August 21, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
SickKids Foundation
Twitter handle: @sickkids
What it raised: $60,000
The campaign: The group, which raises money for the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), in Toronto, worked with WagJag.com, a popular group-buying Web site in Canada similar to the U.S. site Groupon, to create a fund-raising campaign. Donors were offered the option of giving $5 to $100 through the site, and WagJag.com agreed to match the donations up to $50,000.
What it used: WagJag.com, Facebook, Twitter, blogs
How it worked: E-mails promoting the matching donation offer were sent to WagJag subscribers on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. “People are looking to make gifts at that time both from an emotional perspective and a tax perspective,” says Seanna Dempsey, the foundation’s director of corporate partnerships.
What it accomplished: Some $30,000 was raised from donors on WagJag, and WagJag matched that sum. The charity acquired the names and contact information of about 1,000 people who used WagJag to donate $20 and more, because those donors required tax receipts. It is now able to solicit those donors for future contributions. About 70 percent of them gave to SickKids for the first time through the promotion, and some have made additional donations.
Why it worked: The foundation has since received several offers from other group-buying sites, but it’s being choosy. Ms. Dempsey said the organization will work only with daily-deals sites that have significant mailing lists and have a history of charitable giving. “Those [sites] that can prove themselves as being sustainable are the ones you want to partner with, because you don’t want to align your strong brand with someone who is fly-by-night,” Ms. Dempsey says.
