Charities and Social MediaCharities and Social Media

myactionaid

• myactionaid was launched in 2007 and is a social networking website for actionaid fundraisers

• There are 538 registered members

• Fundraisers have individual webpages to promote their activities

• Users can blog, upload videos and take part in a discussion forum

• On Facebook there is a myactionaid page and application. The page has 25 members

• The application is available for people with live sponsorship pages to promote their fundraising and currently has 28 monthly active users (unique users over last 30 days)

myactionaid – Registratiom and fundraising pages

• Users need to sign up with myactionaid in order to start raising funds. Name, screen name and email only required to get started

• The individual fundraising pages contain details of the event such as the aim of the event, money raised so far, progress reports and other participants if applicable

• Link to myactionaid not prominent on the main actionaid site

Amnesty International - Facebook

• Amnesty has 28,201 fans on global Facebook page

• Very active page which has 208 discussion topics and 940 wall posts

• Amnesty UK has 1,884 fans

• No Facebook applications for UK market

Amnesty International – Protect the Human

• Social networking site launched in August 2008. It currently has 804 users and is growing very quickly

• Users can discuss topics, share content, embed YouTube videos, take action, create action groups and donate money

• Widgets, blogs, galleries and events calendars are being added in 2009

• There are 1,812 actions taking place. Actions consists of email campaigns, events, sign ups (email and petitions), donations, offline (eg send faxes), spread the word to create awareness and joining groups

NSPCC & Facebook

• The NSPCC Facebook group page has 4,619 fans

• The page is regularly updated with news and information on campaigns and events

• Users can donate money or take part in fundraising events

• Only 18 Wall posts and it is updated fairly regularly. Discussion board available

• The Child’s Voice Appeal for Childline is already being promoted even though it is new campaign. Various options provided to promote awareness or raise money which includes link to Childline application

NSPCC Facebook application

• NSPCC was the first charity to launch a Facebook application in February 2007 and it has been downloaded 25,000 times

• Application can be used to fundraise, recruit friends, see events, create events and donate money

•There are 520 fans and 666 monthly active users

• Up to May 2008, £4,090 has been raised via donations*

• For 12 months to April 2009, the NSPCC is aiming to raise £60k in donations and achieve 70k downloads*

* - Source: NSPCC website

NSPCC Facebook Childline application

• The Childline application on Facebook is designed to raise money

• Donors receive a badge to display on their profile and is a useful awareness tool

• There are 277 fans and 258 active monthly users

Royal British Legion

• The Royal British Legion page has 112 fans

• 200 monthly active users

• 78,197 poppies have been sent so far

• Users can send poppies to other users via an application which is useful for awareness

• Donations can be made via a secure connection and data is collected on donor

justgiving (non charity)

• The justgiving page has 2,310 fans and 43,655 monthly active users

• A widget was launched in July 2007 and has been downloaded over 100,000 times

• The widget can be placed on a website or on a social networking site like Facebook or MySpace

• The widget is useful for promoting a cause and someone’s fundraising efforts

• Viewers can see the progress of the fundraising and can leave comments

Dogs Trust - Twitter

• The service began in May 2008 and 312 messages have been posted so far

• 190 people are currently following the Dog’s Trust

• Content consists of news relating to dogs and their viewpoint regarding topical issues

• No fundraising appeals yet. They may building a bigger and more loyal following before any fundraising takes place

• Other charities using Twitter include Oxfam, Bullying UK & Wateraid

Cancerbackup/Macmillan Cancer - What Now?

• What Now? social networking website launched in March 2008

• Aimed at cancer sufferers and friends & family

• 2,214 members and has been growing by around 20% every month

• Blogs, videos, chat rooms and photos available

• Chat rooms are popular and there are around 100 regular bloggers

• Successful because it caters for the specific needs of a group of people who can share and discuss their experiences and/or concerns

Blue Cross – All About Pets

• Social networking site for pets launched in March 2008

• 7,294 members

• Active discussion forum

• 62,000 unique visitors in July 2008 (Comscore)

• Word of mouth appears to be the biggest driver of traffic and membership

• Viral (http://www.talkingpets.org/) to promote above site where you can send a talking pet to a friend. Uploaded pet photos can be used for messages

Save the Children – Kroo Bay

• Campaign by Save the Children which brings supporters closer to a cause

• Content provides a view of what life is like. Their needs are highlighted but it also shows how they live and what they enjoy doing

• Webisodes provided which provides the latest news on Kroo Bay

• Donors/potential donors can leave comments for people in the village

• Very effective in connecting people with a cause and how their donations can make a difference

Mara Triangle

• Mara Triangle is a national reserve in Kenya. The area relied heavily on tourism to fund conservation work but violence after political elections at the end of 2007 had a detrimental effect on visitors

• In order to address this issue they decided to reach out to people via a range of social media tools

• The tools they are use are Flickr, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed and a blog

• Their websites (own page and Wildlife Direct) and blog all have links to their social media feeds

Mara Triangle – Blog and Vimeo

• Blog started in December 2007 and it is updated on a regular basis. The work they carry out as well as the issues they face are brought to life via blog entries

• The blog has grown to 450 unique visitors a day and in March 2008, $40k in donations was raised

• Vimeo is used in order to post videos of the wildlife and the work they carry out

• They currently 23 subscribers and there have been over 4,000 video views to date

Mara Triangle – Flickr & Twitter

• The use of Flickr started in February 2008

• Content added regularly and the account has 599 contacts

• Twitter account opened in March 2007 but regular postings did not occur until January 2008 which coincides with political unrest and the need for funding

• There are 1,843 people following the Mara Triangle Twitter

• The feed is used for updates on the latest issues as well as talking to users directly.

• Twitter is used to encourage donations as the examples shows

Mara Triangle – Facebook and Friendfeed

• Facebook Cause page which to date has raised $1,395

• There are 1,772 members and a total of 38 wall items have been posted

• A hall of fame shows the biggest donors and fundraisers as well as the biggest recruiters

• Friendfeed is an aggregator which allows users to view content from a variety of social tools

• The Friendfeed for Maya Triangle shows entries from flickr, Facebook, Vimeo, Tumblr and their blog

• Convenient way to keep in touch with news from one source

Mara Triangle – More than just social media

• The success of Maya Triangle has been as a result of its use of social media tools but more importantly, its unique and compelling content has been at the forefront of its success

• Story telling nature of communication resonates with audience

• Donors are drawn by the fact that their money is going straight to the source

• Donors can see the effect of their donations