Part Two: Celebrities and Charity – The Colbert Whisper

:: A guest post from our friends at Little Kids Rock :: First Part here ::

Once these celebrities returned a personalized guitar and were hooked into the project, I knew they had already invested enough time that asking them to promote their artwork through their own social networks was not too far of a stretch, but it would have been easy to say no or ignore the request. Five minutes of Facebooking and Tweeting is a lot to ask of these busy people. So I played the role of waiter and presented the artists or their managers everything on a silver platter. I suggested social media outlets, recommended specific verbiage, and provided one or two relevant photos in order to minimize their work. The most difficult part was keeping the ask short. Celebrities and their managers don’t have time to read through a long email that is ultimately asking them to do me a favor.

How much more clout does a celebrity’s post have than my own?

Consider this:  the highest selling guitar was decorated by Metallica frontman, James Hetfield — certainly a big name, but not as big as Gene Simmons or Stephen Colbert — certainly a cool guitar, but not as cool as Kenny Scharf’s or Grateful Dead artist, Stanley Mouse’s.

The difference was that Metallica has a tremendous Facebook following. One post from Metallica (see image) brought more than 50,000 visitors in less than 48 hours! Hetfield’s guitar had far and away the most hits and unique visitors (60,162 hits versus the second-most viewed guitar, which got 7,440), and also brought in the most money.

Forget about how many sold and how many were bid on, because those are uncontrollable factors. The key information was the amount of visits the page got. Whether it was Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or actress Juliette Lewis, they all have fans and followers. The most heavily viewed guitars were the ones whose artist posted Facebook or Twitter messages. Even Ziggy Marley’s guitar, which he linked to from his website, was not viewed as much as “A Heart A Day” artist, Thomas Fuchs, who wrote a blog post about it.

Some artists helped actively promote their guitars, and some passively posted a link in a hidden nook of their websites. The artists who actively broadcast the message had their artwork viewed more heavily. Telling someone to do something is much more direct than wearing a t-shirt that tells someone to do something. That’s the difference between social networking and a website – social networks are designed to deliver information to the listener in such a way that they do not have to actively search for it.

This auction raised about $75,000, which is no small feat, but I learned a valuable lesson: When a tree falls in the woods, nobody hears if I yell… but they will if Stephen Colbert whispers.

Rockstars, Artwork and $75,000 for Charity : A How To

:: Special Guest Post from our nonprofit Friend Keith Hejna ::

Millions of children receive no music education due to school budget cuts. I asked celebrities and rockstars like Gene Simmons, Stephen Colbert, Stan Lee and Slash to help fill the void by painting blank Fender(R) guitars to be auctioned off for Little Kids Rock (www.littlekidsrock.org), a national nonprofit that restores and revitalizes music education in U.S public schools.
(Click to see entire list of artists)

Fans and collectors would pay thousands for these one-of-a-kind, playable pieces of rock ‘n roll artwork, but the challenge was to make these people aware of the items as well as the fact that the proceeds go to bringing low-income children a rockin’ music education.

No matter what the goal, it is extremely important to know your audience. So when using social networking sites, print media, radio, TV, blogs or other channels to broadcast a message, it is important to cast the net wide, but also to target particular groups.

How do you find these cohorts and how do you reach them?  It’s all about the mouthpiece.

Most people are too busy to care what I have to say, especially if they don’t know me from another internet scam-artist (or spam-artist). I know if I were a Marvel Comics fanatic and saw a random person’s tweets or facebook posts about an exclusive Spiderman guitar with Stan Lee’s autograph, I’d question its validity.

So it’s not just what‘s being said, but who is saying it that’s important. If the right person is says it, the right people will hear it. The message is much more potent and valid coming from Jack Johnson than it is coming from me.

part two coming tomm!

HelpAttack and End of the Year Giving

HelpAttack!, a new Austin-based start-up, offers nonprofit organizations the opportunity to collect year-end gifts through Twitter. The online service allows social media users the ability to give to their favorite philanthropic causes, simply by updating their social status online.

Online fundraising is the most rapidly growing way for nonprofits to receive funds from individuals. According to Convio, 35-42 percent of online giving occurs in the last two months of the year. HelpAttack! supports nonprofit organizations’ fundraising goals by collecting donations through a stream that readily syncs with users’ daily activities. Furthermore, the unique platform encourages repeat monthly giving, catalyzing the shift from year-end gifts to year-long giving.

With over $1,200 already given through the HelpAttack! post-to-pledge system, funds are currently being funneled to nonprofits throughout the United States. There are nearly 6,000 nonprofits to choose from, and new causes being adding every day, so anyone with a favorite cause and a Twitter account can take part.

“This new way to donate is easy, fun and offers a layer of social responsibility to online activities,” said Sarah Vela, HelpAttack!’s CEO. “We invite all nonprofit organizations seeking new ways to collect funding through year-end campaigns to visit the site, add themselves if they’re not already listed, and share this new way of giving with their supporters.”

While the pledge system offers nonprofit organizations a new-found funding stream, it also raises the organizations’ visibility on social networks. Many users choose to promote their personal pledge to their followers, and once engaged, are apt to support their organizations’ messages focused around fund drives and special events.

“Right from the start, HelpAttack! expanded CASA’s awareness in the community by featuring us on their site” stated Callie Langford, Communications Manager of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). “HelpAttack! has really been a no-fuss way for us to receive additional donations, engage with new and old donors, and share details about our upcoming events.”

Currently focused on giving through Twitter, HelpAttack! has plans to soon engage with other social communities, allowing people the opportunity to pledge and give across multiple platforms.

The Junior League Scares me but The New Giving City Magazine is out

Don’t ask me why. That’s a lot of ladies in power suits in one room for me. But read on. This issue is packed with a ton of great content about the landscape of Central Texas nonprofits. You can read the best nonprofit magazine in the world here.

http://issuu.com/givingcityaustin/docs/issue5?viewMode=magazine&mode=embed

Thanks,

DJN