Screencapture of photo by Brian Westbrook
90 minutes! Today I presented at Gnomedex 8.0. (My slides are here). I started with a story about how Ponzi and Chris helped me demonstrate the networked effect with flickr and twitter for a nonprofit training, then told my story about the Case Foundation and Parade Magazine's America's Giving Challenge, and then I set up a real time fundraising challenge.
My first fundraising effort was to send Leng Sopharath to college her first year in November 2006 took 3 weeks to raise $800. In 2007, Chris Brogan and 81 other people helped raise enough money in 24 hours for her college tuition and in a few days were able to raise enough to help support another student. So, my challenge was: Can this room of highly connected gnomedexers get 250 people to donate $10 by the end of the conference?
I sent them to my tweet and asked them to donate and ask a friend or retweet. Chris and Ponzi kicked it off by giving $100 on the stage.(THANK YOU!)
Buzz Bruggeman (above) said pass the hat. Then I answered questions. What I didn't see going on was the back channel (captured by Marshall K in Iterasi in a cool slide show). Geoff Livingston kicked it off by tweeting his donation. Later Jeremy Wright kept tweeting out matching challenges.
At 90 minutes, we raised $2,657 from 112 donors - plus whoever gave cash (probably another 125 people giving a total of $902). Thank you. The ball kept rolling - the combined total as of $3,774.
THANK YOU GNOMEDEXers and everyone who contributed. YOU ALL ROCK. We're solving real problems!
Donors via PayPal (as of 8.23.08)
Beth Kanter
Rikke Sorensen
Suzanne Cline
Yesenia Sotelo
Donna Callejon
Peggy Baker
John Powers
Emily Williamson
Wiebke Herding
Ayelet Baron
Nicholas Booth
David Krumlauf
Jeff Barr
Geoff Livingston
jeremy wright
Brittney Raybould
Eric Rice
Jay Cross
Duncan Rawlinson
Cassandra Wallender
Josiah Taylor V
Josh Bancroft
Duncan Riley
Steven Bao
Marshall Kirkpatrick
Tanya Bray
Krishnan Subramanian
Diedra Wylie
G Watson
Shawn Rogers
Danny Sullivan
Timothy Wood
William Corrigan
Londa Quisling
joseph solomon
Francine Hardaway
Seth Strumph
Scott Maentz
Andru Edwards
Joseph Thornley
Kristin Redlinger
Marina Martin
Tara Hunt
dietrich ayala
Eve Maler
Alexander Weishaupl
Uwe Sommer
Troy Malone
G Jason Hart
Rick Turoczy
Scott Maxwell
Damon Cortesi
Ranvir Gujral
Brian Dorsey
Scott Ruthfield
Jennifer McCabe
John Rogers
Connie Reece
Randy Stewart
Jim Murphy
Alberto Lopez
Stuart Maxwell
Brian Eisenberg
Steven Edinger
Dana Lookadoo
Dana Oshiro
David Risley
Lee LeFever
Matthew Morgan-May
Shashi Bellamkonda
eric levine
Kathy Gill
Marcus Whitney
Chad Henderson
marianne richmond
Todd Martini
James Nelson
Andrew Olanoff
Andrew Hyde
Kevin Sandridge
Christopher Sloop
Derek Miller
Tristram Hussey
laura fitton
Brooks Duncan
Andrew Kaufman
Rebecca Bucich
Brian Westbrook
Clara Kuo
Tetsuto Yabuki
Kenny Lauer
Steve Dembo
Carla Lynne Hall
Joshua Gunn
Elizabeth Grigg
Dr. Sharon Laubach
Todd O'Reilly
Adam Mercado
Karen Swim
Henry Thiele
Matthew Miller
Robert Uva
Walter Schwabe
Joseph Thornley
Sandra Niehaus
Veronique S Christensen
Elisa Butler
R Josh Quarles
Jason Ruby
Raworahi Foundation
Arthur Germain
LaDonna Coy
Chad Norman
Dave Evans
Kevin Marks
Elithea Whittaker
Rami Reddy Vatrapu
Julie Gomoll
Ann Kingman
Thomas Tague
Shirley Williams
Quitrina Diaz
Related blog posts
Using Social Media for Social Good by Andru Edwards
Live Blog post by Bill's Blog
An Uncomplicated Kindness at Gnomedex by Lipsticks and Laptops
Gnomedex Goes Bollywood by Dave Delaney
Gnomedex Day 1 by Dave Brezeal
It Takes 90 Minutes to Change a Life by Nick/Podnosh
Gnomedex by Jay Cross
Photography and Social Good Are Themes At Gnomedex by Jason Preston
Aftermath of Gnomedex by Stewtopia
Roundup of Afternoon Sessions by Network Solutions
RoundUp by CenterNetworks
What you missed at Gnomedex by Kevin Merritt
Using Social Media to Effect Social Change by Dan Risely
Seven Notes about Gnomedex by Kris Krug
Gnomedex, Sarah Lacy and More by Silicon Florist Podcast
From 0 to $2,500 in 90 minutes by Shiney Red Toy
Seven Notes About Gnomedex by Dave Delaney
Three Rules of Gnomedex by Micah Baldwin
Gnomedex Highlights by Steve Fisher
Beginning of Human Circuitry by Chris Pirillo
More Than Echos Talk Along the Walls, by Duncan Riley
Very cool. This is the power of the network effect as developed by you Beth. It was most impressive!
Posted by: Troy Malone | August 22, 2008 at 07:47 PM
awesome, beth, you are a wonderfully kind human being and i am proud to know you. you are changing the world!
Posted by: MariaDeathstar | August 22, 2008 at 08:54 PM
I was able to see it all happening on twitter ... Pretty amazing stuff. I have been looking for good examples of people using twitter and other social media to fundraise. This one is at the top of the list. Using twitter to 'spread the word' gives a whole new meaning to the phrase!
Thanks for keeping us up to date and informed with what's going on at the conf.
Posted by: frank | August 22, 2008 at 09:14 PM
Beth:
This is most impressive!!
Now how do we get MORE people to do this?
:)
laura
Posted by: laura allen | August 23, 2008 at 06:00 AM
Beth
This is a great tool and has worked well in this case. I have the following question. If many people and nonprofits adopted this method of fundraising would it flood the market and become less effective? Is the success due to the novelty? I don't mean to be cynical, but merely ask the question about its sustainability.
Thoughs?
Posted by: John | August 23, 2008 at 08:41 AM
John asks a good question about whether this success depends on the novelty. It's a good question and don't have an answer. What stands out to me is stories. When you told us about Leng Sopharath's surgery, I gasped. From your stories she was no stranger to me. Tools and techniques may get worn from overuse, but new stories can always be told. The fund raising is an impressive story, really just floors me! Still I think it's important not to focus too much on the "how" of it and retain attention to how important telling stories is for all of us.
Posted by: John Powers | August 23, 2008 at 11:28 AM
My donation was from Strands. We love you!
Posted by: drew olanoff | August 23, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Beth: Your preso was very moving. Congrats on winning the nerds over! We loved it! Also good getting to know you better at the event.
Posted by: Geoff Livingston | August 23, 2008 at 11:57 AM
Beth, your presentation was wonderful, and I was very happy to get to meet you in person. Keep up the great work!
Posted by: David Brazeal | August 23, 2008 at 05:43 PM
Awesome Execution Beth.
The Power really is in the Network.
Lets Grow the Network.
Posted by: pyrmont sydney | August 24, 2008 at 01:58 AM
Want to support Beth and help her raise even more money for Cambodian kids? Digg this story: Gnomedex 8.0 raises $2,500 for Cambodian kids... in 90 mins!
If it becomes popular, that post could drive thousands of people to Beth's blog! :)
Posted by: Jonathon D. Colman | August 25, 2008 at 09:54 AM
Jonathan,
thanks so much!
Posted by: Beth Kanter | August 25, 2008 at 01:26 PM
Answer: about 90 minutes. Not too shabby and a great example of social media at its finest.
Posted by: web design | August 25, 2008 at 05:55 PM
Thanks for the inspiration!
Posted by: Robyn | August 28, 2008 at 02:26 PM