First Tweetmyride Global Campaign to Raise US $1 Million for Charity via Twitter
July 30, 2009 — tweetmyride is a Twitter-driven global charity campaign, created to raise money for 10 charities around the world in the lead up to Vancouver-based Australian, Gavin Romanis, participating in the international mountain bike race, La Ruta de los Conquistadores in Costa Rica from November 11-14, 2009 - known as one of the toughest on the planet.
Inspired by Ashton Kutcher and CNN's challenge to gain 1 million followers on Twitter, and fuelled by the vibrant biking community of Vancouver, Canada, the basis behind the tweetmyride global campaign is to encourage global giving to a variety of causes.
Co-founders Leoni Milano and Gavin Romanis integrated these ideas to create a campaign with global reach, utilizing Twitter to help achieve their goal to raise US$1 million over the 4-month period that runs from July 30 - November 30, 2009.
"When I realised how gruelling La Ruta de los Conquistadores was going to be, I knew that I would need more than my own determination to get me through it - so the idea of doing it to help charities across the world seemed like the ideal inspiration" says Gavin Romanis, who has no prior experience in mountain bike racing, but was seduced by the challenge's combination of travel and outdoor adventure.
Milano and Romanis wanted to create something that would have a global impact - hence the campaign's tagline: "Twitter has no boundaries - neither should we." Tweetmyride will demonstrate the power of social networking and show that contributions - no matter how small - all help to build something incredibly worthwhile.
The participating charities (including twitter names) being supported in the campaign are:
1. charity: water, USA - http://www.twitter.com/charitywater
2. First United Church, Canada - http://www.twitter.com/fucm
3. Fred Hollows Foundation, Australia -
http://www.twitter.com/FredHollows
4. Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders, Canada -
http://www.twitter.com/MSF_canada
5. National Breast Cancer Foundation, Australia -
http://www.twitter.com/NBCFAus
6. Oxfam Canada, Canada - http://www.twitter.com/oxfamcanada
7. Starlight Children's Foundation, Australia -
http://www.twitter.com/Starlight_star
8. Team Fox for The Michael J. Fox Foundation, USA -
http://www.twitter.com/TEAMFOX
9. The CREAR Association, Costa Rica -
http://www.twitter.com/CostaRicaCREAR
10. World Vision, UK - http://www.twitter.com/WVUKnews
"There are literally thousands of charities out there doing incredible work, and we're thrilled to have these carefully chosen charities on board. For some, this will be their first foray into experimenting with social networking and they have all embraced this unique style of fundraising and awareness with keen enthusiasm," says co-founder Le oni Milano.
Twitter allows each of the charities the opportunity to connect and communicate on a more tangible level with their followers, donors and supporters, which in turn helps develop relationships for a deeper impact. It gives the charities a voice that helps people connect on a personal level, rather than just being a donor.
The campaign's vision is to also encourage others to hold their own 'tweetmyride' biking events around the world and have family and friends donate (towards their rides) to the participating charities, which they can then tweet about.
Donors get to go online to the tweetmyride website and choose which charity they wish to support from those participating in the campaign. All donations will go directly to each charity.
