And the Twitterville Book Winners Are .....

That's some of the schwag and a copy of Shel Israels's Twitterville that I purchased at last night's #tbash, the launch party for the  book.  I also had 17 copies to give away and delighted to meet United Linens and Walter Akana in person! 

• Shel Israel donated three books
• I kicked in my  three preview copies
• UnitedLinen purchased five copies for me to giveaway
• Walterakana purchased two copies
• Betsy Aoki purchased three copies

The launch party was lots of fun - lots of Twitterville's most prominent residents were there as you can see from the #tbash stream and the photos in Flickr by Kenneth Yeung.  Also a few nonprofit folks, including Stacey Monk and Frank Barry who were also in the book and great to see some old friends like KdPaine, Chris Heuer, Kristie Wells, Amber Cadabra, Brian Solis and all the folks captured in Brian's photos.   The t-shirts were provided by Network Solutions and Shashi was creating customized versions by ironing our Twitter handles! (You can see the front of the t-shirt on this photo of I took of Francine Hardaway and Erica O'Grady)

Shel Israel's book Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods is fantastic storytelling and a delightful read!     Even though it says "businesses" in the title, there is an entire chapter devoted to nonprofits and fundraising on Twitter in the book.

I love Shel's writing - he tells one great story after another.  But he also has done his homework. Like a sociologist digging up the remains of an ancient civilization or someone researching their family history, he went to great lengths to uncover the beginning of fundraising on Twitter.  He looks at how it is evolved in the last two years.    

The chapter begins with the story of how I used Twitter in July 07 to raise money for the Cambodian bloggers conference (now Cambodians are tweeting), how Connie Reece raised thousands of dollars to support breast cancer, Stacey Monk's Tweetsgiving, Twestival, and the entrance of large nonprofits into the Twittersphere.   Certainly as social media "normalizes" and charities bid for attention in an increasing crowded social space, the future of social media infused fundraising will be different.  

Nonetheless, the best practices that Shel outlines at the end of the fundraising chapter will still hold true.

Okay, so if you've read this far, you'll notice that there are still four books that haven't been given away. I'll be using those to raise money for Leng Sopharath's senior college tuition. So stay tuned.  I hoping the winners will have lots of advice and maybe a screencapture of tweeted best practices for goodwill fundraising and share them in the Twitterville Flickr Group.

The 13 winners

Manny Hernandez who shared his fundraising secrets for Tubiabetes.com

Amy Yu and Christine Lin from Asian Liver Center at Stanford University

WiserEarth for its sharing it's Twitter thank you note for its fundraising campaign for its API

Jeris Jc Miller who along with Kathy Gill are inspiring the next generation of Twitter Goodwill fundraisers in Seattle.  (Please share the book with Kathy and her students)

Sue Anne Reed from EMQ FamiliesFirst

Lisa Colton from Darim, nonprofit that helps Jewish organizations.  She will read the book, incorporate some ideas strategies and then do a book giveaway in their blog asking the same question!

Marc Sirkin from Autism Speaks

Lindsay Renee from the Georgia Alzheimer's Association who will read it and then use as a featured item in their fundraising auction.

Robin Pratt from the Utah Nonprofit Association who will read it, apply to strategy, and then put in their library for nonprofits around the state to read.

Susan from the McHenry County Animal Welfare Coalition

Cathy Kujala from AidsWalk Boston

Jason Iman from Convoy of Hope

Ivan Boothe from Casino Free Philadelphia

I'm expecting each and every one of these winners to share what they learn about Goodwill Fundraising on Twitter!

And Congrats to Shel Israel on the launch of his book!

Comments

[Sue Anne]

Thanks for the giveaway! Looking forward to getting the book.

[Cathy Kujala]

I'm also looking forward to receiving the book -- will let you know my favorite parts and what I learn!

[Lisa Colton]

Beth and Shel -- thanks for doing this great give-away. We're really excited to read the book and to "pay it forward" with a similar give away in our community. Thanks for all you do for the nonprofit community!

[Jason Inman]

Beth and Shel, thanks for the book! I and Convoy of Hope will use it well!

@convoyofhope
@jasoninman

[Ivan Boothe]

So thrilled to get to read about all of these stories! Online nonprofits & social changers have such a strong history of collaboration, I know the next time around it'll be us sharing about our success!

[Lindsay Reene]

We are thrilled to be passing along a Kanter and Shel valuable in the auction and believe this gem will reach many different sets of hands over the course of its lifetime. Thank you for sharing!
(Follow us at @alzheimersGA)

[Marc Sirkin]

Thanks so much for the book.. I got it, read it and have already given it away to someone else to read. Good stuff.

Marc Sirkin @msirkin or Autism Speaks @autismspeaks