August 27, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
Twitter — mini-blogs updated via text message — can raise money fast from the technologically savvy.
Beth Kanter and 250 bloggers, podcasters, and other technology enthusiasts at a Seattle conference raised $2,657 to pay for Leng Sopharath, an orphan in Cambodia, to go to college this year, using the new technology — and by passing the hat at the session — in just 90 minutes. By the end of the conference, the total had climbed to $3,774.
Writing on her blog, Ms. Kanter compared the experience to her earlier efforts on Ms. Sopharath’s behalf. In November 2006, it took three weeks to raise $800, and at the same conference last year, it took about 24 hours to raise the money for her tuition.
But not everyone was convinced that Twitter’s potential as a fund-raising tool was the most important lesson to take away.
“What stands out to me is stories,” wrote one conference participant who commented on the posting. “When you told us about Leng Sopharath’s surgery, I gasped. From your stories she was no stranger to me. Tools and techniques may get worn from overuse, but new stories can always be told.”
What do you think? Has your organization experimented with twitter in its fund raising?
