Education can be cause based

In many of the recent posts on here we have touched on cause based opportunities to demonstrate successes in online fundraising. In reading through several other boards recently, it was clear from some of the conversations, that folks were not entirely clear on what that "cause based" meant. In my references to cause based efforts, I am referring to campaigns that surround a specific, typically urgent and finite effort - Katrina was one of the first really successful cause based online fundraising campaigns in the modern era (defined by me as since the rise of the social media tools.)

As the vast majority of the audience of this blog is in higher education, cause based efforts are often competition to what we are working to raise dollars for. I am sure that many of you can relate to reading or listening to comments from your phone program over the last month and hearing the repeated objection of: "I just gave to Haitian relief so this is not a good time."

Between the media coverage and the sense of urgency to provide aid, this can be a difficult if not insurmountable objection to overcome. The strength of cause based fundraising is rooted in the combination of urgency, publicity and accountability. There is usually a very immediate need, and results can usually be seen and documented in real and quick time, especially online. Nothing like a youtube video of aid workers wearing the logo of the charity doing what you promised the donation was going to be used for to ensure that donors feel that their gift was important and meaningful.

So how to compete? In the higher education world, most of us work with and within systems that provide ongoing cause based efforts - most of us have a strong, impactful and impressive community service effort, often not only providing services but adding in a powerful integration of education as well. We can clearly and directly state that not only are we contributing to helping with the disaster of today but helping to educate the leaders who will help to prevent recurrence of the tragedy tomorrow. Use those students, get them to share the youtube videos that they are creating and posting for friends and family, share their stories and proudly talk about the impact that your institution has. Cause based fundraising should be a strength not a weakness but it is up to us to make it so.