Services: Contact Center – Social Media
Industry: Non-Profit

01 | Problem

The children’s hospital was looking for a strategic partner to help create a social media buzz that would translate into fundraising dollars towards its renovation project. The children’s hospital hired Dialog Direct for its social media customer services.

02 | Solution

Dialog Direct created a customized social media fundraising campaign for the children’s hospital. Three strategies were used to create and promote the campaign:

Website: Dialog Direct created a customized fundraiser-designed website for the hospital that raised funds over a four month period.

Online Donations: Dialog Direct created the feature “virtual blocks” on the website, which allowed people to make donations in increments of $25, $50 and $100. Donors could personalize their virtual block by uploading artwork and pictures. Donors could also link their virtual block to a website of their choice.

Donations were made using a PayPal account or any major credit card.

Promotion: To promote the customized website, five tactics were implemented:

1. Reaching out to former patients and previous donors
2. Distributing advertising material around the hospital
3. Creating special outreaches in order to garner donations from businesses in the hospital’s local community
4. Promoting the fundraiser on the hospital’s website and social media networks
5. Making a video about the campaign and sharing it on YouTube and the customized website

03 | Results

The campaign helped raise more than $180,000 towards the hospital’s $1 million renovation project. Several efforts were made to promote the customized website, including a short video about the campaign that more than 600 people viewed on YouTube. The promotional efforts of the customized site resulted in more than $2,000 being donated directly through the website, which helped spread the word about the fundraiser. Members of the hospital’s local community got involved in the fundraising efforts, including some high school students that launched their own campaign to help raise money for the children’s hospital.

Dialog Direct’s social media management efforts helped the hospital attain donations from unexpected sources, including cast members from a TV show on the MTV Network who donated autographed memorabilia to support the campaign. The fundraiser-designed website also grabbed the attention of one of the largest retail companies in North America. The retail company gave a $120,000 grant for the purchase of three Giraffe Omni-bed Isolates for the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The retail company donated an additional $50,000 on behalf of its employees, because the hospital was one of the three charities selected by its employees to receive a donation for the year.