Organizations raise awareness through social media

By: Carrie Donovan

ATHENS, Ga. -- Social networking sites have long been the preferred forums for updating hundreds of your closest friends about impending lunch plans and killing time between mid-day classes, but they are now providing a new layer of philanthropic utility as well.

Today, university organizations such as Relay for Life are using new technological innovations to their advantage, promoting their causes via Facebook and other social networking sites and developing new strategies to raise money on campus.

Last week marked the kick-off of Relay’s newest fundraising initiative: the 48in48 campaign.

This e-mail-based initiative encouraged students to shoot for a goal of $48,000 in two days. By visiting 48in48.org, and importing their address book, participants were able to send donation forms to family, friends and professors in a few seconds.

According to Justin Mann, executive director for UGA’s Relay for Life, the e-mail campaign was the beginning of a positive trend towards online fundraising and awareness building.

"Our Web site makes it simpler for people to remember," Mann said after the first day of fundraising. "The campaign created a sense of urgency, and donations came in quicker compared to other fundraising methods. At this time we’ve raised $16,000 with 25 more hours to go."

This is also Relay’s first year having a Facebook Fanpage and Twitter account. To date, the group has registered almost 2,200 participants, and Mann expects that the new sites are to thank for Relay’s increased fundraising progress in the 2009-2010 school year.

"I believe [social networking] has definitely helped us, especially in this case with the 48in48," Mann said. "Our Web site has gotten over 1,200 page views so far today. At this time last year we had raised $18,000, now we are about to cross the $100,000 mark."

Muktha Natrajan, a third-year Biology major involved with Promote Africa, a nonprofit organization that supports development projects in several disadvantaged African communities, said that she thinks campus organizations could greatly benefit from the extra exposure that online outlets have to offer.

"People are just more into joining a cause if they see that their friends are involved on Facebook," Natrajan said.

Natrajan also stressed her support for a continuance of traditional fundraising methods in addition to new innovations. She said posters, benefit concerts and simply having professors announce events before class are all valuable tools that should be supplemented by e-mail-based programs, not replaced by them.

Also, for people who are not already involved in a campus organization, the internet provides an easy way to find out about causes they might consider supporting.

Emily Simpson, a third-year Interior Design major, said that she found out about Dawgs for Haiti, a campus-wide effort aimed at raising funds to help the victims of the recent earthquake, on her Facebook newsfeed.

"Someone had just changed their profile picture to that blue ribbon," Simpson said. "It just caught my eye, so I clicked on their profile and saw that they had joined the [Dawgs for Haiti] group."

Simpson, who spends most of her day in the far corners of East Campus working on lighting design, said she gets most of her campus news from friends, the internet and the occasional obsolete bus poster.

"The few times I ever walk through Tate [Plaza] it seems like there are always groups trying to raise money on the spot, but that seems kind of pointless to me anyways since most people aren’t paying attention and only want to get to class on time," Simpson said. "A facebook invite is a lot less annoying than a book bag full of flyers that you’ll probably lose or throw away anyways."

Editor: Katie Lazzara