Donors’ Fund-Raising Pages Come Up Big for Mercy Corps

January 22, 2010

Supporters of Mercy Corps have sprung into action since the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, raising more than $500,000 through their personal fund-raising pages – a significant portion of the $7.1-million the Portland, Ore., group has received for relief efforts.

Once someone has set up a fund-raising page on the Mercy Corps Web site, they can use e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook to ask their friends and family members to donate.

“It’s been tremendously effective to have dedicated donors appealing directly to their social circles,” Jeremy Barnicle, a vice president at Mercy Corps, said in written statement.

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About the Author

NICOLE WALLACE

Features Editor

Nicole Wallace is features editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has written about innovation in the nonprofit world, charities’ use of data to improve their work and to boost fundraising, advanced technologies for social good, and hybrid efforts at the intersection of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, such as social enterprise and impact investing.Nicole spearheaded the Chronicle’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast and reported from India on the role of philanthropy in rebuilding after the South Asian tsunami. She started at the Chronicle in 1996 as an editorial assistant compiling The Nonprofit Handbook.Before joining the Chronicle, Nicole worked at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and served in the inaugural class of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.A native of Columbia, Pa., she holds a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.