Epic Change, Cause Marketing on the Social Web

Interview with Stacey Monk. Founder, CEO of Epic Change.

If you’re not familiar with this story, get ready for some goose bumps. In addition to warming your heart, this story is a great example of cause marketing with many valuable lessons for marketers.

Epic Change is a 501(c)(3) non profit organization founded by Stacey Monk and Sanjay Patel. They help social entrepreneurs who are change makers share their stories to get funded for a charitable cause. Their current project is partnered with (change maker) Mama Lucy in Tanzania to build school classrooms in the Arusha district of Tanzania, Africa. First, a little background on Stacey Monk (herself an impressive change maker).

A Life Changing  Trip

Stacey always had the inspiration to work in the non profit sector. After graduating from college, she needed to repay student loans so she joined the workforce as a management consultant working in change management. She consulted for businesses and public sector clients on this discipline.  In 2007 Stacy took a life changing trip to Africa where she volunteered at Mama Lucy’s Shepherd’s Junior school. When Stacey returned to her consulting practice, she learned that the landlord sold the land that Mama Lucy’s school was on. That motivated Stacey to act on her life long dream of working in the non profit sector. She and Sanjay founded Epic Change and took on Mama Lucy’s school as their first project.

Using the Social Web to Raise Funds

Epic Change adopted social media out of the gate as a way to reach people for donations through LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. They had a zero dollar budget. Stacey started using Twitter without any idea why. She connected with interesting people around the world which couldn’t have otherwise happened. One of those people is Sam Lawrence who has a popular blog called Go Big Always.  One day Sam said he didn’t feel like writing a blog post. Stacey volunteered to write it for him. She knew that Sam has a large following.  So, Stacey wrote a guest blog post about how she is going big to build classrooms in Tanzania through her non profit Epic Change. Sam shared that blog post on Twitter and it wound up reaching hundreds of new followers. It quickly struck Stacey how she could reach many influential people through Twitter and blogging.

That experience was a huge light bulb. Stacey figured out the power of the social web by connecting with influential people who can spread the word. Stacey’s connection to Sam Lawrence was game changing. His network turned out to be a huge door opener for Epic Change even though Stacey didn’t have a personal connection with Sam. Many new donors and new relationships came from that one connection with Sam Lawrence.

TweetsGiving 2008

Stacey started spending more time on Twitter as a result of her “going big” blog post and her new found connections on Twitter. This inspired Stacey to create a fund raising event called Tweetsgiving. Avi Kaplan, a new friend she met on Twitter, wrote a touching blog post thanking her for mentor-ship and passion for giving.  She was moved by his gratitude. So, Stacey invited the Twitter community to participate to show their gratitude. She asked influential bloggers like Jeff Pulver and Chris Brogan to invite people to give thanks for whatever they were grateful for and invited them to donate to TweetsGiving. The TweetsGiving event took place over just two days preceding Thanksgiving 2008. The goal was to raise $10,000. Over $11,000 was raised in just two days! TweetsGiving alone enabled Epic Change to build a classroom for Mama Lucy’s school in Tanzania.

TweetsGiving Success Factors

Why was TweetsGiving so successful? One reason is clearly stating the financial goal of $10,000 and stating what the money would be used for (to build a classroom). The call to action was to donate $10 for one brick. All the donators are listed on the wall of gratitude in the school.  The wall of gratitude was painted by local artists.  It reads: “This classroom was built from gratitude…Thank you!” All the donors are listed by their Twitter handle as shown in the picture below (that’s my Twitter name in the callout).  The entire classroom is enveloped by the wall of gratitude.

Five classrooms have been built as of this writing. And over $75,000 has been invested to secure land, a school bus, install flushable toilets and implement solar power. Over 300 children are now attending the Shepherd’s Junior school under Mama Lucy, which is triple the size since the beginning of the project! Equally important, this model is now proven which allows it to scale. Mama Lucy has also been certified now in national exams. Her school recently scored #1 out of 117 schools in their district in Arusha, Tanzania!

Building a Technology Lab is Next

An online vote has been mobilized to build a technology lab. Twitter people got involved in the voting along with the local people in Tanzania by going to internet cafes in town to cast their vote to get the funds for the technology lab. For many of them it was their first experience using the internet and they got to use it to vote to get more resources for their local community. On Stacey’s next trip they will teach people how to use the internet. The local people in Tanzania will also get to participate in TweetsGiving 2009.

TweetsGiving 2009

I asked Stacey about plans for TweetsGiving 2009. She was not ready to announce the financial goal when I conducted this interview. But, I’m sure we’ll learn about it very soon. She assured me the goal will be bigger than the 2008 goal. And, I have no doubt it will be exceeded once again.

Experiment that Paid Off

Stacey Monk’s story has so many inspirational lessons for us as humans and as vocational marketers. The main lesson I want to emphasize for marketers is to be willing to experiment. When Stacey launched TweetsGiving 2008 she didn’t know what to expect and she wound up exceeding her goal. She reached out and engaged influential people who helped her exponentially reach many more people. Stacey also produced content every step of the way. Her most successful content was user generated content, especially content that is produced in Tanzania in the way of photos and video.

Inspiration to Others

Many others have been inspired by Epic Change including me. I wrote a story about Epic Change in my book, Marketing 2.0.  Shel Israel has also covered Epic Change in his book, Twitterviille. Stacey was invited to speak at South by Southwest Conference where she learned that others have been inspired by her as a result of TweetsGiving. Many are frequently reaching out to Stacey for advice on raising funds on the social web for a charitable cause.

Stacey’s Advice to Marketers

Stacey is very grateful for the attention she has received, not for self serving reasons, but rather for the positive impact it’s having on Epic Change. Stacey advises marketers to consider partnering with charitable causes to make a difference. Along the way, you can reach influential people who align with the charitable cause. When for-profit businesses adopt a cause marketing mindset there are several winners. One of them can be the marketer. But, the biggest winner is the cause.

Thanks for advice Stacey!  I can’t wait to hear about TweetsGiving 2009.

What Do Social Media and Christmas Have in Common?

Sharing…

Why beat around the bush? The Christmas holiday season is a time to share and give. And, isn’t that one aspect of social media that we all enjoy?

The most prolific social media people are always sharing. They share their thoughts, their expertise, links to great content and their time. When Christmas time rolls around isn’t it natural for those of us who actively use social media to also share with those who don’t have our good fortunes?

In this blog post I want to recognize three recent examples of social media people who are setting an example. The reason I’m singling them out is because there are probably many others out there and I want others who know them to recognize them by adding them to the comments area.

The reason I want to recognize them is partially to give them thanks. But, mostly I want to use them as inspirational examples. We know the social power of the web. We use the social web to connect and to market ourselves. We regularly share links to content. Let’s use these links as inspirations and personal challenges to do great things for needy people.

As the world around us reels from economic hardships among other hardships, each of us can do something to help others. No matter how small, every little bit is a help to someone.

Let’s look at these examples for inspiration:

Your Donations Really Made a Difference: A few days ago Chris Brogan raised $1,200 in donations by putting out a challenge to his Twitter followers to make a difference. Chris is adding $700 of his own money to buy “really big” toys for underprivileged kids. Chris humbly says “You did this…You made it possible for me to pick up several carts full of toys” as he gives credit to his friends on the social web. Way to go Chris for showing leadership and caring!

A month ago Epic Change a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization run by Stacey Monk ran a two day donation campaign in the 48 hours preceding Thanksgiving. Stacey assembled a group of volunteers to organize Tweetsgiving. This event raised more than $10,000 to build a school building in Tanzania. Way to go Stacey for boldly blazing a new trail on Twitter!

In October, JD Rucker wrote a blog post: With Great Social Media Power Comes Great Responsibility. JD is calling on the companies in social media and their executives to give back to the needy.

I don’t want to give you the impression that I believe you aren’t already generous with your giving. I merely want to point out the power of social media. No disrespect to Chris Brogan, Stacey Monk or JD Rucker, but you don’t have to be Bill Gates to make a difference.

Rather than sit by, these people just to name three, are stepping out and taking action. They are inspiring all of us to take action.

Last week I provided pro bono social media strategy advice to Meet the Need a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. After that experience I was inspired to do more of it. I will stay close to Meet the Need because it can reach so many people and because I’m in a position to help.

This time of year calls more attention to the needy. My challenge to all my friends on the social web is to share and give of yourself all year long.

I invite you to offer your comments and tell us who else you know on the social web that is taking action to share with the needy.

@berniebay