No Fear of Failure: WeCanEndThis.com to Use Innovation and Amplification to Help End Hunger in America
This post was originally published on the Case Foundation blog:
“Do you really think you’ll end hunger this way? That seems to be a pretty audacious statement for you to make,” is something we’ve heard a couple times over the past few months.
It’s a reasonable reaction from those familiar with hunger in America. But our response was and remains: We need new ideas based on new realities, because what we’ve been doing hasn’t worked.
Though we live in the land of plenty, hunger is on the rise with 49 million Americans knowing it all too well. That’s 1 out of 6 Americans and has continued to rise despite many people’s efforts. Sadly, we have enough food to feed all of them. Unfortunately, there are barriers that prevent us from becoming a hunger-free nation.
More than click-thru philanthropy
So what’s it going to take? First and foremost, we need more people to care enough to take action. Then, we need them to keep caring and taking action until we reach our goal. It’s really that simple. Simple doesn’t mean easy. Nor does it mean just a click and “Poof!” it’s gone. But, it does mean it’s doable.
One week ago, we launched WeCanEndThis.com, a yearlong initiative to spark innovation and a broader engagement in the movement to end hunger in America. This is not a flash in the pan campaign. We are here until we have shifted the conversation and created real, tangible solutions.
What makes this different than most other cause initiatives is that CauseShift, a for-profit firm, is leading the charge. Why would we do this? Hunger, like many causes, is too big for one charity, company, or even the Federal government to end. We need someone who has no fear of failure; someone who can bring others together in new, innovative ways.
Widening the circle
We cannot end hunger in America by working in silos. Nor can we end it by launching random, stand-alone cause campaigns. We need to bring together the major national players, local hunger organizations, companies with a vested interested in helping, and people who are highly connected through their digital and real-world social networks.
Together, we need to amplify the issue, reframe the questions we’re asking, and invite non-hunger experts to offer new, different perspectives. That’s exactly what we’re doing thruWeCanEndThis.com.
Here’s our team
We’ve brought together Share Our Strength, Feeding America, Capital Area Food Bank of Texas, Mashable, PepsiCo, ConAgra Foods Foundation, and Tyson Foods to launch this around the South By Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSWi). This annual gathering in Austin, Texas, attracts about 12,000 media and technology innovators every March.
To help us stand out from the crowd, we’ve assembled an army of creative agencies and others disruptors to create a yearlong experience that broadens our movement and sparks new ideas and solutions. We’re fortunate to have Clever Development, MediaSauce,CrushRepublic, Goodzuma, YupGrade, Appropriate Inc., and Humongus (formerly Plaid) step forward to help.
Get your attention!
The first challenge is getting people’s attention. We realize not everyone cares about our cause, but we know some people do. And, they know others who will help. We just need to offer a creative way to lower the barrier to participation.
In our first 15 days, we’re challenging the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia to rally their communities. People making a promise to act will get to donate a digital can to their favorite state. On March 18 at 5pm ET, we will tally the cans with the Top 10 States each winning a semi-truck load of Tyson Foods product that will deliver 150,000 meals.
Brainstorm solutions
True innovation comes from gathering great minds from a wide variety of fields and asking the questions differently. That’s why we’re using expertsourcing to fuel the CauseLab, a 30-day virtual brainstorm. We’re kicking off with an in-person event this Monday as part of the official schedule of SXSWi, with a collection of disruptors and innovators invited to set the bar high.
On March 22, we’ll open it up to all comers with a $1,000 cash prize for best idea and $500 for the best collaborator. With the money we raise in the ConAgra Foods Foundation $25,000 matching grant challenge, our three charity partners will implement ideas created or inspired by what’s submitted. The entire brainstorm will be the first to use the newly launched Goodzuma platform.
And, much more
We’re assembling a collection of essays from innovative people representing different industries and professions. Hunger Shift will be a three-part e-book series that will start in April and offer new ideas and perspectives.
Our partners at YupGrade have launched their news gathering application with the theme of Hunger in America. This application, featured in the Huffington Post, rewards people who read and share news stories about hunger.
Square has agreed to provide us with their new payment device for our SXSWi street team to use in processing contributions on the spot. We’re excited to put their system to use and give them real world feedback for to make it better for charities and event-based transactions.
From April to August, we’ll deliver the ten semi-truckloads of Tyson Foods and use the opportunity to showcase the good things already happening in the winning states and their local communities. We’ll work with online and local media to highlight the issue and encourage more to get involved.
In October, we will coordinate a national day of service with events planned in the ten winning states and any other communities who want to take part. As we enter the holiday season, we will launch a new approach to engage the huge wave of holiday volunteers that keeps them engaged for more than one day.
How you can help now
We’ve embraced radical transparency in what we’re doing, because we know it will help us improve our efforts and provide other causes with real-world lessons.
Want to tell us how to improve, learn more about our efforts, or experience what we’re doing firsthand? I encourage you to visit WeCanEndThis.com and let us know. You can also follow us on Twitter (@WeCanEndThis) or join our Facebook Fan Page (facebook.com/wecanendthis).
If you want to know the three things we need most, they are:
- Commit to end hunger.
- Brainstorm new ideas.
- Donate your time and money.
Want to tell us how to improve, learn more about our efforts, or experience what we’re doing firsthand? I encourage you to visit WeCanEndThis.com and let us know or just share your thoughts here. You can also follow along on Twitter (@WeCanEndThis) or join the Facebook Fan Page (facebook.com/wecanendthis).
If you want to know the three things we need most, they are:
- Commit to end hunger.
- Brainstorm new ideas.
- Donate your time and money.
Feel free to share our URL using this unique link http://bit.ly/cshfb if you feel inspired to spread our message.
The Big Picture of WeCanEndThis.com
In two days, we are launching a yearlong initiative to spark innovation and a broader engagement in the movement to end hunger in America.
We have enough food to feed all 49 million Americans in need. Unfortunately, there are barriers that prevent us from becoming a hunger-free nation.
So what’s it going to take? First and foremost, we need more people to care enough to take action. Then, we need them to keep caring and taking action until we reach our goal. It’s really that simple.
Simple doesn’t mean easy. Nor does it mean just a click and poof it’s gone. But, it does mean it’s doable.
That’s why we’ve brought together Share Our Strength, Feeding America, Capital Area Food Bank of Texas, Mashable, PepsiCo, ConAgra Food Foundation, and Tyson Foods. Together, we will spend the rest of the year to grow our movement thru four phases of action:
I. Launch (March -April):
Digital Can Drive – On March 4, we will kick off a 15-day Digital Can Drive that rewards people to commit to take action: Give, Share, and Volunteer. Every person who commits to take action will be able donate a digital can of food to the state of his or her choice. On March 18, the Top 10 States with the most digital cans of food will each win a semi-truckload of real food.
Cause Lab – From March 15–April 15, we are inviting disrupters and innovators to lend their talents to solve three main challenges facing our movement:
1. How do we design the hunger-free community?
2. How do we humanize hunger using data?
3. How do we accelerate local action?
The Cause Lab will launch on Monday, March 15, during an in-person event as part of the South By Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, TX. Follow along and participate online that day and up until April 15 thru the link on www.wecanendthis.com/sxsw. Using the money we raise thru the Digital Can Drive, we will choose the best ideas to implement in partnership with our charity partners.
Hunger Shift solutions series – We are inviting forward thinking business, government, and civic innovators to share their thoughts and ideas on how we can end hunger in America. We will ask them to offer specific solutions to specific issues and challenges. This three-part e-book series will be released over the course of 2010 free of charge.
II. Delivery (April-August):
Working with Feeding America, Share Our Strength, and our corporate partners, we will deliver ten semi-truckloads of food donated by Tyson Foods over a five-month period. Each time, we will showcase hunger agencies efforts in the staee, illustrate the challenges and dynamics in these communities, and deliver enough food to provide 150,000 meals. In total, we will deliver 1.5 million meals during one of the times of greatest need – the summer months.
III. Day of Service (September/October)
In the early Fall, we will organize a national day of service to demonstrate the wide variety of ways individuals and groups can help end hunger. We will coordinate official programs in the ten winning states and provide resources for people who would like to do the same in other states. Not only will it be fun, it will also be rewarding.
IV. Holiday Gifting (November–December)
The months of November and December bring with them a surge of volunteers and food donations. However, this often overwhelms the system and does not lead to ongoing engagement particularly for the neediest summer months. We plan to introduce a new program to turn holiday good intentions into lasting, impactful actions.
Beyond 2010
Our goal this year is to shift the conversation about hunger in America and grow the movement. We think we will achieve these goals. When the year comes to a close, we will evaluate our progress and decide what comes next. Until then, we’re staying focused on sparking innovation and broader engagement.
You can share your ideas, thoughts, or objections by leaving them in the comments field. All press inquiries can be directed to Scott Henderson thru WeCanEndThis AT causeshift DOT com.
We Can End Hunger in America – with your help
The Big Idea:
We can end hunger in America.
The Important Details:
Launching March 4, WeCanEndThis.com is a yearlong initiative to spark innovation and broader engagement in the cause of ending hunger in America. Our goal is to end hunger in America — and nothing short will be considered a success.
We are working with three charity partners — Share Our Strength, Feeding America, and Capital Area Food Bank of Texas — and a number of corporate partners, including Mashable, Tyson Foods, ConAgra Foods Foundation, and PepsiCo.
March is an important month for us and we need your help.
Virtual Can Drive (March 4-18)
Over the course of 15 days, we’re challenging people in all fifty states and the District of Columbia to donate a virtual can of food. Starting March 4, you can donate your virtual can of food to the state of your choice by visiting WeCanEndThis.com and promising to take action.
At 5pm ET on March 18, the ten states with the most virtual cans will be awarded their own semi-truckload of real food courtesy of Tyson Foods. Altogether, we will deliver 1.5 million meals.
Certainly in 15 days, we can find at least 15,000 people to help.
15,000 people. 15 days. 1.5 million meals.
Much More to Come
The Virtual Can Drive is just the beginning. In the coming months, we will also follow the trucks to the ten winning states and highlight hunger champions in each community.
On March 15, we will launch The Cause Lab, a unique in-person and online experience, that will bring together some of the brightest minds in the media, technology, business, and cause sectors to create innovative solutions for the main challenges facing the hunger movement.
Of course, we have more announcements and surprises planned, but we’ll save those for a later date. Until then, let’s keep focused on the Virtual Can Drive.
What Can You Do Now?
You can be the difference for your state. Help rally your community and get head start on the March 4 launch. Learn more on the WeCanEndThis Facebook fan page. Also, be sure to follow WeCanEndThis on Twitter so you can start informed of our progress.
Do You Have Questions?
We will be hosting two 30 minute conference calls on Thursday, February 25. Details will be shared early next week. Feel free to email your RSVP or send your questions in the meantime.
Bearing Witness in Haiti: The Long Tail Narratives
While many people found themselves transfixed to the media barrage surrounding the earthquake in Haiti, I saw but a few fleeting moments of coverage.
Photo from Strength.org
Instead, I have kept my distance emotionally and instead have followed the long tail of Haiti. The blogs, tweets, Flickr photos, and other online media. It wasn’t on purpose. I wasn’t conducting an experiment. Instead, it’s how it fit into my life.
Interestingly, while the media has shifted its focus away from Haiti, I have found myself increasingly engaged and connected to the story.
Why? One simple reason: I am captivated by the first person narratives coming from those on the ground.
CEOs in the US, Volunteers in Haiti
Billy Shore, executive director of Share Our Strength and board member of Timberland, and Jeff Swarz, CEO of Timberland, flew to Haiti with Wyclef Jean and medical professionals volunteering for Partners in Health. Wyclef and Timberland have been partners in a major reforestation project in Haiti, so it was only natural for them to work together to help those in need.
I follow both men on twitter (@BillShore and @Timberland_Jeff) and read their tweets with great anticipation. Upon their return, both men have written powerful first person accounts of their experiences in Haiti.
Billy wrote a series of posts (1, 2, 3, and 4), while Jeff shared his in its entirety.
Another Partners in Health Perspective
Jim Ansara, a Boston businessman and humanitarian, has been traveling between Boston and Haiti since the earthquake helping out with the humanitarian relief effort. His updates have been collected and shared on the Jim in Haiti blog.
A Champion for Women
The person who has captured my attention the most has been Gretchen Wallace, the founder of Global Grassroots. Through her twitter updates (@ConsciousChange), I have followed what has been happening in the recovery of the Hotel Montana. She has shared heart wrenching news, fought rumors, and updated us on the ground floor view.
Please take a few moments and scroll thru her Twitter stream. You’ll walk away with a different understanding of what’s happening there.
First Person Accounts in Real Time
For students of history, the idea of first person accounts of major disasters is nothing new. What’s different now is how these accounts are available in real time to anyone connected to the internet. To me, these narratives have given me far more understanding and appreciation for the enormity and reality in Haiti.
What first person narratives have you been following? Who else is out there?
What If? (Brian Powell)
What if, when devastating natural disaster strikes, companies choose to step-up alongside government, NGOs, and NPOs to pledge money in support of relief efforts?
The crippling crisis in Haiti has been no different as seen in this GOOD Visual of Aid. But what if we could shift that approach to a potentially more successful model? One the creates more business impact for companies and more social impact for the cause.
What if we could bridle the millennial passion for service and match with the burdensome need in Haiti?
What if colleges, students, companies, and Haitian relief organizations partnered for a special “Haitian Helping Hand” service opportunity this summer? For a month during summer break, students could apply for company-sponsored grants to travel to Haiti and help the relief efforts, plus assist in rebuilding and revitalizing the country in whatever educational focus they’re pursuing: business, marketing, finance, architecture, engineering, etc. In return they would receive college credit, and a once in lifetime opportunity to serve and truly help change the world.
What if a marketing major could lend a Haitian Helping Hand to advise small business on the best strategy for relaunching?
What if an art major could help restore the literal and proverbial creative soul damaged in the earthquake?
What if, on behalf of the sponsoring brands, students would blog about their daily experiences, learnings and teachings. Enabling a robust cause marketing platform from which the brand could promote itself and generate incremental relief donations. It’s what if Peace Corps met Study Abroad met AmeriCorps met Kiva Fellows met Pepsi Refresh Project.
What if universities also sent professor’s along to help provide in-field guidance?
What if the brands lent more than sponsorship dollars and marketing leverage, but also pledged innovation funds towards building sustainable business in that region?
What if those entrepreneurial minded students sent back more than Facebook posts and YouTube videos, but also actionable ideas for their sponsoring companies to consider? And what if they could further pursue those ideas through an internship and incubator program once school was back in session?
Through the course of human history, we’ve always found a way to come back stronger. To learn something about ourselves and our fellow man in the midst of tragedy. Let’s keep challenging the status quo, even when the status quo is “good.”
Brian Powell is an advocate of ideas with business and social impact and a Managing Director at TracyLocke. He comments on cause marketing at thegoodconcepts.com and on twitter @goodconcepts. Join him Wednesdays using #whatifwed for ongoing conversations to challenge current mindsets and models.
Links to Other Big Ideas: 1/29/10
Here are a few articles and blog posts that we have found that offer some keen insights, new thinking, or different ways to look at the ways we address causes and respond to disasters.
Must Reads:
US State Department, Dipnote Blog:
How Best Can People Pool Knowledge To Develop Solutions to Global Challenges?
Petra Nemcova, Huffington Post:
Haiti: What Have We Learned From Past Disaster?
Allison Fine, A. Fine Blog:
Time For A Nonprofit Natural Disaster Plan
Chronicle of Philanthropy:
Cellphone Giving Not Without Its Potential Drawbacks, Says Advocate
What Posts & Articles Did We Miss?
Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Why We Need a Give Registry for Disaster Relief
The devastation of the Haiti earthquake has motivated thousands of well intentioned individuals and groups to provide support and assistance. Yet, so often in the most critical early days of a disaster, our good intentions — driven by the initial shock and horror — lead us into actions that are misguided, creating unnecessary distraction or additional, counter productive work.
Good Intentions Gone Wrong
For instance, recently, a collection occurred in Brooklyn for donations of food and medical supplies for a Haitian orphanage. The volume of donations was breathtaking in its generosity. But it also included boxes of ramen noodles, canned goods, and bottled water — all of which needed to be shipped to Haiti at considerable cost. With more information, this group might have realized that it was better to collect money for the food supplies and purchase them locally, freeing their precise cargo space for more medical supplies, which are not as easy to procure locally.
Photo Credit: Eirini Vourloumis for The New York Times
New Disasters, Same Problem
This misguided philanthropy is not unique to the Haitian earthquake, it happens after all disasters. In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the surrounding areas, were overwhelmed with well meaning donations of food, clothing and baby supplies.
Those early shipments arrived and were stored in donated warehouses while relief teams were still working to evacuate and relocate residents. Unfortunately, storm surges ruined the warehouses and damaged many of the goods stored there.
Volunteers tasked with salvaging these donations were overwhelmed by the abundance of inappropriate donations. Donations like clothing too worn and tattered to be serviceable; frivolous clothing like bathing suits and evening gowns; perishable foods like fresh vegetables and fruits.
Not only were these donations a waste of money but now volunteers had to figure out a way to dispose of all these misguided donations at a time when all disposal resources were focused on clearing out the debris from the Hurricane and the storm surges.
Now, the media is reporting that there is a desperate need for tents to house the hundreds of thousands of Haitian survivors. Well meaning individuals will comb through their attics or go to their local outdoor sporting goods store to find and ship tents to Haiti. Some of those tents will be a godsend; others will be a waste.
The Give Registry: Coordinated Generosity
In fairness, most individuals and companies are not experts in disaster relief; we don’t know what is needed and when. We don’t have a checklist or “give” registry that would help us donate the right items — much the way we rely on bridal and baby registries to select the perfect wedding and baby shower gifts. In those registries, we’re given a list of options and told the brand name, color, size and quantity.
What if we had that type of registry for disasters? Anyone with a computer or smartphone could review the list. They could choose to send money for those specific items or donate from items that they have on hand that matched the requested item or items. And, unlike bridal or baby registries that enable only one family to draft and receive from the registry, this Give Registry would allow any approved relief organization to add their request and receive the donations.
In addition, this registry would contain short background information on the area, its climate, its culture — perhaps sourced from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Relief or the U.S. Army.
For those who believe that each disaster is unique and that precious time would be wasted, I would counter that all disasters have basic needs of providing portable water, medical care, food and shelter. Of those, shelter is the most variable given the local environment but portable water, medical supplies, and food are not. In fact, many disaster relief organizations and the U.S. Army are quite aware of the basics that are needed for any disaster mission; that list needs to be shared more widely so that our collective actions accurately reflect our good intentions.
An uber registry of all relief requests could help us solve this problem.
To Help Haiti & Others, Companies Need to Get off Their Assets (Joe Waters)
Just as with each passing day there’s less hope that someone will be pulled alive from its crumbled buildings, hope is fading that Haiti will live long in our consciousness. It’s only a Super Bowl and a major snowstorm away from being a segue to another conversation.
“Those poor people. Are the Oscars on next week?”
In steps American business, which can drive public support, instead of just following it. Don’t get me wrong, U.S. companies have given generously to Haiti, donating tens of millions to its aid and rebuilding. But no one entity can keep Haiti’s plight in front of the American people better than the businesses that feed, clothe, entertain and accessorize them.
Here’s how they can lead the charge.
Share their assets with the public. Donating cash is just a start. Businesses need to open their doors so consumers can leverage their assets to dramatically increase giving to Haiti. Take what Applebee restaurants has done for other causes.
Apple Gold Group is opening the doors of its 72 Applebee’s restaurants in North Carolina, Arkansas and Oklahoma to nonprofit groups on the weekends, inviting them to host a pancake breakfast fundraiser and helping them run it. The cost to the restaurants is minimal; fundraisers are held when they’re normally closed.
Giving consumers access to key assets turns the wheels of giving. Whether it’s Applebees opening the doors to its restaurants, a local sports team handing concessions over to volunteers for a day, or even Starbucks giving away its coffee beans so nonprofits can benefit from the sale of them. Access sends out ripples of giving that go well beyond a company check.
Tap the power cause marketing. I love the story about when Product RED was just getting started and U2’s Bono was pitching it to companies. I can’t remember whether they were really moved by what Bono said or just impressed by meeting one of the biggest rock stars on the planet, but a lot of companies offered to write a check on the spot for Product RED.
Bono turned them down.
He insisted that if they wanted to help RED they had to create a product from which RED would receive a percentage. Several years later, Bono has 130 million good reasons why he didn’t accept the easy check. Because that’s how much RED has raised through cause marketing pacts with corporate partners.
Bono didn’t look to the corporate checkbook and neither should we. The real money is in the access businesses offer for generous consumers to give. We all know this is true for big companies. But think of the potential for small and medium-sized companies that are just awakening to the opportunities of cause marketing and working with their customers.
I’ve seen this firsthand with my nonprofit and two longstanding corporate partners you’ve probably never heard of: iParty and Ocean State Job Lots. Combined they have 140 stores in New England (compare that to 8,000 Walmart stores). Despite being regional players in their respective businesses–iParty sells party supplies and Ocean State is a discount retailer–these two companies have raised close to $1.5 million for my charity over the past five years through cause marketing initiatives.
Both iParty and Ocean State Job Lots are committed to raising the most money possible to fund our mission. And while both companies have always supported us with their checkbooks, they knew their support was incomplete without their cashiers and checkouts and customers.
That’s the kind of commitment and drive we need from all businesses if we plan to keep the fire burning for Haiti and to raise more money. Companies need to be as hard-nosed and innovative in giving as they are in business.
It’s no longer business as usual. In the second decade of this century businesses of all sizes need to get off their assets and get serious about the business of giving.
Joe Waters (@joewaters) is Director of Cause Marketing for Boston Medical, publishes a popular cause marketing blog at Selfishgiving.com, and is founder of SixFigurcausemarketing.com.
Letter From The First Day In Haiti (Billy Shore)
Billy Shore (@BillShore) is the founder and executive director of Share Our Strength. He traveled to Haiti this past week as part of a relief mission and shared this firsthand perspective today on their blog. It has been cross-posted with permission.
“The most dangerous place in the world right now is the sky over Haiti. It is filled with so many helicopters in a very small space. One has already crashed” warned the airport official briefing our pilot.
The Blackhawk we were supposed to fly to Port au Prince from the Dominican Republic had been cancelled at the last minute but I didn’t mind because the only word I’ve ever associated with the word Blackhawk is the word “down.” Instead we flew a smaller chopper, low enough to get a taste of the destruction and suffering we were soon to meet face to face.
With Wyclef we went to Cite de Soleil, one of the poorest areas of Port au Prince. We were there to distribute food from a truck stuffed top to bottom with Styrofoam containers of cooked meals. The combination of Wyclef and the food led to an almost instant crush of thousands of Haitian children and their parents for as far as the eye could see.
In our work I’ve often seen the gratitude that comes from families receiving meals. What I’d never seen before was the panic on the faces of so many people who knew better than I did that the food would run out before we’d served even a fraction of those who’d had nothing but an energy biscuit or power bar in the ten days since the quake struck.
The crowd became larger and surged forward. A few fights broke out, but there was no real violence, just hunger in the starkest and truest sense. At one point the crowd broke through a formidable team of private security and we were pinned against the truck. Timberland CEO Jeff Swartz and I locked eyes in realization of the fragility of a moment that could go either way. Wyclef grabbed a bullhorn and tried to calm the crowd but even his celebrity was no match for their desperation. The only option was for the truck, almost empty, to speed away, to another neighborhood, where after restocking we began again.
Before I got to Haiti, Share Our Strength had distributed $145,000 to the most effective organizations on the ground here. More has come in since. I like to think we excel at long term solutions, entrepreneurship, and bold thinking. The time will soon come when such competencies are invaluable. But none of that was worth a pile of concrete rubble in Port au Prince this week. What was required instead was Mother Teresa’s prescription of hands willing to serve and hearts willing to love, which your generosity has enabled us to support.
Now the real test of commitment begins. I could have lived with myself if we’d chosen not to make this trip, but having made it I won’t be able to live with not going back to continue what we’ve begun. The airport official who conducted our helicopter briefing was wrong. The greatest danger is not the sky above Port Au Prince, or Cite de Soleil where there was no violence, only desperation. The real danger is whether our hearts and heads have the capacity to continue to bear witness after the headlines fade and the benefit concerts end, and our lives once again refocus on the many needs even closer to home.
On our second day in Haiti we met the heroic Partners in Health docs and soldiers of the 82nd Airborne who have rebuilt Haiti’s general hospital and are working in conditions beyond my ability to describe. But tomorrow I’ll try with a final update from the end of our trip. Many thanks or your interest and good wishes.
Not-For-Profits Learn from Haiti Disaster Just How Effective Social Media Can Be (Shelly Kramer)
Looking over photographs from Port-au-Prince showing in graphic detail the devastation in Haiti is gut-wrenchingly sad. It literally makes me want to pack a bag and head over there and help. Since that’s not possible, I’ve donated money, gathered items to take to UPS to ship over there, and done all I can to help spread the word about various fund raising undertakings to help the survivors. It doesn’t seem like very much, in the big scheme of things, but it’s what I can do, for now, so that’s what I’m focusing on. And there are many other people doing the same thing – all over the world.
The impressive thing, from the standpoint of not-for-profit groups out there, is that the Haiti disaster is a textbook example of how effective social media can be when it comes to awareness and fund raising. And there’s one simple reason: not-for-profit groups are typically about just one thing – people. And social media – well, that’ s all about people, too. So, when you can effectively connect people who need with people who care, and people who want to help and make a difference, beautiful things happen. This photograph from Haiti really brought that concept home for me.
*Haitian woman photograph courtesy AP/Jorge Cruz
Mobile marketing has played a huge role in the Haitian fund raising efforts and will continue to do so for not-for-profit groups who are savvy enough to integrate mobile into their marketing strategies. Mobile is inexpensive, immediate and easy for consumers to respond to – all of that spells success for not-for-profits and fund raising efforts. According to a January 19th report from CNN.com, the Red Cross has raised a staggering $21+ million as a result of their $10 donation campaign (text Haiti to 90999), sanctioned by the US State Department; definitive proof that asking for a small amount and making it quick and easy for people to give that amount contribute greatly to the overall success of an undertaking. The campaign raised $3 million in the first 24 hours alone, and by Thursday, 1/14, that total was at $10 million, only to more than double in the space of just a few days.
And what’s even more mind-blowing is that in all of 2009, a total of $4 million was donated to all charities. Kind of makes you have a lot more respect for social media, now, doesn’t it?
Ben Parr’s recent Mashable article is a great overview of the impact of social media in the world today and its impact on Haiti, China and the world. He sagely reminds us that social mediums aren’t the be-all, end-all when it comes to making a difference. But, what they, coupled with technology, mobile and otherwise, do allow, is for us to disseminate information quickly and efficiently, mobilize and organize fund raising efforts and lay the ground work for what’s to come. Parr’s post ends with the words “It’s up to us, the people, to make the real impact on our world.” I think that says it all.
Once again, not-for-profits are about people. Social mediums are comprised of people. And when you put the two together, whether it’s to lend a hand and raise money in times of crisis or whether it’s to help raise money for the local animal shelter, social media simply makes good sense for agencies trying to do good.
Shelly Kramer (@ShellyKramer) is the Founder and Chief Imagination Officer of V3 Integrated Marketing and Kramer & Co, both headquartered in Kansas City, MO, and doing business with clients all over the world. This post was published on January 19, 2010 and has been reposted with permission.
