Fund Raising With Twitter

Laura Fitton of Pistachio Consulting started a new kind of fundraising drive: an effort to raise $25,000 for a nonprofit called charity: water, This charity works to bring clean, safe water to developing countries. Laura chose Twitter as her way to raise $25000.00. She was aware of the economy being difficult for many people, she didn't want to ask for large amounts of money "I asked for $25,000," she says, "which would be just $2 for each reader I have on Twitter."

In four days, @wellwishes had raised over $5,000. Average pledge size has been $8.50, the median is $2. And the beneficiary has taken notice. "I see micro-giving as the next stage of online fund raising," says Scott Harrison, founder and president of charity: water. "The idea of thousands of $2 gifts adding up to wells in Africa that impact thousands of lives is something everybody can get behind."

Obama's campain looked similar , but @wellwishes is a whole new model because it incorporates convenient, tiny donations made right on Twitter. Using payment service from a company called Tipjoy, it's both simple and social to give. Your pledge shows up on Twitter as "p $2 @wellwishes for charity: water to save lives" (This is shorthand for "pay $2 to the Charity organization whose user name on Twitter is wellwishes.") And that message goes -- instantly -- to all of the people who follow you on Twitter.

Laura Fitton (her Twitter user name is Pistachio) kicked off the campaign with an announcement of the experiment:

p $2 @wellwishes just to practice my hand at using micropayments on @tipjoy
In a later Tweet, she made her appeal:

I want something TOTALLY insane for Christmas: 12,500 people each to donate $2 for clean water @wellwishes.
And many did. Okay, these are pledges, not donations. But just as poor people pay their micro-loans, so micro-donors make good on their pledges -- so far, an astonishing 86% have come through.

And then there's the fact that the request gets personalized as people pass it on. Some add just a phrase: "very cool". Others say the same thing, but with more characters: "small bits via Twitter + big audience = better world".

The message is as important as the medium --- using Twitter/Tipjoy, everyone who participates is both a donor and a broadcaster.



What is great about this system is that for a couple of dollars you are helping people make a difference in the world. I hope this trend continues.