Twitter Followers Raise Thousands of Dollars for Charity

Feb. 13, 2009, Chronicle of Philanthropy — Organizers of the 24-hour global fund-raising effort known as Twestival are still counting the cash they raised Thursday for charity: water, which works to provide clean drinking water to developing countries.

Twestival, which took place on February 12 at more than 175 cities around the world from Banaglore to Baton Rouge, brought together people who use the social networking site, Twitter, to meet in person and raise money for charity.

Planned in a little more than a month, the event organized by volunteers initially sought to raise $500,000 through a combination of ticket and merchandise sales, raffles, sponsorships, and online donations. But, based on an overwhelming response, organizers quickly revised their goal to $1-million.

According to early estimates, New York’s Twestival, which attracted hundreds of people to a downtown club, raised $22,500 – enough to build four freshwater wells.

Detroit Twestival-goers also collected enough to build a well, raising a total of $4,600. In Cleveland, 67 people attended a Twestival event, raising $1,410. Boston tweeters raised $3,855 through door and raffle tickets.

See and share pictures from Twestival at The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Flickr page.