Carie Lewis Wins $50,000 Microsoft Challenge Grant for HSUS on Facebook!

Last week I noticed this flyer from Microsoft on Facebook as an add and checked out it out.  HSUS won and Carie wrote up what she did and I'm sharing it below.

As many of you know, I get REALLY excited about social networking. More so than the average Facebooker, and more so than anyone in my organization. That's because when I started at the HSUS, I was obsessed with MySpace on a personal level, and I was challenge with the task of figuring out how the org could use it for their benefit of advocacy and fundraising.

I had no idea what I was getting into.

My job is fun. I've learned so much about MySpace and Facebook, and the people that use them. But it wasn't until a recent project that I really saw the potential and power that these networks have... especially when you really care about an issue on a personal level.

I am the project manager for the HSUS' partnership with Microsoft. Basically, we're one of 10 worthy charities (all doing fantastic work to make the world a better place) that receive a portion of Microsoft's ad revenue everytime someone uses Windows Live Messenger to IM their friends. All you have to do is download WLM and choose a charity. More info on the program here: http://www.humanesociety.org/im.

Anyway. Microsoft came to all of the charities and told us that if we could collectively raise the membership of their Facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2340923142) to 50,000, they'd donate $50,000 to the charity with the most votes. So, we had to get people to join the group then vote for us.

Geoff (my boss) suggested sending out an email to a segment of our email list, which has surpassed 1 million people. I was really excited that he thought this social networking "experiment" was worthy of an email to our file! Well, it turned out really well (see the email here: https://community.hsus.org/humane/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=16943103 - it was designed by Nathaniel, our new web designer) and we got a good chunk of "Facebook responders" out of it. We obviously had to accompany this with social networking outreach.

It was so interesting to do this on two different networks... especially because we were directing them to one network in particular. Personally, I am a MySpace addict turned Facebook, so I'm curious to see what happens.

I had messaged our MySpace crowd (which is at about 33,000 now) before letting them know that we were on Facebook too, and I got good feedback, so I messaged them again about this. I also messaged our Facebook Group members. I did some outreach to my friends and colleagues from other orgs that are involved with doing social media. I cross-posted my note on animal-related Facebook Groups and Cause pages.

When we started doing outreach, the Microsoft group membership was at 26,273 people. I had no idea what the other 9 charities were doing, if anything, so I figured at the worst we'd need to recruit almost 24,000 people. Yikes. But with our email list and social network members, I was totally up for it. The catch: we only had 3 days.

Over those next 3 days I reposted bulletins for those that may not have come across previous posts. I did the same on Facebook. We did a resend to non-openers of the email with a little less than 24 hours left in the contest.

On Friday night, the last day of the contest (voting ended at midnight Pacific time on Friday night) I came home from hanging out with my parents and there were 3 hours left. We were winning with about 40% of the vote, which was awesome... but the group was still 500 people away from reaching 50,000.

I was nervous. How the hell was I going to recruit 500 people in 3 hours... at midnight on a Friday night? Right at that point, I got an IM from my college friend Matt, who was shocked that I was in on a Friday night :) I told him the deal, and he said to me "Carie, if anybody can do this, it's you. DO IT!" Therein lies my motivation.

12:40 AM (EST) - Over 500 people to go. I sent an urgent message to the members of our Facebook group, which was just under 1,000 people. I posted a bulletin to our MySpace friends, asking them if they were awake and pleading for them to join the group and vote. Within minutes, people were writing me MySpace messages saying that they would sign up and spread the word. Many people told me they signed up for Facebook just for this purpose. (Mark Zuckerberg, you're welcome!)

1:10 AM - 312 people to go. I'm starting to panic. I send another MySpace bulletin out telling people that they only had two hours left and to please tell any friends that were still awake and at home. I check our bulletin board and people are reposting like wildfire. "Please help the humane society... it takes 2 minutes!" People are writing in to me telling me they've got their fingers crossed. People are IMing their friends. I'm IMing MY friends. Of course, there were only like 2 people home, but they were helping me (thanks Webster and Matt!)

1:18 AM - 154 people to go. OMG - we got 158 people in 8 minutes?! I'm getting really excited. There's still a little under two hours to go. There's definetly something viral happening here... and at 1:00 in the morning! People are writing all kinds of things on the wall of the Microsoft group. Of course, there was the traditional "animal vs. people" arguments going on, and the HSUS haters, but that happens everywhere. Megan Sewell is rocking the discussion boards. Then there were some people that couldn't understand why we had so much of the vote. Although they are all worthy causes and it was a little awkward competing with all of them, many people noted the extent of the outreach that we were doing. Others were talking about how the numbers were getting closer (and I'm thinking to myself, "thank God I'm not the only one...")

1:30 AM - 111 people to go. I send out a bulletin trying to get the attention of people on the west coast because I know it's earlier over there and we have a better chance of getting their attention before bed. People start writing me saying "yes! I live in California, I'm still awake, and I'll sign up!" Sweeet.

1:34 AM - 90 people to go.

1:40 AM - 62 people to go.

1:44 AM - 37 people to go. At this point, I'm actually feeling a little relieved because I think we've got it.

1:50 AM - 7 people to go. It's like the last couple of seconds in a football game where you know your team is gonna win.

1:54 AM - WE DID IT. There were 50,008 people in the group! After screaming out loud and calling my friend Matt screaming, I combed through the networks to see what people were saying. I got a ton of congrats comments and messages, and I could tell that there were a ton of people out there as excited as I was. I posted thank you notes on all the networks, expressing my gratitude on behalf of the org. I sent out my victory email to my department (I ALMOST called you Meghan, but you got spared. Carol, you too. But I knew you'd kill me.) I must've sounded like a crazy person.

And after reading this note, you might think I AM crazy... but I'm very competitive and this job has seriously heightened my compassion for animals, and COME ON it's $50,000! Even Wayne was excited! That may be a drop in the bucket to Bill Gates, but to the animals, not so much. They need it and they deserve it, and that's why we all work so hard!

Comments

[Ravi G.]

Let me start by saying that I am really interested in finding out how other non-profits are succeeding in social networking.

But the story was really unsettling seeing that Microsoft now has a $240 million stake in Facebook. $50k for just one competing organizations, when collectively they are driving thousands of new users to Facebook?

Who is giving who charity?

[iwilker]

Ravi's got a point -- there are a lot of corporate-relations issues a nonprofit should look at before entering a marketing partnership like this.

But look past that for a moment and this is an awesome story about successful social-web">http://www.netsquared.org/blog/britt-bravo/four-steps-ease-you-social-web-activism">social-web activism. Definitely goes straight into my anecdotal-evidence file.

[Beth Kanter]

Point well taken Ravi, Ian has a good suggestion. However, what an awesome job! And its $50,000K to do a lot of great work for animals.

[Carie Lewis]

I also say point well taken. But we're not really looking at it from a corporate relations perspective, or at least I'm not. That's up to our Business Development office. They were the ones that negotiated the partnership, and the $50k contest was a total extra for us. We're looking at it from the perspective of engaging potential supporters that we might have never reached another way. I'm okay with bringing people over to Facebook; that's just another way I can keep communicating with them. The story behind how hundreds of people mobilized using social networks in just a little over an hour to help us win a donation we never would have expected is what this story means to me.

[etbmfa]

OR How non-profits can abuse social media. HSUS is an animal rights organization. It has NOTHING to do with animal welfare. They don't run shelters. They pass laws that make it more expensive and difficult to own animals. But please - don't take my word for it. Do your own research. Make your own informed and educated decisions. Some websites to check out: www.naiaonline.org www.animalscam.com www.consumerfreedom.com www.pet-law.com. Some books to read - "Animal Rights, the Hijacking of the Humane Movement" by Rod and Patti Strand; "Animal Rights, The Inhumane Crusade" by Daniel T. Oliver; "Animal Scam, The Beastly Abuse of Human Rights" by Kathleen Marquardt.
Look at both sides and then make your own choices. We still have the freedom to do that in this country.

Animal Welfare or Animal Rights?
Here are some of the differences:

As animal welfare advocates. . .

• We seek to improve the treatment and well-being of animals.

• We support the humane treatment of animals that ensures comfort and freedom from unnecessary pain and suffering.

• We believe we have the right to "own" animals -- they are our property.

• We believe animal owners should provide loving care for the lifetime of their animals.

As animal rights activists. . .

• They seek to end the use and ownership of animals, including the keeping of pets.

• They believe that any use of an animal is exploitation so, not only must we stop using animals for food and clothing, but pet ownership must be outlawed as well.

• They want to obtain legal rights for animals as they believe that animals and humans are equal.

• They use false and unsubstantiated allegations of animal abuse to raise funds, attract media attention and bring supporters into the movement. (The Inhumane Crusade, Daniel T. Oliver)

[Carie Lewis]

First of all, this post... rather, this blog... is about ways that nonprofits use social networking. It's NOT about picking apart certain organizations in particular. But since you decided to go there, I will too.

The HSUS is not against the ownership of pets and never has been. You're right... we don't run any shelters... but to say we don't do anything for them or for companion animals is a complete misrepresentation. The Center for Consumer Freedom posts fabrications about us and our stance on issues in order to further their own agenda.

As with any story, there are always two sides:
http://www.hsus.org/about_us/about_hsus_programs_and_services/eye_on_the_opposition/center_for_consumer_freedom.html

[Beth Kanter]

A disclaimer. I love animals and I support HSUS's work. So, I can't be objective.

@etbmfa I believe that everyone has their right to an opinion, but as Carie mentions this blog is about how nonprofits can use social media to realize their missions.

@carie Thank you for officially setting the record straight on your organization's good work.

I would prefer not to get into an extended debate about HSUS on this blog as that it not the focus. However, any questions or thoughts about best practices for using social media to support causes - I'm glad to provide a space for a respectful and engaging discussion!

[Allan Benamer]

I wanted to click on Carie's last link but it's broken. Can someone make a urltea link for us if they know the real URL?

[Carie Lewis]

Allan:

The full URL keeps getting cut off for some reason, but you can reach the story here:

http://www.humanesociety.org/ccf