There have been many Tweetathons that raise money for a good cause and a few in particular have been very successful (raising up to $30,000). For those of you not sure of what a Tweetathon is, in simplest terms it’s a short-term fundraising campaign where people tweet about a specific cause and encourage everyone within their network to donate and continue spreading the word within a limited time period. With so much noise existing in the social media world how is it that these campaigns are making such headway? Here’s why I think Twitter (Tweethathons in particular) is a valuable source for fundraising:

1. Simplicity- Tweetathons mostly rely on hash tags to get word out (which are the phrases that start with a “#” making it easy to search on Twitter). This means to spread awareness all you have to do is send out a tweet using the respective hash tag. You can do that in 140 characters or less and in less than 20 seconds. Also, for a Tweetathon, donations are typically all online so with just one click of a button (literally, if you are using PayPal and all your credit card information is already saved there) you can create your impact.
2. Speed - This one obviously goes hand in hand with the simplicity. Everything is so simple and it’s all done electronically so everything can be done in less than 2 minutes from spreading the word to making a donation.
3. Ease of transaction - There is no mail to open (although I am by no means discounting the impact of direct mail), no check to write, no postage to worry about. All of your philanthropic efforts can be done in one place…on your computer. You can discover the cause, donate, and help spread the word all within one social network, Twitter.
4. Community-like vibe - You’ll notice that people really seem to come together during a Tweetathon, even strangers. Through the use of the hash tags (mentioned earlier) people who have donated or spread the word can find one another and come together for conversation…and they typically do.
5. Immediate results - I recently participated in a Tweetathon that utilized Chip In which I think is a fantastic tool. Chip In visually shows the progress being made with each new donation and allows you to see the direct impact your individual donation has made and how much more is needed until the goal is reached.
6. Impending deadline – Tweetathons typically last 12 – 48 hours. This places a sense of urgency on potential donors and lead most of them to make that donation now.
7. Information at your fingertips – Say you have never heard of a particular cause or campaign but you see someone use a hash tag relating to it on Twitter. So what do you do? 99% of people would probably Google it and why not? They are already at their computer and spending time online. If the situation were to occur offline people may forget about it by the time they reach a computer or interest may wane by the time they have access to online resources. The more you know about a cause the more willing and likely you are going to be to donate. When you utilize Twitter or other social media sites to fundraise you are reaching people in the arena where they are most likely to donate in a short amount of time.

With all of this taken into account not to mention the growing popularity of Twitter it’s no wonder Tweetathons have proven themselves to be a success. There is also no direct monetary cost of running a Tweetathon. There is of course time that goes into it and possible costs associated with any extra elements you may add (i.e.-a raffle or prize). But if you are a nonprofit and have not taken this option into consideration yet maybe it’s time to look into Twitter as a valuable resource.