Charity: Water Reaps The Benefit of Social Media

Nonprofits have flocked to social media in recent years, but has fundraising followed? In some cases, this has definitely been the case.  Since September 2009, the Mycharity: Water program has raised over $7.5 million, including over $50,000 with the help of  teenage pop sensaion Justin Bieber, who launched his own water campaign on Twitter in March. Paul Young, Director of Digital Engagement at Charity: Water, the orgaization behind the successful program, spoke to NPTtv about how social media has helped their cause raise money.

The organization is only about four years old, but according to Young they were one of the first charities on Twitter, as well as the first one to get over one million followers on it. From the start, they had always been a digital organization; they have a very well designed website with user-friendly features  Things really started to turn around for them, however, when they launched the Mycharity: Water program. It was a simple fundraising platform where anybody could raise money, and with its ease of use, it began to gain massive popularity. Pretty soon, people began sharing it on various social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook.

If you want to view the entire interview with Paul Young, watch the latest episode on NPTtv.