This charity appeal demonstrates how social media can boost fundraising

The call to action on Facebook and Twitter was clear and was to prove to be the start of an amazing fundraising campaign harnessing social media. 

It was led by the charity Child’s i Foundation and spearheaded by its inspirational founder Lucy Buck and her team.

“We have 48 hours to save Joey’s life,” it began. “He is very sick and will not make it unless we get him out of Uganda into cardiothoracic surgery. We need to raise money to fly him and his family for urgent medical attention. Please please help.”
 
Within 38 hours they had raised over £10,000, which has enabled Joey and his family to be flown to South Africa for a life saving operation.
 
The foundation was formed to help put an end to the endemic problem of child abandonment in Uganda and has set up a child abandonment project for this purpose.

Developed with leading social care experts in the UK and Uganda, the project has three key elements: a support programme for mothers at risk of abandoning their babies; a transitional home to provide short-term life-saving care; and a family placement programme to ensure every child grows up in a loving family.
 
To raise funds they have built a massive community of supporters online. These people support the organisation not only financially but by helping to spread the word of the work being done to their own networks. 

As it says on the charity’s website: “Rather than simply sending money then forgetting about us, we want all our supporters to become an active part of our community. We are founded on the efforts, ideas and love of people like you – and there are so many ways you get involved and make a difference”
 
We are invited to watch (and share) footage of the children the charity is supporting via videos on YouTube, pictures on flickr, a blog and a combination of all the media on Twitter and Facebook. 

By building its communications around social media the charity has created a steady fundraising stream.

Its stories are told simply and the messages undiluted. And that brings me back to Joey’s story.

The charity appeal last week came after it was discovered he was suffering from a serious heart condition and there was no-one in East Africa who could perform the surgery on a four-month-old.

Donations flooded in from around the world exceeding expectations. The target was reached. Joey is now in Johannesburg in one of the best medical centres in Africa.
 
As I blog Joey is in the operating theatre, but whatever the outcome of this operation the team at the foundation should be praised for its achievements, not just in this case but its overall work and approach to social media.

Every charity should note how this dynamic organisation has harnessed social media and everything it stands for to such a great effect.
 
You can keep updated with Joey’s story and the work of the Child’s i Foundation on Facebook and via YouTube.