Can Social Media for Social Change Reinvent Charity Work? Maybe! | The New York Observer

Description

On a Saturday night in early March, Matthew Knell asked New Yorkers to stay in and sit in front of their computer screens. Mr. Knell, MTV’s senior manager of social media product development--along with Gradon Tripp, who works in business development for online donation company Firstgiving , and Meg Fowler, a Vancouver-based writer—had organized a virtual “pajama party” for their charity organization, Social Media for Social Change . On SM4SC's Web site, they describe the organization's mission: “We want to use the tools that are helping businesses and companies grow to do something more than make a buck… we want them to make a difference.”

On March 7, the group organized the online event, called Stay In and Help Us, and asked people to calculate how much money they usually spend to go out on a Saturday night (say, $40 at the movie theater or $80 for dinner and drinks) and donate that amount to raise funds for City Harvest, a New York-based nonprofit organization that rescues food from restaurants and supermarkets and delivers it to programs that feed the hungry. For entertainment, Stay In and Help Us participants could check out Twitter and Tumblr for real-time commentary and live audio and videocasts of others participating in the cause. The organization raised about $1,400 within six hours. On March 26, they asked their online buds to participate in another Twitter-based event, TenBuckThursday , to fuel online donations .

On April 3, Messrs. Tripp and Knell are hosting a more traditional charity event for City Harvest—a swanky cocktail party at the Roger Smith Hotel, with an open bar, live music and an auction. SM4SC is part of a unique collection of charity organizations that combine traditional fund-raising tactics—parties, mixers, events—with the power of social media to not only spread the ...

Original URL

http://www.observer.com/2009/media/can-social-media-social-change-reinvent-charity-work-maybe

http://www.observer.com/2009/media/can-social-media-social-change-reinvent-charity-work-maybe