Social Media and Philanthropy

By this time everyone has heard of the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS and now knows what ALS is. This is all due to an amazing social media campaign that took the world by storm. Not only are people dumping ice water on their heads and raising awareness of the disease, but they are also raising millions of dollars. One simple social media campaign did 2/3 of what their non-profit sets out to do-raise awareness and raise money for research and to help individuals with the disease. They also were able to successfully turn the more well-known name of ALS from Lou Gehrig’s Disease back to ALS. Most of the newer generations do not know who Lou Gehrig is so they are unable to relate to the disease. This new campaign enables younger generations to relate to the cause and bring a new light to the disease. All that is left to do is find the cure!

While watching your friends and family get drenched in ice cold water is great, there is a larger role that this challenge is doing for ALS and all non-profits. It opened the doors to a new way of non-profit fundraising and information distribution. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is one of the first times that social media has been used so extensively to fundraise and help a cause, raising over 53 million dollars for ALS research in just a few short weeks.

The reason for this wide spread popularity is very similar to the fab of selfies. Through posting a video of yourself being drenched in water it is reaching out to peoples exhibitionist tendencies similar to how selfies do. The younger generation is able to take something often thought of as boring (raising money for a non-profit and raising awareness) and turning it fun. This challenge was also started by a small group of people from Boston, which shows that a small group of people can make huge waves in the world. The message is also better spread because people are hearing about the disease through their friends and family instead of an article or representative. Hearing something from someone you personally know is usually more personal and sticks with a person better.

Hopefully the use of social media as a new fundraising tool can help many non-profits along the way. These viral trends can help to not just spread the word about causes and raise money, but also enable non-profits to focus advertising dollars elsewhere which can greatly help a cause in the long run. The use of social media in fundraising can also help to partially eliminate the problem of going after the same people year after year for donations. It can help to reach out to a new area of people and new wallets. In all, this new trend of social media outreach can be the difference for many organizations in their fundraising world, their research world and hopefully we will be able to find many cures for diseases and generate much needed aid in other areas. 

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/22/ice-bucket-challenge-success_n_5701218.html

http://philanthropy.com/article/How-the-Ice-Bucket-Challenge/148459/

http://fox11online.com/2014/08/24/media-experts-say-ice-bucket-challenge-could-change-way-non-profits-raise-money/