What do you do if you wake up and your fundraising system is frozen? Barry Martin, Director of Digital Media and Technology at Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA), can tell you from experience what to do next. Barry tells the story of Hudson Bond and the ad for his heart transplant that Facebook denied because it was deemed “too scary.” Bond’s case went viral after his story was featured on news reports and articles, including CNN. Support and donations came flying in, but it crashed COTA’s system. What do you do next? Barry explains what the next step is and how to get back on track, and talks about why that can’t be the precedent for every case. Barry talks about how unexpected problems from the back-end of a campaign can be solved.
He and Beth discuss:
- When something does go viral, how does it impact the organization?
- How can you prepare for a big donation influx from the back-end?
- What do you do to keep donations coming even after your goal is hit?
- Why you can’t count on virality every time
- How properly allocating funds works and why it makes such a difference, especially in an environement like COTA
Resources:
- Children’s Organ Transplant Association: http://cota.org
- DonorPerfect: http://www.donorperfect.com
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