A new social philanthropy platform is hitting the scene and it comes in the form of web-based non-profits. I contacted my fellow alumnus and co-founder of The Generation Project, Jessica Raunch, to get an inside peek into their web-based non-profit and how social media plays a huge role in their operations.
The Generation Project is a non-profit web-based educational philanthropy that helps further educational opportunities for underprivileged K-12 students. Their community-oriented platform allows donors creative control over their donations; donors share their passions, priorities and expertise with low-income students.
On being a web-based non-profit:
Can you please share the impetus of starting a web-based non-profit?
When Eli Savit, the other co-founder of The Generation Project, and I were in the initial business plan phase, we researched a lot of other charities. We found that many of the most well-known non-profits are run very inefficiently and require significant budgets to cover overhead costs. One huge benefit of an entirely web-based model is we are able to cut down significantly on overhead costs, particularly during the start-up phase. Additionally, a web-based model sidesteps numerous barriers to communication. Donors can connect directly with teachers in a way that would be nearly impossible to facilitate otherwise.
Creating community-oriented communication
Essentially you are creating a dialogue of philanthropy between contributors and recipients. Is there a method of communication already in place?
Absolutely! This is one of the most exciting aspects of the online community at www.thegenerationproject.org. Every donor and educator has a publicly viewable philanthropist page where they can track their gifts’ implementation and communicate with educators. Recipients can post comments on their walls and donors are encouraged to share their impact by cross-posting on their Facebook pages. We also have a blog where we share various event happenings, gift highlights, education news, perspectives from community members, etc.
Social media and web-based non-profits
In what ways does The Generation Project use social media?
The Generation Project is an online community of donors and educators working together to expand opportunities for students in need so social media is crucial to our model and mission. We encourage our donors to cross post their profiles (called ‘philanthropist pages’ on Facebook and become public philanthropists. All profiles are publicly viewable and Google optimized so a search of your name will likely yield a hit on your philanthropist page at The Generation Project. For a potential employer (or even a potential date!) this shows the world that you are a concerned citizen making a positive impact on your world.
How does The Generation Project reach its target audience?
The Generation Project utilizes online voting contests, Facebook, Google AdWords (through a Google Grant), Twitter, listservs, and e-mail to reach our audience. Although the Internet is a significant part of our marketing strategy, we largely seek to build personal connections with potential donors through events and recommendations from friends. To build a solid online community, we first needed to build a strong network of supporters so we actually focused a lot of our initial effort on building personal connections.
What social media technologies do you find most effective in achieving your mission?
Online contests have been a huge part of our initial strategy. Not only did we win some significant startup funding through this method, but it gave us a new way to reach out to supporters to share our mission and engage them in our work. (To-date we have secured $97,000 in funding from such contests which include the Chase Community Giving Contest on Facebook, a contest through the blog at Ralph Lauren’s Rugby line, and through Ideablob’s Best New Business Idea Contest.) We’re currently building our following on Twitter and Facebook – currently we have more than 4,000 Facebook fans, which is pretty good for an organization of our size. Our most fervent supporters enjoy the updates but I’m honestly not positive how successful it’s been. We’ll see as we launch our Back-to-School Campaign this week.
Do you have any advice for other non-profits trying to gain a social media audience?
Giving and receiving information is important in the social media world. We’re still negotiating this space and have come to believe that the best approach is both through personal connections and social media outreach. It’s important not to lose sight of the people who enable your organization to be successful so we always try not to forget the importance of 1-1 outreach.
The highs and lows of social media
Can you share a favorite story about The Generation Project using social media?
Absolutely. As mentioned, we were finalists in the Chase Community Giving Contest on Facebook this January. Out of more than 500,000 non-profits in the contest, we placed 16th, and were by far the youngest organization competing. What was really exciting, though, was the grassroots support we received. More than 200 college students from more than 150 colleges and universities rallied behind our cause to spread the word on their campuses. It was both our innovative giving model and this incredible grassroots campaign that secured us one of the coveted Chase Advisory Board Picks, resulting in a total win of $62,000.
What are some difficulties your organization has experienced with engaging your donors with social media outreach?
As is often the case with social media, it can feel like you’re talking and no one is really listening. We recently realized that this was the wrong approach and are trying very hard to create a dialog with our supporters. This is very challenging and we’re currently negotiating the best way to do so because we truly value our supporters — after all, they are the reason The Generation Project is or is not successful because all donations are donor-driven.
Closing thoughts
Is there anything else you would like to share regarding The Generation Project and social media?
It’s always a balance for us. We embrace the power of social media because it allows donors to connect with schools in a new and engaging way. But we try to remember that the heart of our mission is the personal connection social media platforms make possible and try to be as smart about this as possible. It’s easy to get wrapped up in social media trends so we’re always looking at this idea from this perspective of our donors and educators to better understand which methods will support our growing community in the most dynamic way possible.
You can find more information about The Generation Project at www.thegenerationproject.org.
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