Turning Fundraising on Its Head

The Hope Institute approaches each social network in slightly different ways, tailoring to the audiences. Any video about the Hope Institute goes up on YouTube, and the organization will do interviews, training presentations and event videos to post there.

On Facebook, the institute posts relevant content daily, but it also runs certain promotions dedicated to Facebook. For instance, in February, the organization had a fan drive in which a donor offered to donate a dollar for each new Facebook fan that joined that month. That helped drive an extra thousand fans over a three-week period, Brown says. Hope also has incorporated surveys and polls to drive Facebook fans to the website, have them complete the surveys and then share that activity with their friends.