Thousands of individuals competed for donors, donations and matching awards for their favorite charitable causes as part of the Case Foundation’s first-ever America’s Giving Challenge. The Challenge introduced emerging technologies to millions of people and helped give new significance to the power of individual donors and small donations.
This reflection paper provides an honest assessment of what worked well and what could be improved as more organizations look to adopt similar approaches that engage the public in new ways to raise money and awareness for causes they care about.
America's Giving Challenge
America’s Giving Challenge, presented by the Case Foundation, Causes on Facebook, GlobalGiving and PARADE Magazine, encouraged people to rally their online networks to make giving back easier and a part of their daily lives. The innovative initiative brought attention to new online tools and networks, showing how to tap into them to deepen civic engagement, democratize philanthropy and engage masses of small donors and advocates.
The Case Foundation launched America’s Giving Challenge in 2007 as a national online competition that enabled passionate individuals and nonprofit organizations to easily call on their online and offline personal networks to increase awareness, attract new donors, and encourage people to get and stay involved with causes they care about. In 2009, the Foundation launched the second America’s Giving Challenge, which incorporated learnings from and built upon the first initiative. Both Challenges were effective in helping the nonprofit sector become more skilled in its use of social media and inspiring other corporations and foundations to launch similar online contests.