I'm going to write up a case study or maybe make a screencast or something. Not sure yet. But Audrie noted in a comment that she would like to see a concise set of bullet points. Of course, that will be included, but I will also include some stories.
Since I kept a diary and a number of you were following along, I'm curious what take aways you got as outside observers of this process? This would be helpful to me if you could share your observations. I'm too close to it right now.
Update:
Beth Dunn has a great post here and some good insights from Scott Beale in the comments. z
Seth Rosen has an analysis by the numbers.
Rebecca Krause talked about motivations to give and participate.
I'm going to take a nap. Please continue to share your observations in the comments or if you write a post track it back to this one or use a reflect_beth (reflect_beth)
Beth,
What stood out for me was the variety of ways to get involved. This allowed me to participate in ways that were comfortable and easy. It also served as a backstory, so I became interested in what supporters were coming up with as ways to add to the effort. So there were multiple things to watch; you, the stories of the Cambodians, the other contributors, and the Giving Challenge.
Posted by: Christine Martell | February 02, 2008 at 09:31 AM
Most of my observations are confirmations of what marketing experts already know. Here are just a few off the top of my head:
- People needed to be reminded multiple times before they took action
- A significant number of the donations came in as the deadline approached
- I got involved at the level I did because I was asked (and I felt it was the right thing to do)
- The social network crossed any one website and also extended offline
-I also suspect the available use of pictures and stories (especially of children) to use in communication helped as well. The information certainly made my ability to put together weekly blog posts easier and with more persuasion.
There was one thing that really surprised me:
- Unlike some of the competing organizations, the donors contributing to the Sharing Foundation were only loosely connected but was established quickly when rallying around the common cause. The majority of the network did not have strong ties to the organization until the challenge began. This made the results even more remarkable to me.
Posted by: Roger Carr | February 02, 2008 at 11:22 AM
3 quick observations:
* Accepting PayPal *might* have allowed many more donors to give.
* The word 'challenge' was operative in the last minute surge to 'win'.
* Your passion and conviction to the purpose was what made me decide to get behind this and promote to my house lists.
So, the lesson to other fundraisers would be: Get passionate, make it a fun, yet competitive event, and make it easy for donors to give.
Looking forward to your summary. Should be instructive.
All success
Dr.Mani
Posted by: Dr.Mani | February 02, 2008 at 04:02 PM
Dr.Mani,
I agree with all of your points. We KNOW there were people ready to give but couldn't because there was not an alternate method like PayPal.
Posted by: Roger Carr | February 02, 2008 at 04:46 PM
Beth,
Congratulations on the great success you had! I did a wrap-up post on my blog about the Challenge including a quick analysis of the winners and some lessons learned. The post is up at: http://technovist.typepad.com/technovist/2008/02/the-case-founda.html.
All my best,
Seth
Posted by: Seth Rosen | February 06, 2008 at 05:29 PM