I’m checked in at Starbucks, video chatting with my uncle in England, scanning pictures from this week’s Seahawks game and rescuing dogs from Hurricane Irene all at the same time from my Facebook account. What’s next, Facebook – foot rubs? While Facebook may not be coming out with foot rubs anytime soon, one thing that recently caught my attention was an application, or “app,” called Causes.
Causes (www.causes.com) is a social media platform used to increase awareness, gain support, and raise money for thousands of nonprofit organizations and specific issues around the world. The San Francisco-based company that launched Causes currently has 150 million users of its app and has raised more than $35 million since it initiated its website in 2007. The website provides an interactive interface from which nonprofits, activists, and philanthropic citizens can promote or support various causes around the world. By being on Causes, nonprofits and other groups can gain more visibility and donations than ever before.
Over the past four years, Causes has harnessed the power of social media to leverage greater support for its participating organizations and user-created issues. As stated on the Causes website, each cause includes “features for communications, such as bulletins and a media board, as well as the ability to feature current fundraising and advocacy campaigns.” In addition, each organization has the ability to send emails, create campaigns and share content over the web with a huge number of members.
Like many strategic online programs and applications, Causes has linked its website with Facebook by allowing users to create, join and broadcast a number of causes by using their own personal Facebook accounts. This connection has fueled an unparalleled level of success for fundraising and awareness for nonprofit organizations hosted on Causes’ website.
If a nonprofit has a good representation on Facebook or another social media outlet, it will most likely experience some degree of success with Causes. The first step to be successful on this platform is to initially have a wide range of supporters and connections. Once a cause is created, the organization or group can promote various fundraising projects to target the specific issues they want to tackle.
The Humane Society, for example, currently has a project titled “Help Save Animals Affected by Hurricane Irene.” This is one of many projects the Humane Society has created on its Causes’ main page. Each project allows organizations to specify the purpose, goal, timeline, dollar amount, and overall impact users will have if they participate or donate. For a detailed guide on how to fundraise successfully for an issue or organization, take a look at the suggestions on Causes’ website.
In addition, Causes provides general steps for getting started on its website as well as tools to recruit supporters. These tips include 1) how to a start cause; 2) build a group of supporters; 3) promote a cause and 4) begin fundraising.
The website has a number of other resources that answer specific questions and concerns when starting with Causes for the first time. You can find just about everything you need to know to start and be successful with Causes by visiting its resource webpage.
In today’s world, the fight to gain support and recognition for a specific issue or nonprofit organization can be truly a tough one, especially given the current economic climate. It is crucial, therefore, for nonprofits and other issue-specific organizations to capitalize on the publicity tools social media has to offer. By doing so, such organizations avoid falling under the radar and can work toward accomplishing their missions as well as spreading their messages more extensively and effectively.
It is also important to remember that Causes is not the only social media app that can be used for fundraising. Follow the lead of many successful nonprofit and issue awareness organizations by leveraging a number of social media tools and outlets for driving awareness and support, as well as adhering to a strategic, multidimensional approach.
One last thing to keep in mind is that social media practices are changing rapidly, so the more up-to-date, savvy and creative you are with social media, the more successful you will be with whatever type of project you chose to tackle.
Katherine Turney