On a Friday night this past September, over 170 people gathered at Aloft Tempe to party on behalf of charity. They gathered to eat, drink, and be merry in each other’s company at Twestival Phoenix Local. Twestival is an “international movement where people meet offline for one night, have fun and do some good for an important cause”. Galas, balls, and other social events have always been a core fundraising tactic, but what sets a Twestival apart is that it is promoted almost exclusively by tapping into online social tools.
Invitations are sent via status updates on several social platforms, event pages are set up on Facebook and Upcoming, and tickets are sold through Amiando, which leverages Twitter API and Facebook Connect integration to allow users to tell friends that they’re attending Twestival. Because most user social graphs are not constrained by geographic boundaries, each person who posts about attending Twestival is not only inviting friends who live in their same city to the local event, they implicitly invite friends across the country and the world to participate in the Twestival event occurring in where they live. The effect is that the money raised for charity is multiplied. A quick look at the numbers from 2009.
Like social media networks, Twestival is a connector. The event itself enables attendees to not only catch up with friends, meet new friends and discover local food vendors, businesses and artists who participate through sponsorship and auction item donations. Meanwhile, the planning process teaches small businesses and local charities about the potential of social media to drive awareness.
For the September event, Twestival Phoenix event organizers wanted to be certain that the selected charity benefitted from more than just money raised. Chris Lee, who spearheads much of the planning, said that locally, they looked at how engaged each non-profit was involved in social media. Were they heavily involved and well-versed? Were they avoiding social media altogether? Or had they dipped their toes in the water, demonstrating interest and a real potential to flourish under a little guidance? Event organizers also invited community to participate in selection process by recommending and voting on charities through UserVoice.
By inviting community participation throughout the process, from planning to partying, event organizers helped Saint Mary’s Food Bank through a sustained awareness campaign. Some notable results:
- @StMarysFoodBank’s Twitter followers increased 241% from July through the night event.
- They received countless tweets and media hits they wouldn’t have otherwise received if they had not been the beneficiaries of Twestival Phoenix.
- On the day of the event, www.firstfoodbank.org received double the average number of hits for a Friday.
- The money raised at Twestival Phoenix enabled St. Mary’s to distribute food for over 65,000 meals.
The third Twestival is tomorrow night (March 25, 2010). Another global initiative, it will benefit Concern Worldwide, working towards the elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries. Twestival Phoenix will be at Martini Ranch. You can follow their efforts and get event information by following @TwestivalPhx on Twitter join them on Facebook or visiting the Twestival Phoenix website.
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Awesome analysis and write-up, thanks Heather!