A 2009 New Year’s Social Media MicroDonation Resolution
by Sarah on January 6th, 2009
Happy New Year! For those of you undecided on your New Year’s resolution, you might consider one that will help to change the world in 2009. The homeless and “at-risk” population is greater than ever. Nonprofits, which often depend upon decreasingly wealthy corporations and philanthropists, find themselves supporting this unprecedented demand with an ever-decreasing coin coffer. Even if you cannot give huge sums of money to your favorite cause, you can still make a difference by contributing your spare change. Small donations, one donation at a time adds up and can play a large role in transforming peoples’ lives and building stronger communities. That is why in 2009, I am pledging to help change the world by becoming a social microfunder.
Social MicroFunding is the process of using social media websites, such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, to make very small donations (starting at a penny). According to Leslie Poston, founder of Uptown Uncorked, “the power of social media has never been about solely about the conversation. . . Instead the power of social media is the ability to make genuine and valuable connections between businesses or people in a matter of moments.” You generate actual capital for your cause, simply by adding it to your social capital (i.e. befriending it on a social media site).
Consider these features of Social Microfunding:
• Low Personal Cost. The average micofunding donation range is from $0.25 to $4.50. That amount is less than a cup of coffee. You can skip the barista stand one-day a week and dontate the savings.
• Speed. It is quicker to donate then it is to brew a cup o coffee.
• Easy to Generate Greater Awareness. Click ‘Share with a Friend’ on Facebook or ‘Tweet it’ on Twitter to easily garner support for your favorite causes from across your degrees of separation.
• The “peace of mind” that derives from most social microfunding sites that use only trusted e-payment sites, such as PayPal, to collect your donation.
• Real Time Impact Evaluation. Most applications provide real-time funding updates so a donor can immediately see the impact of their microdonation.
The impact of Social Microfunding is truly astounding. In only two days time, Social MicroFunding raised $10,000 for a Tanzanian classroom and over a little longer period of time $2,200 was raised for the Salvation Army and $3,500 ws raised for Charity: Water. To learn more, please click here.
As somebody once told me when I said I could not give that much, “if everybody gave ‘not that much,’ imagine how much a cause could receive.” So let us resolve in 2009 to become a family of social microfunders.
Tags: community development, green banking, ShoreBank Direct, social media, socially responsible investing, triple bottom line
[...] networks can help find people emergency housing, enable microdonations to causes, bring real-time awareness to international human rights violations, or elect a president. [...]
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