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Allyson Kapin 4 min read

American Giving Challenge Raises $2.1 Million Dollars for Charity

If your nonprofit has been contemplating entering online fundraising contests, check out the 2009 American Giving Challenge report released by the Case Foundation. Over the course of 30 days, individuals competed for donors donations and matching awards for their favorite charities. The challenge raised $2.1 million dollars for nonprofits from over 105,000 donations.

“The open design enabled any individual supporting any organization to enter the contest, and truly leveled the playing field between large established institutions and smaller grassroots organizations, said Sokunthea Sa Chhabra, Director of Interactive Communications for the Case Foundation.

Here are a few key statistics and highlights from the report.

  • More than 82,000 individual donors made 105,000 donations to nearly 8,000 causes with an average gift of $17.73
  • There was a demonstrated shift in the adoption of social media by nonprofit organizations themselves:  in the 2007-2008 Giving Challenge, a significant number of cause champions were volunteers; and in the 2009 Challenge, 40% of champions were staff of the competing nonprofit (only 25% identified as volunteers).
  • Personal connections, compelling use of videos and storytelling, and repeatedly thanking donors for gaining support for causes proved to be important elements for success in the challenge.

The report also highlighted common characteristics for winners:

Personal appeals and good storytelling to pre-existing networks of donors and friends through multiple channels were most effective methods for fundraising. Contest participants rated the following as most useful:

  • messaging to friends via Facebook
  • personal emails to friends, family and colleagues
  • emails to organizations existing donors.

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Allyson Kapin

Allyson has been named one of "Top Tech Titans" by the Washingtonian, one of the Most Influential Women In Tech by Fast Company, and one of the top 30 women entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter by Forbes for her leadership role in technology and social media. As Founding Partner of Rad Campaign, she leads the firm's client and online strategic services. For over a decade Allyson has helped non-profit organizations and political campaigns create dynamic and award-winning websites and online marketing and recruitment campaigns. She works side-by-side with her clients to meet their web needs and maximize their online effectiveness to create real world impact.

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