Twitter Fundraising: Operation Smile's 140 Smiles Campaign

For a while, most questions one would hear about Twitter would be "what is it?" Most webinars I've sat in about Twitter fundraising have included basics of the Twitter world, like how to post, reTweet, and, in some cases, redirect people to your fundraising page.

Recently, I came across (thru Twitter of course) a case of an organization that has moved far beyond these basic steps to develop a fully integrated, Twitter-based fundraising campaign from Operation Smile (@operationsmile on Twitter for those of you with Twitter accounts).

To see the full campaign in action, visit http://www.140smiles.org/. What I find so interesting about this campaign is it is fully targeted to taking advantage of this social media tool in order to raise money. Most of us, at this point, are using Twitter to tell folks about what we are doing, post interesting stories and accomplishments, maybe ask them to our website to give thru that channel.

But 140smiles, is an entire microsite dedicated specifically to a Twitter-based fundraising goal--140 smiles raised from Tweeple. This is a very hefty goal: at approximately $240 for one cleft operation, the campaign is trying to raise nearly $34K, a whopping number for a Twitter-based, non celebrity sponsored endeavor.

I have been watching this campaign for a few weeks now, and, at approximately 48 smiles, the power of Twitter is being tested. BUT, props to the folks at Operation Smile who made this bold move. And props to them for creating a campaign that is clearly targeted to the social-media engaged donor:

1) The 140smiles.org microsite is specifically for Twitter traffic. It references Twitter, it has a live Twitter feed, AND a "community" accessed thru one's Twitter handle.

2) It has integrated tools making it easy to Retweet any action one has taken: whether donating, asking other people to take notice, or even urging other people to help reach the 140 smiles goal.

3)Prizes: yes, there are prizes and sponsors. What better way to help spread the word thru a viral community than to offer something in return for visiting?

4) Someone from Operation Smile who is actively Twittering about this and constantly encouraging others to keep promoting the fundraiser. (People have even started CauseCast pages dedicated to this).

The campaign is utilizing common social media best-practices: making it easy for people to participate, asking people to tap into their networks to help promote the cause, reinforcement and acknowledgement, and, finally, feedback loop. But it is so exciting to see this applied to Twitter.

Operation Smile may be one of the first to so fully integrate it's social media practice into it's fundraising, but, from this blogger's perspective, hopefully not the last. Even at 48 Smiles, that's over $11,500 raised toward its mission.

Click to give: 4 organizations vying for $100,000 based on most clicks

When it rains it pours, so after my post yesterday about an opportunity for organizations to get a $10K grant by writing their mission in lyrical form, today, another heads up from the Allstate Foundation about a program they have going where all of us can click to vote for one of 4 favorite charities.

I posted about something similar Target was doing recently and promoting thru Facebook, and shared my thoughts on how the organizations involved in that effort were reaching out to folks to get most votes.

The Allstate"Click to Empower" campaign starts today, so the first thing I thought to do was to sign up for these folks email lists and find them on Facebook to monitor how they would be promoting this.

So far, this is what I have discovered:
2 out of 4 already have calls to vote clearly posted on their site
2 out of 4 have easy links to find them on Facebook
3 out of 4 have fairly easy to find newsletter subscription boxes on their site (couldn't find it on one for the life of me).

Excited to see how this develops over the next month!


So below is most of the content of the email I go, and if you are interested, you too can Click to Empower and watch what happens.

"I read on your blog, GenerationYGive, a recent post you wrote on Target’s Bullseye Gives campaign. We are launching a similar contest and need your help (and the help of your readers) to decide which one of four organizations will receive a donation of $100,000 to put towards economic empowerment for survivors of domestic violence.

Following up on last year’s successful click campaign on ClicktoEmpower.org, The Allstate Foundation has created another “click” campaign program that lets voters decide which charity, out of the four below, will receive a $100,000 grant. The organization that receives the most votes will receive the $100,000 grant and the remaining finalists will receive $10,000 each. The highlighted organizations include:

· Safe Horizon: Provides support, prevents violence, and promotes justice for victims of crime and abuse, their families, and communities
· YWCA USA: Works to eliminate racism and empower women
· Charity Cars: Provides disadvantaged families with a free vehicle and vehicle support services to assist in their transition from dependency to self-sufficiency
· National Family Justice Center Alliance: Works to provide training and technical assistance to existing and developing Family Justice Centers in the United States and around the world

To learn more about each of the non-profit organizations and their domestic violence programs go to www.ClicktoEmpower.org or www.facebook.com/clicktoempower, then vote for your favorite charity. When you’re done voting, there are easy share buttons to help you spread the word to your family and friends via text messaging, Twitter, and email.

Voting begins July 15 and ends September 12. To increase the organizations’ chances of winning, you can vote once a day!"

Heart and Soul Grant Award Program

Folks, below is the almost verbatim text of info I received from Lisa at CTK Foundation. Thought some of you all might be interested, so good luck!

"Made possible by the CTK Foundation Philanthropic Fund and Grammy award-winners, Los Lonely Boys, The Heart and Soul (H&S) grant is an innovative and creative way for nonprofits to apply for funding.

To apply for the grant, the organization must submit a 4-8 line poem (lyrics) that represents the “heart and soul” of their mission. After the grant closes a jury panel of recognized independent music artists and producers from around the country will select a winner based on the quality and impact of the lyrics. The selected nonprofit will be awarded $10,000 and have their poem put to song by Los Lonely Boys.

The grant, already open, will close on August 15, 2009 and any registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization can apply. To learn more and apply for the grant, please visit www.ctkfoundation.org and click on the gold Foundation tab.

Thank you and best of luck to all organizations that choose to apply!
-Lisa"