December 10, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Everybody Wins USA wants to get children so excited about reading that they will consume stack after stack of books. But the literacy charity has found that messages of just 140 characters can help strengthen its relationships with volunteers and donors.
Everybody Wins uses the “microblogging” Web site Twitter to publicize how the charity works with corporate donors. It tweets about the companies’ commitment to fighting illiteracy; in turn, those businesses share information about how their employees volunteer at Everybody Wins.
Rich Greif, the charity’s executive director, credits such cross-promotion with helping to build stronger relationships with corporate supporters like Pitney Bowes and the University of Phoenix. Pitney Bowes, the mail and software company, recently doubled its support to $50,000. The University of Phoenix has pledged $250,000 over three years to expand the group’s signature lunchtime volunteer program to three new cities.
“We realized that if we really want to expand our network and get our Power Lunch programs into more cities, we need to grow partnerships that are happening at the local level,” says Mr. Greif. “One of the pathways for getting there is to raise our visibility and awareness, and social media has been the path to do that. People understand who we are and that we are a strong voice for children’s literacy.”
Attracting Celebrity Support
The charity has also found new supporters like the actress Kathy Kinney thanks to Twitter. Ms. Kinney, who appeared in The Drew Carey Show, runs an online publication about reading. She agreed to record a public-service announcement for Everybody Wins.
More recently, Everybody Wins relied on people in its online networks to help it win some quick cash. The charity asked its supporters to tweet about the organization so it could get on the radar of TwitCause, a project that pairs charities with corporate donors. The effort is run by a social-networking site called Experience Project.
Because of its online efforts, Everybody Wins was selected as one of TwitCause’s nonprofit groups of the week. Along with the attention that TwitCause’s 300,000 Twitter followers brought to the group, Everybody Wins received $1,000 from Lions Gate, the film company sponsoring TwitCause that week.
