sOCial sunday tracks Social Media because it’s real business — notably, a hot marketing tool. We asked Orange County’s WunderMarx|PR to share their experienice using Twitter to help raise money for a non-profit client …
Mercy House (www.mercyhouse.net), an organization providing housing/homeless services, recently began fundraising with a monthly Twitter “TweetUp” — an in-person gathering of Twitter fans — held the first Monday of every month at Proof Bar (@proofbar) in Santa Ana. How does it work?
- To get people interested, we create Facebook invites, and “tweet” news of TweetUps to our Twitter followers. (Hashtag: #mhtweetup)
- Proof Bar donates 25% of event sales to Mercy House. They even created a signature “Heartini” drink for the event.
- Several local restaurants including Memphis and Lola Gaspar Restaurant and Bar donated appetizers. A local band “Adam’s Attic” provided entertainment.
- First five TweetUps for Mercy House at Proof Bar had attendance typically at 45-60 guests and each raised between $600 to $800.
- Next? July 6, from 5-8 p.m. (Follow @remarx or @proofbar)
If you are a nonprofit organization interested in hosting a TweetUp to raise money …
- Many restaurants are more than willing to serve as a venue for these types of events (especially in this economy!)
- Why? Because they typically bring in a substantial crowd. Many owners will donate a portion of the evening’s proceeds to your nonprofit organization.
- Some vendors will donate appetizers or food in exchange for publicity for their business.
- This type of fundraising is also a great way to spread information about your nonprofit through the Tweet-o-sphere. And Google loves Twitter, so when you “tweet” about your organization, the search results will improve and further increase the cause’s online awareness.
