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Last week, I had the pleasure of doing a panel at BlogHer called "Getting It On(line) for Cause." (Fellow BlogHer CE Editor Britt Bravo did a superb job of moderating. VITA and Kaylyn, also on the panel were inspiring. If you were not in the room, HappyKatie took excellent notes!)
I spoke briefly about a campaign I launched to raise money to send a young Cambodian woman, Leng Sophorath, to college. I also launched my most recent campaign for the Cambodian Bloggers Summit. I'm happy to announce that in the space of week, I was able to make the goal and raise slightly over $4,000 from 51 donors and acquire almost 70 technology t-shirts to pack in my suitcase (I still need a few more, so if you would like to contribute, let me know).
What can I say? The power of personal fundraising is alive in the blogosphere. If you've been considering doing some personal fundraising for a cause, but not sure if one person can make a difference. Let me tell - yes you can!
I am looking forward to seeing the power of what we can do as a community with the BlogHers Act Initiative under Cooper's and Emily's leadership.
Here's a few learnings, some highlights, and thanks.
- It's important to have a challenge grant or contest or something that gives both urgency and some confidence that others believe in your cause. The good folks at ChipIn, the personal fundraising widget that I used for this campaign, put forth a challenge. They would match donations $1 up to $2,000 I raised for the project. In return, I would write up a case study of what I did. A nice win win for both of us. This not only gave me courage to launch this campaign, but helped leverage contributions.
- It always helps to have celebrity endorsements of your cause! I didn't know any celebrities, but at the final reception at the BlogHer Conference I met Amy Sedaris. After working up my nerve to approach her (it took a glass or two of that delicious Hess Collection wine), I told her about my project and she agreed to make a campaign video on the spot!
- Have different ways for people to support the campaign, not just money. Many small contributions can make a difference! At the end of the Global Women's Panel the moderator Georgia Popplewell mentioned the campaign, particularly my need to collect tech t-shirts. She suggested that if anyone didn't want to pack their t-shirts, that I would be happy to take them to Cambodia. Jen Lemen and Mom2Amara graciously donated t-shirts and I got three business cards from tech companies with an offer of t-shirts. Tara Hunt pledged a variety of t-shirts from Valley Schwag, thanks! In addition, I'd like to thank Britt Bravo who gave her covered AOL laptop bag to schlep home the t-shirts from BlogHer and to Gina Trapani for donating her extra t-shirts.
- Find other ways to support other causes while getting support for yours. Here's an example. I ran into Candance Nast at the final reception. I immediatley noticed her Creative Commons t-shirt. She told me that she bought because she saw the photo on my blog with my kids wearing my t-shirt. She suggested that I get some Creative Commons supporters to purchase t-shirts from Creative Commons and send them to me. We made a video. I posted it to the Creative Commons Facebook group. Next thing I know I got an email letting me know that Larry Lessig pledged 14 Creative Commons T-shirts!
- Find creative ways to thank people. While visiting the BlogHer exhibits, I stopped by the Scrapblog booth to say hello because I'm huge fan. Alex de Carvahlo donated a bunch of their t-shirts to take to Cambodia and I took a photo of him presenting me the t-shirts. However, I thought it would make a great thank to create a scrapblog thank you. It's here.
- Acknowledge on your blog! I was amazed that I received donations from many people I didn't know face-to-face, but were in my various networks AND from around the world. This young Cambodian blogger working in Singapore contributed $5!
- Don't be afraid to experiment with other social media channels, but make sure you've been a member of
