Good Deed Goes Viral, Creating a Fund-Raising Flurry

September 17, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes

An act of kindness from a stranger — combined with the speed and reach of social media — has resulted in a windfall for a California food bank.

Carolee Hazard was at a Trader Joe’s grocery store last month when Jenni Ware, who was ahead of her in the checkout line, got to the cashier, only to realize that her wallet was missing. Ms. Hazard offered to cover the $207 grocery bill.

Ms. Ware found her wallet later that day and wrote a $300 check to Ms. Hazard, encouraging her to use the money to do something nice for herself, maybe get a massage.

Uncomfortable keeping the extra $93, Ms. Hazard turned to her Facebook friends and asked them what they would do with the money. Several people suggested that she donate it to charity. One person proposed the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, since the initial act of kindness took place at a grocery store.

Ms. Hazard loved the idea and decided to match Ms. Ware’s gift with $93 of her own. When Ms. Hazard reported her plan on Facebook, other friends began to pledge their own $93 donations and to repost the story to their friends. “I started getting donations from people I’d never met,” says Ms. Hazard.

Ms. Hazard started a page for what she calls the $93 Club on Facebook, and the food bank set up an online donation page that people could use to make their gifts directly to the organization.

In four weeks, donations to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties totaled more than $17,000, and the Trader Joe’s where Ms. Hazard and Ms. Ware met contributed 350 pounds of food. Ms. Hazard is aware of another $2,000 that has been given to other local food banks.

As word of the campaign has spread, Ms. Hazard has received messages from people as far away as Australia and Singapore. “If we all just put a little good out, it really ripples,” says Ms. Hazard. “Everybody can give something, whether it’s just a smile or if it’s money or if it’s time.”

For more information: Go to http://www.facebook.com/93dollarclub.

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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.