Raising a Quick 500 for Cancer

March 24, 2008 · Comments

charitybadge In just under two hours, we raised over $500 US for a cancer walk sponsorship for Susan. It was fun getting the word out via Twitter, and I’m SO very grateful to all the people who contributed to the cause. You might remember we sent a woman to college using Twitter for half of the fundraising. This was a similar mechanism. Basically, I tweeted, and asked people to retweet the request until we raised what I set out to raise.

WHY I Did It

Much as I support giving to cancer as a worthy thing, my main reason for getting people to give was more about showing others how they can use Twitter and other social platforms to support charitable causes. Is it sustainable? Not really. Is it the BEST way to raise tons of money for a cause? No.

Did it make a lot of people feel good about themselves for a cost of only $10 – 20 *and* support a worthy cause? Yes!

Don’t ask me to raise money for your cause. Use these tools and your networks and raise it yourself. That’s the major point. YOU can do this. There’s nothing that makes my request any better than anyone else’s. I just sent the request and asked others to spread it across their own networks. Ultimately, people give because it makes them feel better.

Go ahead, make some change in the world, and show them that things like Twitter are for much more than talking about being stuck in traffic.

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  • Hi Chris,
    It's an excellent post. I hope that there will be a very effective measure to prevent and also to cure all kinds of cancer. When I read articles about cancer, I ´m thinking about what cancer really is and the most people doesn´t know. Cancer is the mutation of the normal cell of the body after reproducing itself. And this only happens after an attack to the DNA. This must be protected.
  • kitykity
    Hi Chris,

    As I've already said, I am very thankful for the support I received. This wasn't my original intent, but it worked out incredibly. I will be doing the walk this November, and I will be asking each of my friends individually to help with this incredible cause. 60 miles is no little jaunt down the street! :)

    With that being said, I think re-tweeting definitely makes a difference. A person with 250 friends can ask them to re-tweet; and if it hits just one or two of the right people, it ends up being as large as this response did.

    One more thing--I have been amazed by how many lives are affected by breast cancer. This is my third 60-mile walk, and starting from the very first one, just about every single person I talked to said they had a mother, sister, friend, etc. close to them who had gone through breast cancer. It's astounding.

    Thanks again, and keep up the wonderful, encouraging posts and topics! :)

    Susan
  • The retweeting thing made a big difference. Thanks for highlighting that, Amanda. That's definitely what made the thing grow legs. Oh, and I asked a few "big names" to help, and that didn't hurt, either. : )
  • Was the key in asking others to join in and "retweet"?

    I cannot imagine that didn't hurt.

    What if you had done the same thing over a 24-hour period? What if you had asked additional persons to "retweet"?

    As a novice, I was very impressed and encouraged.

    Thank you!
  • Both of you have good points.
  • But that's not to say that it can't be done. I only have as many followers because I've built the network.

    Yes, it'd take more time/effort for someone still growing their community, but the fact remains that the tools are there for simple transfer of value, and that the promotional opportunities are out there. If not in Twitter than in blogs, Facebook, and beyond.

    Way different than when I'd have to go door to door asking for money for the "Walk for Hunger" campaign.
  • Rachel Luxemburg
    Chris, you have just shy of five thousand followers, which is orders of magnitude more than most people on Twitter do. All you needed was a 1% response rate of $10 donations and bang - $500.

    That's not to say that people with only a couple dozen or a couple hundred nodes in their network cannot pull off what you did, but not anywhere near as easily or as quickly. Do the same math for someone with 250 followers and they'd raise just $25.
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