I discussed Mercy Corps earlier regarding the organization’s poignant and strategic use of Twitter.  Today, I revisit the nonprofit for its tactic in  acquiring holiday donations.  Like some its competitors such as Heifer International , Mercy Corps packages donating as “gift-giving.”  Its differentiator, however, is  to ”give the gift that lasts a lifetime,” a Mercy Kit.    

Donors have a choice of kits ranging from $25 and up, and benefiting specific causes.  One such kit is the Play to Heal Kit.  For $75,  a donor gives a child who has experienced trauma a mentor, supplies, and a caregiver manual.  If the donation is made for someone else, the named person receives a card.  Each kit page contains a story of  a person helped, a donor testimonial and a donation widget.

One testimonial: “The way that the Mercy Kit is presented makes it feel tangible. You get a real sense of how your gift could help someone.”

Brian Powell, Cause Marketing expert and author of the blog,  Good Concepts, would say this testimonial is at the heart of effective donation garnering.  He recently noted that two important quotients of cause marketing are transparency and tangibility.  Without promoting the truth of where donation dollars go, it is hard for a  nonprofit to compete.  Powell states that donors need a 1-to-1 ratio,  ”This $75 dollar sum buys this, this and this.”  Overall, nonprofits need to package a donation in a manner that answers Powell’s big ‘D’ question, “Will this donation make a difference?”

According to Charity Navigator, human services nonprofits experienced the biggest drop in donations last year.  However, these are the organizations that need money the most during the holidays.  It seems crucial, then, that organizations like Mercy Corps ensure their messaging reflect the big ‘D.’

A personal “Thank You” displaying that 1 -to-1 ratio from Jeremy Barnicle,  Mercy Corps Marketing and Communications Vice President

What organizations also do this well?

In an article entitled Politweets: “Embrace the Twitter Side of Government 2.0,” Jack O’Connell, California’s superintendent of public instruction, lists three attributes for Twitter tactical success.  These are: transparency, passion and humanity.   The right blend of tweeted honesty, communicated need and likability make for a supportive online community.

Shel Israel, author of the touted Twitterville and Global Neighborhoods blogger, notes the powerful force of using social media to spread and garner good will.  Giving is subjective, he says.  Could the strategic use of Twitter could mean the difference between donation numbers?

I was recently chatting with a colleague  about “Worldly Nonprofit,” and she suggested I intersperse my posts with creative/new/different ways to donate.  Good  idea…

…Following her excellent advice, I took a slight risk and enabled Social Vibe on sidebar of this blog.  Social Vibe partners with select charities and corporate sponsors to make microdonations for blog visitors.

To donate,  the reader needs to click the Social Vibe widget, then watch and rate a video short.  However, the risks lie in potentially annoying readers and appearing to favor one particular nonprofit organization on a blog that somewhat evaluates nonprofit organizations.

Weighing the options, I opted to try Social Vibe and support Vitamin Angels.  Based in Santa Barbara,  Vitamin Angels mobilizes resources in the private sector to provide vitamin nutrients to children in developing nations.  Of the Social Vibe partnering nonprofits, Vitamin Angels was the most easily researched.

Utilizing 99% of funds on program expenses, Charity Angels is also pursuing sustainable methods of vitamin distribution, key in my eyes.  

So, we’ll give Social Vibe a try.  Check out Vitamin Angels, and click on the widget to donate, if you’d like.  

What do you think of Social Vibe?  Have you had successes or failures with this fundraiser?