Crowdsourcing & Community Involvement in Social Cause

By Tara Lane, Staff Writer

Crowdsourcing, a trend sweeping social media right now, is not limited to coming up with new ideas or helping to write a book. In addition to creating buzz, non-profits use crowdsourcing to actually make a difference in the lives of others. Some of these organizations exist because of social media, while the others use it as a tool to further their work. No matter how it’s done, there’s no arguing that small and simple efforts are leading the way for social change around the world.

Countless numbers of Twitter followers or Facebook fans won’t mean anything unless people become involved, taking the buzz off-screen and turning talk into action. For non-profits, it’s often easy to get people aware, but harder to get them involved. The following examples have worked hard to change that, and are garnering support that makes a difference.

Kiva

Blending microfinance with crowdsourcing, Kiva’s entrepreneurs are connected to lenders, who have loaned more than $100 millions dollars in less than four years to deserving families and businesses in poverty-stricken countries. In addition to helping others in need, Kiva has a strong sense of social media, and uses these networks to its advantage. With a strong blogging community, an iPhone application, and plugins for WordPress users to display their support of the cause, Kiva gets the word out, and that’s why they’re one of the top social influencers. In addition, they have more inbound links to their site than any other, because the crowd is out there sending people their way in hopes of getting more donations. The organization keeps more than 100,000 people updated on Twitter daily, and more than 5,000 through Facebook.

Habitat for Humanity

With a presence on nearly every major social network, Habitat for Humanity encourages users to help shape the content of each of these pages with comments, photos, links and more. They want people these pages to be co-created and built by other users, so it becomes an environment for discussion and sharing, among voluneers and those who have benefited from the program, instead of a one-sided display. Videos of volunteer experiences, photos of events, and announcements are made through their most popular network on Facebook, which has more than 22,000 fans and is growing each day. Through these networks, people can become involved even if they aren’t able to go help build a home, and stay connected with updates and stories from those they’re supporting.

Twestivals

What started as a local event in London has led to the widespread use of Twitter voluneers to rally groups together in cities across the world, raising money for charity, and showing the physical impact Twitter can have. Twestivals are organized in local communities, scheduling events that will happen at the same time all around the world. Local Twestival leaders volunteer thousands of hours to organize fundraising events, reach out to community leaders, publicize their event, and bring together people in their community who are focused on the same cause. Organizers select a cause for each year –2010 will focus on education – and non-profits nominate themselves to be the charity of choice. Twestival Global aims to reach more than $750,000 for their selected charity over the course of 2010.

The Salvation Army

While bell ringers will forever play a vital role in The Salvation Army’s fundraising efforts, the 140-year-old organization is turning to digital efforts as well. They’ve recently had their popular Angel Tree program go virtual, allowing volunteers to sign up and shop for their gifts online in one easy place. The program, which has been operating for more than 40 years, was previously limited to certain locations in a limited number of communities. Now, The Salvation Army can have a much greater impact with the help of digital media and the crowd. They have also

established themselves on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Each network gives users unique insight into the organization, keeps them updated on news and events, and invites users to give back. With this online presence, they’re able to reinvent the organization and give it new life, while maintaining their integrity and mission.

Special Olympics

In the spring of 2009, Special Olympics turned to social media for their innovative campaign “Spread the Word to End the Word,” and received an outpouring of support from every corner. The word in question was “retard,” or “the r-word,” and efforts were launched on Twitter and Facebook to raise awareness of the movement. More than 49,000 people pledged their support on the main Web site and through Facebook, and thousands used the official hashtag on Twitter to raise awareness. The cause really showed the reach of the organization and garnered support from people who may not have been aware of the campaign otherwise. Users were truly engaged, and have made a difference both off- and online.

In his book The Wisdom of Crowds, psychologist James Surowiecki argues that often, better decisions and predictions are made by way of large groups rather than by individuals alone. Crowdsourcing on a digital platform has given us solid proof of how social media tools are making that crowd as big as it can be, enabling people worldwide to participate; in turn, better decisions and sustainable impact are made.

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