A little more than one year ago, the biggest, most wide-spread, organically originated, fundraising campaign swept through social media. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge began when golfer Christ Kennedy accepted a challenged to donate money to a charity of his choice OR dump a bucket of ice over his head, post a recording of it on social media and nominate three others to the same within a day. Kennedy did this and one of his nominees chose to make a donation to the ALS association, as well as post a video and nominate three others. Simultaneously but unconnected, Peter Frates, a form Boston College baseball player currently living with ALS, posted a video on Facebook. The challenge then took on a life of its own and thousands upon thousands participated in the fundraising campaign raising unprecedented awareness and money for the ALS organization. There are some valuable lessons to be learned from this campaign.
The Power of Social Media
It is undeniable that social media was the star player in the ice bucket challenge’s success. Although one cannot guarantee the type of mega success that the ice bucket challenge received, it proves that social media platforms are a great tool to use, to promote awareness of any cause. Ask yourself the following questions regarding your social media strategy.
- What is my social media strategy?
- How often is my nonprofit active on social media pages?
- How many followers/fans does our organization have?
- When was the last time our page posted or interacted on social media?
If you want to play, you have to at the very least, get in the game.
How do we engage the millennials?
Another thing we learn from the ice bucket challenge is the power of the younger generation to support causes. The millennials want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They also want to know that their money is actually doing something good and making a difference. They are active social media users with influence. Learn how they think, what they are passionate about, what concerns do they have, and target a campaign to engage them. Read more about millennial giving habits here.
The fun factor
One reason for the ALS Ice Bucket campaign’s success was its fun factor. The campaign was engaging, specific, simple to do, sharable, and tapped into FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). If you weren’t challenged to participate you felt a little left out of the fun. This “X” factor was key to the viral nature of the campaign. Think outside the box.
Wide end of the funnel
Another key factors to the ALS success was its accessibility. Anyone could play. Whether you made a financial contribution or not you were still positively impacting the cause just by promoting awareness. Furthermore donations were made that ranged from $1 – $200,000 and every donation mattered.
Savvy organizations are taking a tip from the success of the ALS Ice Bucket challenge to find ways to create online community support that will ultimately lead to greater impact for their organizations. Online giving campaigns should definitely be a part of your future fundraising strategy to support your organizations mission.
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