SOCIAL PHILANTHROPYCELEBRITY AUCTION ON TWITTER GIVES NEW TWIST TO ONLINE FUNDRAISINGThe Chronicle of Philanthropy

Published September 21 2010http://philanthropy.com/blogPost/Celebrity-Auction-on-Twitter/27051/

By Raymund Flandez

http://philanthropy.com/blogPost/Celebrity-Auction-on-Twitter/27051/

The Power of Being a Celebrity

Straight Off the Press

The newest and simplest social media fundraising initiative has hit the market

It goes by the name “TwitChange” It is a Twitter-based effort to raise money for

“aHomeInHaiti.org” They are a group based out of Atlanta that is

working to build permanent homes for orphans in Haiti

The main goal for this campaign is to rebuild the Miriam Center, which houses and educates children with disabilities. The charity hopes to raise $1-million.

http://www.ahomeinhaiti.org/

Quite Remarkable Work

So What Is It?

TwitChange is one of the first celebrity tweet auctions which runs from September 15th-25th

It uses Twitter to direct visitors to TwitChange.com. Once they arrive at the site, visitors are encouraged to bid on the chance to have celebrities follow them for 90 days and to have the celebrity mention them to their other Twitter followers

Statistics To Date

150 celebrities 22 million hits Winning bids totaling $130,000 Increased awareness in the charity which

has led to individual donations of $8,000 directly to the website

Examples of Bids Thus Far

-Dana White, Ultimate Fighting Championship president: $15,600- Zachary Levi, actor on NBC's "Chuck": $14,900- Alyssa Milano, actress: $3,550- Kim Kardashian, reality television star: $2,550- Joe Jonas, entertainer: $2,025

- Ryan Seacrest, host of Fox's "American Idol": $1,525

A Quote from the King Himself

"I hope that other organizations and causes can see what we're doing and copy it," Mr. King says. "We don't really care about having this duplicated. We'd like more people to see the value of social media and technology and to see it as their friend, contextualize it, and do it on their own.”

*(Can someone wearing green please read this out loud to the class)

The trend has caught on as viewed in an article from the The New York Times

Fundraising, Via Twitter (With Cats!)

“Three weeks ago, I launched a Twitter account for my cat, Romeo: @romeothecat. I actually did it to make one of my colleagues laugh, but something interesting happened: Romeo started getting followers. There are a lot of humans, A LOT of other Twittering cats, some dogs and even hamsters, horses, turtles and birds. “I thought this would be a great opportunity to raise money for the Humane Society and other animal rescues. So for each follower, Romeo donates 5 cents to an animal rescue organization. So far, Romeo has over 1,500 followers, so he’s donating $75. But the amazing part is that we’ve raised thousands more in pledges and gift cards from individuals and corporations.

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/fundraising-via-twitter-with-cats/?pagemode=print

Social Media and Your Future

Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and the thousands of other social media tools are some of the cheapest, most reliable, easiest and convenient methods for fundraising and raising awareness

Class…we are at an advantage because we have grown up in a society that is heavily dependant on social media and a majority of us have learnt how to operate the systems without being taught academically

All YOU need is a computer

Who Uses Social Media and Web 2.0?

Facebook? Twitter? Blogs? Other? (please

shout out tools you use if they are not listed above!!!)

According to a Survey by the Foundation Center

73 foundation leaders found that:33% use Facebook regularly30% read blogs11% listen to podcasts or YouTube 6% use Twitter 65% use e-newsletters 47% use listserves

http://foundationcenter.org/gainknowledge/research/specialtrends.html;jsessionid=Q5STERULALV2DLAQBQ4CGXD5AAAACI2F

Interview with Adam Hummel

Adam Hummel, a Law Student at the University of Windsor and the founder of “Youth Ambassadors for Peace,” which is a grassroots group that aims to unite three Kenyan tribes through workshops and soccer tournaments

This year Adam went viral. He created a web site, facebook and twitter account

One month after his new online strategy he was contacted by the Canadian Jewish News and other students who wanted to become part of his peace movement

http://www.cjnews.com/index.php option=com_content&task=view&id=19648&Itemid=101

August 15 2010 8:30 pm Starbucks

Leading Social Media Experts and Canada’s Biggest Charitable Donations from CBC News. $105 million $100 million $70 million $64 million $50 million $50 million $50 million $50 million $40million $37 million $33.3 million

You have 15 seconds to write down who you think the wealthiest individuals in Canada would donate too!!!

Answers

1. $105 million McMaster University Medical School2. $100 million Winnipeg Foundation3. $70 million Art Gallery of Ontario4. $64 million McGill University5. $50 million United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto

6. $50 million United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto

7. $50 million University of British Columbia8. $50 million Mount Sinai Hospital9. $40million Hamilton Community Foundation10. $37 million Toronto General Hospital’s Peter Munk Cardiac Center

11. $33.3 million University of Waterloo’s Institute of Quantum Computing

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/wealth/charitable-donations.html

Celebrities Make the World Go Round

Oprah's Angel Network awards $6 million in grants to U.S. charter school programs. Oprah is the Queen of SOCIAL MEDIA

http://oprahsangelnetwork.org/about-us/newsletters

Thank you and go TWEET!

I Practice What I Preach!

Twitter:

Samanthabanks

Facebook:

Samantha Banks

Linkedin

Samantha A Banks

Blogger.com

Banks Blog