I’m simply overwhelmed by the scale of the catastrophe in Haiti, yet I’m also in awe of the American Red Cross‘s smart use of mobile technology and social media to rally the web and raise funds for their relief work. With a simple call to action message posted on their Twitter and Facebook accounts, the Red Cross raised more than $8 million from text messages in three days.
That’s an extraordinary 800,000 donation texts…in a mere 72 hours.
No relief organization responded as swiftly and made it as easy for people to take immediate action as the Red Cross. They had their text campaign ready within three hours of the breaking news and simultaneously marshaled their “cabinet” of Twitter celebrities to spread the word.
This successful campaign helped the Red Cross project an aura of readiness and preparedness.
They communicated a simple, actionable message. They leveraged simple, actionable technologies. And they validated and circulated the entire campaign socially — through word-of-mouth influencers.
The Red Cross is a direct service organization and so its “real” work takes place on the ground, often in life or death situations. The organization would have a good excuse for being unsophisticated in executing communications campaigns.
In my experience working with nonprofit service providers, communications is sometimes not seen as central to the work of the organization. Of course, it’s a helpful add-on skillset if the organization can afford it, but it’s not often valued as a core competency.
But that’s what separates the Red Cross from others: the ability to respond to an emergency both in the air with strategic communications and on the ground with strategic services, all in a coordinated fashion.
-Matthew DiGirolamo
