175 cities around the world will be hosting Twestivals - bringing together twitter communities for an evening of fun and to raise money for charity:water.
Each Twestival is organised entirely by volunteers - and 100% of the money raised will go to charity:water.
Right now 1.1 billion people on the planet don't have access to clean, safe drinking water. That's 1 in 6 of us!!
Each week there are 42,000 deaths caused by unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 90% of these are children under 5 years old.
Many people in the developing world walk more than three hours every day to fetch water.
Often communities in developing nations have a plentiful supply of clean drinking water just below the ground, but no way to get to it.
This is where charity: water and their partner organizations come in. Drilling a well can cost from $4,000 - $12,000 USD and many living on less than $1 a day cannot afford one in their community, even if the money is combined.
Imagine a world where no one compares love to a red, red rose; a world where no one joins hands on December 31 and toasts Auld Lang Syne; a world where no one gathers on January 25 to celebrate a haggis: imagine a world without Robert Burns. Born in Scotland, the work of Burns has touched nearly everyone in the world in the 250 years since his birth.
Burns was one of the world’s best communicators back in his day – indeed it was Burns who prompted Abraham Lincoln (who is such an inspiration to Barack Obama) to say “I cannot frame a toast to Burns. I can say nothing worthy of his generous heart and transcendent genius. Thinking of what he has said, I cannot say anything worth saying.”
Burns was also greatly loved by the founders of Texas, inspired John Steinbeck to title a book “of mice and men”?, and to this day inspires Russian children in many classrooms?
And now the National Trust for Scotland is trying to preserve and promote not just his works, but the legacy of the man with a new musueum in Alloway, Scotland – where he was born.
Burns has been on Twitter since last year with daily tweets from his work at www.twitter.com/ayrshirebard and now we’re using that twitter address – with some help from tipjoy – to see if it can also be used as a three-day fundraiser for the museum.
Via Tipjoy and the Ayrshirebard link, people are being asked for donations as little as $2 – though some people have joked they may donate $250 as it is Burns’ 250th – to help preserve the legacy of one of the world’s most iconic writers.
Dystonia is a movement disorder that causes the muscles to contract and spasm involuntarily. The neurological mechanism that makes muscles relax when they are not in use does not function properly. Opposing muscles often contract simultaneously as if they are “competing” for control of a body part. The involuntary muscle contractions force the body into repetitive and often twisting movements as well as awkward, irregular postures. It can impact any part of the body and depending on the type of dystonia, it can onset from early childhood through adulthood.
The Dystonia Medical Research Foundation was founded in 1976. It has grown from a small family-based foundation into a dynamic membership-driven organization led by a Board of Directors and network of volunteers with personal connections to dystonia. The organisation is driven to find a cure, and to providing support to people affected by dystonia.
The Dystonia Medical Research Foundation have recently made the jump into the social network scene and have a presence on MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, and Ning.com amongst others.
Tamara Reed, Senior Associate Director of Development at the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation says that this has led to an increase in the number of inquiries for information, requests to start support groups and requests to hold fundraisers to support their mission. She adds that it has also led to an increase in revenue. They are receiving gifts from donors who have never contributed before and also noticing increased gifts from existing donors.
The Dystonia Medical Research Foundation has a donor e-mail database of around 13,000 addresses and carry out e-mail campaigns with varying amounts of success. They have found that often the most successful e-mail fundraisers are those that come from a volunteers e-mail address. When they run their campaigns this way the response rate increases significantly. As with any fundraising campaign, if the potential donor knows the person asking for a donation the odds increase that a gift will be made.
Tamara's advice for non-profit organisations launching themselves online is to be vigilant about creating their online presence. They need to be active with their audience, providing helpful information and feedback. It takes time to build your brand, but is well worth the effort. You can help raise funds for the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation by shopping at iGive or using GoodSearch.
Are you using Twitter yet? Twitter is no longer just the domain of over sharers and social media gurus, its also a great place for non-profits to raise awareness - and MONEY for their cause.
In November Tweetsgiving raised $10,000 to fund a classroom in Tanzania in only 48 hours on Twitter.
Image by carf via FlickrThe internet is swimming with opportunities to raise money for the causes that move you. Its easy these days to get set up with a donation page at the likes of fundable.com, to set up a social network, blog or forum . . . but how do you get the word out that you exist? It doesn't matter how flash your web presence is, if you want to raise money you need people. And for most small non-profit organisations or individuals working within a tight (or non-existent) advertising budget it can seem a daunting task. But rest assured - it can be done!!
Sign up to Twitter Twitter is a fantastic way to keep on top of what is happening in your area of interest - whether that be saving animals, ending poverty or stopping global warming. There is no end of interesting people to follow and its a great way to build a digital network of friends to spread the word for your cause.
Visit Twitip for everything you need to know about using Twitter for maximum effect!
Be an active participant in online forums Joining online forums and groups is another effective way to friendraise for your cause. Remember that its not enough to just join - you need to join in. Contribute to the conversation, share ideas, talk about the issues that move you. Don't be shy!!
Care2 is a great starting place for networking with other passionate activists and givers for a whole range of causes.
Link to other sites/blogs/fundraising pages Want to get your name out there? Comment on other people's blogs and websites in your area of interest, include links to other people's sites and articles, be a contributing member of the WWW.
It may sound mercenary and feel a little shallow at first, but its all about building community and you can't do that without participating in the conversations that are out there!
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