It just became a whole lot easier for YouTube creators to raise funds for Kickstarter and Indigogo projects via YouTube. Yesterday YouTube announced that creators can now link directly to fundraising pages on Kickstarter or Indigogo through YouTube Annotations.
Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews. 
A new infographic from MDG Advertising takes a look at how social media played into fundraising in the 2008 elections and what we can expect on the political fundraising front in 2012.
When well-known Dutch Filmmaker Eddy Terstall wanted to raise money for a new short film called DEAL he decided to turn to his fans online. To entice people to donate, Terstall created mini movies based on tweets from people that donated money. He called it Eddy’s TwitFlicks.
Project Kaisei, a non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention and clean up of marine debris, is doing something a little bit taboo with their latest fundraising campaign—they are threatening a goldfish with polluted waters to entice potential donors to take action.
With just about to year to go before the biggest sporting competition in the world, the United States Olympic Committee is turning to Facebook to seek support for athletes that capture the attention of the country for two weeks every four years.
Beginning on June 14 through July 31, the USOC will run its “Join Team USA” campaign on Facebook, soliciting donations and support from fans. According to the Associated Press, about 80 percent of the USOC’s operating budget goes to support programs for the athletes, items that include health benefits and bonuses.
The social network promotion will act in tandem will live events around the country, as the U.S. Olympic team travels around the nation to promote the games. While athletes will visit different cities, they will also take part in live events broadcast on Facebook, including online chats. The London 2012 Summer Games will take place from July 27 through August 12.
“Who are the Seans?” one might ask. Well, they may not officially be ‘The Seans’ just yet, but if their most recent venture blows up, they may well achieve that single name, ‘Winkelvii’ type status (without the d-bag-y conotations). Individually, you just may have heard of them though. Sean Parker? You know – that guy played by the pop star in one of last year’s biggest movies, Founding President of Facebook; the one that seems to have the Midas Touch with any tech startup? That Sean. Then there’s Shawn Fanning (sorry buddy, the ‘Sean’ spelling is more popular). In creating Napster, he almost single-handedly changed (Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich would write that as ‘destroyed’) the music industry. Yeah, they’ve done stuff.
Stop updating your powerpoint find the support that really matters. Pitchdecks don’t write checks, people do.
Elmer Sotto, head of growth for Facebook in Canada, addressed the attendees of the 30th International Fundraising Congress happening this week and explained exactly why non-profits shouldn’t use Facebook only for fundraising – and what they should use it for.
Group buying is all the rage these days, as people flock to daily deals sites like Groupon and LivingSocial to get their fix. But this type of consumerism has a charitable side too, known as cause commerce. BiddingForGood, one of the largest group commerce sites out, there isn’t just about giving people the best deals – it’s about doing good: BiddingForGood’s auction platform is set up so that charities keep 91% of the merchandise sales from their auctions with BiddingForGood’s revenue share reaching up to 9%.
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While the uninitiated may think of virtual worlds as an escape from real-life, the effects that virtual worlds have on our selves and the world around us beg to differ. There are many ways that virtual worlds impact the real world, but one of the most profound is through awareness and fundraising campaigns. Charities and non-profits have a growing presence in virtual worlds, often teaming up with the creators to run world-wide events to raise real money for a good cause. The reach that a charity can have on a virtual network as opposed to real-world is wide, and often results in more impact for less money. Here are five successful examples of non-profits that have made a real-life difference while raising awareness and money on virtual worlds.
