Tiny Charity’s Twitter Campaign Raises Big Sums for School

Two days before last year’s Thanksgiving, Stacey Monk sent out a series of messages on Twitter that would turn her tiny charity, Epic Change, into a case study on how to raise money using social-networking Web sites. “What are you grateful for? Happy #Tweetsgiving!” she wrote. Her “tweets” included a link to a Web page, http://tweets giving.org, that encouraged people to give in honor of whatever they were grateful for. The money would help build a classroom at a school in Tanzania.

At the end of the 48-hour campaign, Epic Change had raised $11,000 from 372 people, 98 percent of whom were new donors. More than 3,000 “tweets” of gratitude were sent with the #Tweetsgiving tag.

Twitter and Beyond

This Thanksgiving, Ms. Monk found ways to expand the campaign beyond Twitter. People in 40 cities around the world organized “Tweetsgiving” parties to benefit her charity. Supporters uploaded photographs to Flickr, the photo-sharing Web site, and submitted songs to the Web site blip.fm, all in the name of expressing gratitude and raising money for Epic Change.

Several companies participated too. 1-800-Flowers donated a dollar for every new Twitter follower the company received during the two-day campaign. Convio made a gift of cash and software, and Pizzeria Uno agreed to give a portion of its sales on Thanksgiving to the charity.

And fifth-grade students joined in from Tanzania, tweeting from the classroom built with money from last year’s Tweetsgiving. Some sneaked into an Internet cafe to continue sending Twitter messages after their school had closed for the day.

Altogether the second Tweetsgiving campaign raised about $31,000. More than 670 people made online donations, and 21,226 messages were sent with the tag #Tweetsgiving.

Ms. Monk, who worked as a consultant to businesses and charities before co-founding Epic Change in 2007, credits the enthusiasm of the volunteers who helped solicit donations for Epic Change, the simple idea of giving thanks, and the short campaign period for the success of Tweetsgiving.

Next year she plans to expand the number of fund-raising events and reach out to more businesses that can offer money and other types of help.

While her campaigns have been a success, she says they show how fund raisers who use social media need to be willing to experiment and accept risk. Ms. Monk was pleased with the sum she raised this year, but it didn’t come close to her goal of $100,000, an amount she says “left room for miracles.”

“I wish there was a recipe, but it’s just a little bit of luck and a little bit of art,” she says. “That’s what makes it fun, but also gives you that pain in your stomach.”