My wife is currently raising money for Play To Beat Brain Cancer, which is a small 501(c)3 out of Kansas City that supports cancer centers and provides financial assistance to families that can’t afford treatment. I’m proud of my wife, she’s a rockstar. Being a recipient of donations myself, I love seeing her spend time paying it forward. Every bit helps and you’re welcome to contribute towards her campaign, just click that brain. 🙂
Live Streaming to Fundraise
My wife is not the only one raising money this month. In fact, a group of her friends are independently fundraising for various charities by streaming video games on Twitch.tv and collecting donations from viewers. These “charity streams” make millions of dollars every year. But I’ve been thinking about this type of fundraising in smaller scales as I’m witnessing small communities of people coming together to fight cancer, hunger, ALS, Alzheimer’s, etc. This is a fantastic case of “every donation helps,” with these small campaigns bringing in $100, $300, $10000, or more depending on their community size.
These types of “micro fundraisers” are easy to setup with technologies like Tiltify which are designed for this style of collecting donations. Tools like Tiltify streamline the handling of money and gamify the fundraising process with leaderboards that allow communities to compete for bragging rights while collecting donations. For example, check out the Alzheimer’s Association’s leaderboard at the bottom of their Tiltify page. There you’ll find 25 campaigns led by individuals that raised between $10600 and $150 depending on their community size.
It’s incredible to see small groups make large impacts when they work in tandem. It’s even better when your partner is participating! While thinking about live streaming micro fundraisers, I was reminded of supporting a classroom through Donor’s Choose.
Teacher’s Choose
Back in 2014, I contributed towards a friends Donor’sChoose.org campaign so he could raise money and purchase a couple iPads for his classroom. He wanted to engage his first graders in learning technology, but at the time, he didn’t have a way to acquire the tools he needed. Luckily, he was able to micro fundraise for himself through Donor’s Choose. (The fact that so many teachers need to do this is another can of worms.)
Like the charity streamers, the success of his campaign was aided by his surrounding community. After I donated, two of my family members also contributed toward this cause and there were several others that helped fund his proposal. Together, we were able to bring new learning experiences with technology to his first graders.
Final Thoughts
My friend’s Donor’s Choose page surprised me today because I found a message from my Grandmother. It was heartwarming to find this micro fundraiser as another point where our lives intersected. 🙂
Charity streams and Donor’sChoose.org campaigns are just two (more) examples where I see value in our interconnectedness. Together we help support each other. Together we support people all over the world. Keep inspiring your friends and family with love. Keep inspiring your neighbors and coworkers love. Together we are stronger. You make a difference.
The featured image is provided CC0 by Perry Grone via Unsplash.