Online Hits The Year-End Mark

Trying to stand out from the crowd is nothing new in fundraising. Nonprofits compete for the attention of donors/consumers not just from other charities but also from corporations. So what is striking about recent year-end giving campaigns is the proliferation of the use of online strategies to raise not only monies but also awareness of giving and doing good.

Via its "You In?" campaign, Yahoo hoped to spur people to do random acts of kindness - http://kindness.yahoo.com/ "You In" expands upon Yahoo's ongoing, Purple Acts of Kindness campaign.

Participants in the "You In?" campaign are asked to post, in the space of 129 characters, a random act of kindness. Yahoo will then use its network to share the deed with others. As of this writing 315,989 acts were posted. There is also a global map that enables one to see his/her posting by clicking on the purple heart. However, one's act will display only if the posting was set to "Everyone." Posters and visitors can use the map to visit another part of the country or planet. I went to Australia and clicked on the purple heart over Sydney. That person was donating lots of clothing to the local Salvation Army.

The "You In?" home page also has links to Network for Good ("Give a Good Card", Global Giving ("Fund a Global Project"), and Donors Choose ("Sponsor a Classroom").

The MediaPost article, Yahoo Is Latest Brand To Join Random Acts, which brought Yahoo's campaign to my attention also noted Genworth Financial's TV ad that applauds caregivers and its Facebook page that allows beneficiaries of care to thank their caregivers.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=119560

The web was atwitter with charitable tweets and chock-a-block with Facebook promotions as 2009 drew to a close.

In its story, Nonprofits Update Tactics To Cut Through Holiday Fundraising Clutter, ClickZ reported on a small charity, The Staley Foundation, which used tweets to raise $3,500 in a day.

The story also detailed how Chase used Facebook to get individuals to vote for nonprofits each of which would receive $25,000 from the bank.

http://www.clickz.com/3635947

The MediaPost article, Whole Foods Market Launches New Giving Effort, detailed how the Whole Foods was building food awareness by encouraging shopper to share their 'This Is My Year to..." resolutions in-store and on Facebook.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=119745

Winnie Hsia's post on the Whole Foods blog explains that there are three goals for the campaign, to: "know where my food comes from, choose organic, and share my plate." Whole Foods, Odwalla, and Health Magazine teamed up to to donate $10,000 each to: The Non-GMO Project, The Organic Center’s Mission Organic 2010, and Growing Power. An additional $10,000 will be given to one of the three nonprofits that receives the most support from Facebook users. To participate, one had simply to download the Facebook app and choose the favorite. A participant can cast one vote a day throughout the month of January.

http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2009/12/this-is-my-year-to%E2%80%A6do-good-on-facebook/

Whole Foods is also selling its third annual Whole Planet Foundation calendar. The calendar is only $2 and purchasers receive $30 in coupons plus the proceeds from the sale benefit the foundation's microcredit clients.

http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2009/12/calendar-doing-good-great-coupons/

ClickZ's Kate Kaye revealed Haagen-Dazs' sweet spot in the article, Haagen-Dazs Re-Ups Social Cause Campaign for Honey Bees, Again. The company is continuing a "Help the Honeybees" Twitter campaign that began in September. Social media company, Experience Project, manages the campaign. Participants are asked to share the five things that are essential to their lives. The five things helps to reinforce brand awareness of the new Haagen-Dazs "Five" ice cream line that is made with only five natural ingredients.

http://www.clickz.com/3635989

To post his/her five essential things, a visitor has to sign up or log into their Experience Project account. Once signed up on logged on, the user is asked to 1) share the five essentials, 2) check of the featured groups, 3) check out the featured videos, 4) select and send a virtual honey bee to a friend, and 5) Play a trivia game. Though actions 1 through 4 do raise awareness of the disappearance of the honey bee, action 5 is the one with actual monies going to a charity. With every correct answer to a Trivia Game question, Experience Project will make a donation to North America Pollinator Protection Campaign (http://www.nappc.org/). I could not find the specific dollar amount donated per correct answer.

I was also confused by the "Bee Buzz" section on the "Help the Honey Bees" page. The counter notes that 438,866 bee buzzes have been generated. Yet when I clicked on the "Make A Buzz" button I was taken to another page of "Featured Challenges" but neither the page nor the challenges had anything to do with helping the bees.

Participants are encouraged to spread the word about the plight of honey bees by sharing on Facebook, voting for the campaign on Digg, giving it a thumbs up on StumbleUpon, voting on Reddit, and adding it on Del.icio.us

There is a separate Facebook app which allows Facebook users to choose a cartoon honey bee that can be sent to a friend. Or a user can choose one of two Haagen-Dazs Loves Honey Bees icons or one of serveral pictures of a Haagen-Dasz ice cream container to send to a friend. By sending bees, icons, or pictures to friends users can build their hives. Facebooks users can also play the Trivia Game and sign up to join the "Help the Honeybees" campaign.