Case Study: How to Use Twitter to Generate Donations to Your Non-Profit Using the Twitpay RT2Give Social Media Fundraising Service
December 4, 2010 – Atlanta, GA USA – How do you use Twitter to generate donations to your non-profit (as well as grow your Twitter followers)? Let’s find out together.
To learn about the new Twitpay RT2Give social media fundraising campaign service – and to help the Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra (ACSO)* non-profit, my GREAT! Agency volunteered to implement the ACSO Twitpay RT2Give fundraising campaign. (The ACSO has agreed to let GREAT! share the results of this fundraising campaign with you.)
Learning How the Twitpay RT2Give Service Works is as Easy As 1, 2, 3 With this ACSO Example:
- On Twitter, Follow @ACSOrchetra
- On Facebook, “Like” the ACSO-Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra
- Please Re-Tweet This Tweet (click on the text below or Twitter graphic below):
Twitpay RT2Give Social Media Fundraising Service
Now for the Twitpay RT2Give “Secret Sauce” …. Re-Tweeting this (above) Tweet does three things:
- Viral: Twitpay makes it easy for your non-profit supporters to pass along your non-profit’s donation request to their Twitter Followers; potentially multiplying the impact of your initial Tweet many times over: that’s Viral!
- Donate From Twitter: When the message is re-Tweeted, the sender receives an @reply from @RT2Give_Confirm saying, (see screen grab below) “@uSCANme: You’re almost done! Please fill out easy 1-time form to complete your donation: http://rt2give.com/r/68.“. After registering to donate via Twitpay, s/he will receive a Direct Message (DM) asking him or her to confirm the donation. (If you re-tweet this (above) fund-raising tweet and then make the $25 donation to the Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra, you will experience the entire process from sending the Tweet – to making the donation.
- More Twitter Followers: As your non-profit Tweets get re-tweeted, more people will begin to Follow. (Most of the non-profits that get started with the Twitpay RT2Give service already have thousands of Followers. So, we have an extra challenge with @ACSOrchestra because we started with a new to social media non-profit with just six Twitter Followers – and just 75 that “Like” the ACSO-Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra on Facebook.
@RT2Give Donation Confirmation Tweet
To use the Twitpay RT2Give Service, you’ll need to think through a “be specific” fundraising campaign. Here are the “be specific” “talking points” we’re using for the ACSO (highlighted in blue):
$25 Donation Buys All Sheet Music for One Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra Musician
Donate Now: <—Sheet Music for 80 Musicians
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
Funding for the Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra (ACSO) is 100% by donations: and often $25 at a time!
Your $25 Donation Goes a Long Way. Examples: Your $25 Donation to the ACSO:
1. can purchase all sheet music for one musician for the 2011 concert season
2. can print 50 free playbills for one concert during the 2011 concert season
Without Your $25 donation, the ACSO May Need to:
- perform fewer concerts in 2011
- charge for concerts (that have traditionally been free)
- reduce our repertoire if we can’t afford to purchase additional music
Thank You For:
- your $25 donation to the Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra
- Following us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ACSOrchestra
- For re-tweeting (see below or use the “Tweet” Button)
With your help, your 80+ member community orchestra can continue to provide six free symphonic concerts in Georgia under Artistic Director and Conductor Juan R. Ramirez.
Your $25 donation will be acknowledged both by a donation thank you letter (receipt) and a listing in our 2011 playbills as a Friend of the Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra.
The ACSO 2010/2011 Concert Series Calendar: http://www.acsorch.org/acso_concert_schedule.html
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
ACSO Twitpay RT2Give "Donate (and Tweet) Now" Web Page
The Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra is the first Atlanta specific non-profit to use the new Twitpay RT2Give service. I first learned about Twitpay at Georgia Tech FutureMedia Fest 2010 and then shared the idea with the ACSO as a way to help the ACSO raise money and increase its social following. I also saw the Twitpay RT2Give service featured during Social Media Atlanta week. Nationally, U.S. non-profits already using the Twitpay service include:
- American Lung Association
- Care
- Children’s Miracle Network
- The Literacy Freedom Project
- Malaria No More
- National Wildlife Federation
- Red Cross
- United Way
Resources
To learn more about this social media fundraising service, please visit:
- Twitpay home page
- RT2Give home page
- Twitpay blog
- watch this Twitpay enrollment video
- read the Twitpay interivew in the Huffington Post
- Help Us End Malaria Example – Powered by Twitpay (Cause Supported by Twitter’s hope 140 initiative)
As Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey Tweeted on February 8, 2007: One can change the world with one hundred and forty characters.
Thank you in advance for your $25 donation to the ACSO; Following @ACSOrchestra on Twitter and “Liking” the ACSO-Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra on Facebook.
For an update on the ACSO Social Media Fundraising Campaign results using the Twitpay RT2Give service, please re-visit this page in January 2011 and look for a PostScript (below).
Shout-Outs
- Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra General Manager Lisa Ellinger – for championing the big pictures of the Twitpay RT2Give service among the Board of Directors of the ACSO (and then for your excellent and fast detailed follow-up.
- Twitpay EVP Customer Service John Beisner – for your contagious energy, passion and vision for Twitpay to helping nonprofits raise money and increase their social network.
- Twitpay Manager, Client Services & Marketing Joyce Scott – for your excellent RT2Give training and support.
Short URL For This Story
Twitpay In The News
Additional Resources
PostScript
[I will add a PostScript in January 2011. Thank you for checking back.]
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*my wife is a volunteer cellist in the Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra. She enjoys sharing the joy of classical music with the Atlanta community.
Disclosure
GREAT! is a Value-Added Reseller (VAR) of the Twitpay RT2Give social media fundraising campaign service. Commissions received by GREAT! from Twitpay for the ACSO Twitpay account will be donated to the Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra by GREAT! (GREAT! Twitpay RT2Give implementation services are provided free to the ACSO.)
