Epic Change believes that people’s stories are assets that can be used as resources to improve their lives. They help people in need share their “epic” true stories so that they can raise money to create positive “change” in their communities.
I had the pleasure of meeting Stacey Monk a few months on Twitter. She has been using social media tools to increase awareness and fundraising for Epic Change. And she’s gotten some very powerful results…
John: What state, both financially and from a market presence standpoint, was your non-profit before using social media tools?
Stacey: Epic Change launched in September 2007, and immediately adopted social media tools, including a Wordpress blog, YouTube, a Facebook cause and, several months later, Twitter. We started from zero funding and zero market presence.
Stacey: Because we had no funding, we adopted these free tools out of necessity. The Net2 Mashup Challenge led us to discover Twitter, and the Case Foundation America’s Giving Challenge revealed the utility of Facebook Causes.
Stacey: I think the prime obstacle has been flying while building the plane. We’re learning as we go, but certainly didn’t have training or experience in social media before we launched our efforts.
Stacey: Most Helpful Guide: Beth’s Blog
Most Helpful Apps: Twitter, WordPress, YouTube and Facebook (also VolunteerMatch, Chipin, Idealist)
Stacey: Our most significant social media accomplishment has been TweetsGiving, an event in which we used Twitter to raise over $11K from over 350 new donors in just 48 hours last November. Through all our efforts, we now have been posted on over 200 blogs, including the NonProfit Times and Mashable, and have over 1300 Twitter Followers, a few hundred friends of our Facebook cause, and, perhaps most valuable, a volunteer and professional network that has been built in large part due to building our social media community.
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