Success Story: Facebook Fundraising
by Jessica High

A 19 year old girl, Michelle Miles, from Arkansas started a page through Facebook’s Causes application for the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation (ACHF). Her goal originally simply was to create awareness at first. Miles just invited her friends first and encouraged them to invite others, all the while keeping the page updated and setting a fundraising goal. This page grew faster than expected though.

Miles’ cause now has 5.2 million supporters all through Facebook.

ACHF was not even aware of the cause Miles had created until several months after it began. From May 2008 to May 2009, the cause added nearly 13,000 members each day. It also has yielded $50,000 in donations.

$50,000 in donations may not seem like a huge number in comparison to the typical fundraising a hospital’s foundation might yield. The fact that this amount of money came though without any effort from the foundation’s fundraising staff sends a huge message. Jennifer Selig, the foundation’s director of development says, “Imagine what that effort could be with a strategy.”

ACHF is now realizing the power of social media. Their online donations in the past year have grown, in part due to the Facebook Causes’ page. ACHF decided to hire a person to handle marketing, including social networking.

The power of social media is not just about the donations raised. The strength really of Facebook is that it creates visibility and connection with people. “Friendraising is the first step before fundraising,” says Selig. Through Facebook or other similar tools, not only can organizations make fundraising appeals, but they can promote their fundraising events, find new supporters, and have a chance to tell their story in a relevant way.

This is not to say that an organization cannot survive without social media; however, there is tremendous energy that can be harnessed through social media. Using Twitter, creating a Facebook page, or writing a blog all are ways to drive traffic back to organization.

“The goal is to create as many platforms and portals as possible, providing people with different opportunities that the organization eventually will cross-link and cross-pollinate,” says Ben Tanzer, the senior director of strategic communication at Prevent Child Abuse America.

There is the potential for creating an incredible movement, and we are starting to the beginnings. It’s time to get started.

Additional information taken from The NonProfit Times article “Facebook: Where 5 million equals 50,000”

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