The utilisation of social media as both an awareness and fund raising tool is becoming increasingly popular, way beyond the well established ‘online donation form’ which not-for-profits (NFPs) have been using for some time. [This is a guest post by Daniel Dwyer, a Gen Yer, lawyer, Christian and denizen of the web.*]

The key reasons for this are social media’s:

• Interactivity – people can talk about the issue; work up an emotional sweat
• Mass communication – instantaneously, everyone within an individuals’ network is updated, invited, or notified of the issue (even if they don’t actually take note of it)
• Anonymity – sad but true, people hide behind their digital mask whilst, conversely, seeking to build up the personality of that digital mask in a, sort of, avatar way (i.e. people have two personalities or ‘personal brands, one online and one ‘real’/digital)
• Transactional dimension – easy to contribute money, easy to contribute ideas and opinions
• Reach – the individual can be in touch with their worldwide networks and contacts as quickly as they can be with those that live in the same suburb.

Social media’s conversational characteristic helps those involved break larger problems down into bite size chunks. It creates a ‘hook’ for its intended audience that is manageable. For instance, don’t tell me that 10,000 kids are diagnosed with cancer each year when trying to get me on board with the cause. This makes the problem too big to address.

Tell me the story of ONE kid with cancer and the impact my $25 can make on their life.

This is the ‘buy a brick campaign’ approach. That brick is mine, I helped. ALWAYS go with the personal story, don’t give me the overwhelming problem. Break the issue down into what the individual can do and give them ownership of it.

Social media is enhancing the ability for people to get involved and supportive of a cause that they WOULD NOT OTHERWISE NECESSARILY SUPPORT or be active in.

Why? Because it lowers the barriers to entry (time, commitment, etc). It’s quite easy to send a Facebook message to your friends, or a group invite, or flick through your customised fundraising website….but organise a dinner, or an afternoon tea or an auction? Much harder…all that commitment!

As the social media user base becomes more and more comfortable with communicating and transacting online, the ability to leverage a large base of users for the support of a NFP cause is becoming increasingly straightforward.

It is likely the use of social media to raise funds will be with us for some time to come. Its ability to recruit potential supporters into using their OWN social networks to fundraise is unique. It’s personal, yet it can reach large numbers through direct contacts and contacts’ contacts (i.e. its viral dimension).

NFPs ‘simply’ (note ironic use of inverted commas…) need to be clever to create/customise projects/schemes/etc that are easy to disseminate across an individual’s social network (whether it be Twitter, Facebook, whatever) and appeal to the targets’ social conscience and preferences.

Also, Gen Y, the most tech savvy generation so far, are now in a position to contribute to charities – so it’s natural that they will use this medium to donate/give/profile raise due to their proclivity to use it.

Paypal makes this easy, as do credit cards. I am Gen Y and don’t have (nor have I ever had) a cheque book. I’ve never banked by phone and probably never will. Fundraising online is instantaneous (you are motivated to give, and then you do it and it’s done).

It doesn’t rely on the ‘target’ having to go through any extra hoops such as BPAY, bank transfer, cheque, post; all these mediums are fraught with the concept of the giver being ‘distracted’…. And with Gen Y it’s a given that they will get distracted(!). Got to make it easy and seamless to take people’s money off them. The less clicks, pages to confirm, directions to other websites to process a transaction, the better.

It’s why the monthly donation concept and the whole notion of ‘workplace giving’ has been such a hit with my gen. Social media is an extension of that. If the Facebook group links to a website that has an easy-to-use transactional-based site, where the user can give scalable amounts, ($10 buys a safe birthing kit for Youth for UN Refugee Agency, for example), then there is instant gratification (I’ve done something!).

The problem is broken down.

The Every Day Hero concept plays on this even more. “I’m doing the fundraising amongst my friends,” etc]. As in, you are part of the fundraising organisation itself (or so it feels), empowering the organiser/awareness raiser and making them feel special. Every Day Hero provides NFPs with the transactional and promotional tools to raise money from their already established social networks.

The power behind this ‘community giving’ concept is that ‘everyone giving a little bit helps’. According to their website, Every Day Hero has raised in excess of $13.9 million.

There are number of other examples of the power of social media and networking in the NFP sector.

The Red Cross and Salvation Army saw a significant increase in their online fundraising appeals for the recent Victorian Bushfires after widespread coverage on YouTube. The stats on viewership are amazing and the medium was way ahead of traditional media coverage.

The recent US Presidential Elections demonstrated the power of online fundraising, with the Washington Post stating President Obama raised over half a billion US dollars online! Of the 6.5 million donations received online, over six million of these were for amounts under $100. So personal (real personal), not business.

More examples of NFPs taking advantage of social media and networking include:

• 40K Foundation
• Starlight Livewire Project.

Contribution or association with any cause or project is usually driven by the quality of people and the networking ability of those involved. The individual becomes the ‘project evangelist’, recruiting friends, colleagues, family to the cause. How to identify this evangelist – the much-vaunted and highly cherished social media ‘influencer’ – is a difficult question to answer (though Matt Granfield has some tips). For any social media campaign, they are the critical conduit a wider and, hopefully, relevant target audience of givers.

The Global Poverty Project (GPP), championed by Hugh Jackman, is another innovative approach to utilising the social networks of supporters. The website setup by the GPP allows the individual to host their own GPP demonstration/event.

Like with any social media activity, there is a ‘look at me, aren’t I wonderful giving to this charity’ dimension. But if the result is that attention is brought to a worthy issue that helps societies across the globe and connects us all, who cares?

It may even help lift social media’s game from the inane, self-referential depths it generally inhabits.

[If anyone has thoughts on social media’s power to achieve commercial and/or fund raising outcomes it would be great to hear your perspective. This is an emerging area of social media, but is quickly making inroads.]

[*Daniel Dwyer is a solicitor with Freehills law firm in their Technology, Media and Telecommunications team and a founding Director of Network Kokoda, a charity focused on the people of Papua New Guinea. He holds a Master of Laws (International Business and Economics), a Bachelor of Information Technology (Data Communications) and is the Vice President of the NSW Society for Computers and the Law. Prior to working as a solicitor, Daniel was a systems and business analyst for both the public and private sector. He has extensive practical experience in digital communication. His strong Christian ethos informs his worldviews and professional activities.]

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