UGARelay’s Race to $48k

Winners of raffles at Relay Rally show off their prizes with Lauren Montero, far left, Assistant Director of Relay for Life.

By Megan Thornton

ATHENS, Ga.—The University of Georgia’s Relay for Life organization used social media to encourage participants to attend and donate to their kickoff event this semester, "48 in 48," which sought to raise $48,000 in a mere 48 hours.

Relay for Life is the signature event of the American Cancer Society, and every year more than 3.5 million people raise more than $450 million worldwide to fight cancer while celebrating survivors and remembering lost loved ones, according to the American Cancer Society’s Web site, http://www.cancer.org/.

The UGA Relay for Life team was the first college chapter founded in 2000 and has continued to be one of the largest in the country, according to their Web site, http://www.ugarelay.org/. During the kickoff event, "Relay Rally," which was held at the Tate Grand Ballroom on Tuesday, Jan. 26, the executive board announced its big plan: to earn $48,000 in 48 hours.

"We are all college kids with little to no budget for our organization," said Meredith Schneider, a member of Relay for Life’s public relations team. "Social media helps us get our message out there with big events like this and helps us raise lots of money for our cause."

The push was almost entirely backed by Twitter, Facebook, the group’s blog and Web site, http://www.48in48.org/, and at least 5,000 e-mails by relay participants.

"There are 2,000 participants, and if they raise $25 each, we will reach our goal," said Schneider, a senior public relations and art history major.

The participants had quite an incentive as well, with an iPod Touch and a $500 Best Buy gift card offered as prizes for the people who raised the most money and sent out the most e-mails.

The organization didn’t reach its goal by midnight, Jan. 28, but it has pulled together more than $30,000 with the number continuing to climb. Overall, the group has raised more than $105,000 this year, with the goal of reaching $350,000 by the 2010 UGA Relay for Life on April 23.

The group’s tactic was to "overcompensate on e-mailing, Facebook messages and Twitter updates, but be effective, since no one likes to be bombarded with donation requests. That would probably turn them off to the organization," said Schneider. "Facebook works best for us since we can easily invite a lot of students to a big event. We try to update Twitter with quick facts and other messages."

Facebook has an event calendar and message function that allows administrators of an event to remind those who are attending the details of the event. This helps UGARelay to stay in the minds of students and encourage more participation, said Lauren Montero, Assistant Director and a senior public relations major.

Inviting as many people as possible to be fans on these sites is important to grow UGARelay’s social network.

"Facebook really increases our exposure," said Executive Director Justin Mann, a junior marketing major. "We have over 3,600 fans. The executive board updates our statuses every day, and we will change our profile pictures to the poster for our next big event."

According to Mann, UGARelay only has 350 followers on Twitter, but utilizes it to personally contact more people.

Their social media tactics were initially suggested by their public relations team as a new tool to reach possible donors. Social media also helps connect UGA Relay to other relay teams throughout the United States.

"The Virginia Tech relay team follows us on Twitter, and so do much bigger relay organizations in Atlanta," said campus relations coordinator Caitlin Peterson. "It helps to be able to reach out to others with similar goals and see how they use social media to reach them."

The goal of UGARelay is to utilize all outlets to raise awareness and donations, and social media works for Relay for Life because most sites are free. Updating information requires a dedication that philanthropic people are accustomed to when promoting a cause, said Peterson.

"The more UGARelay gets out there on social media, more people will see us, be aware of our cause and hopefully help out."

To donate or learn more about Relay for Life at UGA, visit http://www.ugarelay.org/.

Edited by Courtney Clark