Allison Fine and I have been working on an evaluation of the second America’s Giving Challenge. As part of the process, we are facilitating “Conversational Case Studies” that explore some of the themes that have surfaced from surveys.
This case study explores how a small nonprofit, Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), a contest winner in the first and second America’s Giving Challenges, is using social media effectively. SFT carefully vets contest participation to ensure it will be worth their time and energy as well as ensuring that the contest strategically aligns with their goals. They also understand how to avoid donor fatigue, the potential downside to online contests.
The case study brings up some great questions that we’d love to discuss with you:
How does your organization vet online contest opportunities?
If an online contest has brought you new members and supporters, how do you continue to build your connection to them once the contest is over?
Come join the discussion!
Jos Myers says
I tried to comment on the case study blog itself, but it is catching me on a spam filter for some reason…
I’ve looked into the idea of contests before, but when you are dealing with small groups with small numbers of volunteers it just doesn’t seem possible to win these things. There are plenty of companies that offer small grants for small projects, but when you are competing with 10,000 other organizations, it seems like you would usually be better just expending that energy to raise money through traditional forms.