Social media is a fund-raising tool for social cause. I have been reading it for a long time since I stared practising social media PR for business. In fact, I had not come across any opportunity to do so. Recently , one of my colleague’s father suffered from stomach cancer. Though doctor estimated an expenses of Rs 1.5 Lakhs, the real expenses is going to cross over Rs 3 Lakhs. The patient is still under observation in Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai in India after operation.
I twitted the appal to the world on Twitter and posted on Facebook and Linkedin where I am active. I also sent a mail to email ids on my Gmail account. It is great experience .I am thankful to God and the circumstances that drove me to social media 5 years back . The news of my appeal got viral and it was heard in the ears of people , friends and professionals who tried to support for the cause in shape of finance and information from where financial support can be found in Mumbai. One of my friend had been to my office and paid cash for the treatment of my colleague’s father while I was asked to collect cheque from another friend tomorrow. I have also few more payment for the cause.
In response to my post in social media , a Mumbai based doctor and another Mumbai based social fund raiser are working to connect me to perspective donors for support. Someone has sent me a list of trusts and foundations where my colleague’s family can approach for support.
This is two day’s development. More are expected.
One thing I learnt from this that one has to pursue the target supporter after posting the appeal on the social media when you got the leads. To make the social funds raising campaign effective, one has to try to peruse “well connected” connection on your social network to retwitt or repost your appeal on their network. Your appeal needs to have a link to an URL where the document to support your appeal would be available with direct contact details like mobile numbers of the person for whom you are raising the funds. The supporter can talk to the beneficiary directly.