“CauseVox’s design was so simple and straightforward … ”
-Cris Valerio, Innovator in Residence at IDEO.org
Cookstoves in Tanzania, sustainable business plans for selling water in Kenya, and something called TEDx in a box:
Welcome to IDEO.org.
A Bit of Background
IDEO.org is the relatively new philanthropic arm of the innovative design firm IDEO. For the past year and a half, IDEO.org’s aim has been to, “[E]radicate poverty through innovation and design.” IDEO.org is currently working on projects in Kenya, India, San Francisco, and Ghana, designing solutions for sanitation, healthcare, employment, and more. The projects are staffed by IDEO.org Fellows, a mix of internal IDEO designers and social sector professionals from around the world, who join IDEO.org for one year. The IDEO.org Fellows work on projects related to alleviating the problems of poverty around the world.
Funding for projects at IDEO.org comes from two sources: 1) project fees paid by various partners that work with IDEO.org on certain projects, and 2) philanthropic contributions. To date, contributions have been obtained through traditional methods, such as a “Donate” link on the main webpage, social media campaigns, snail mail solicitations, e-mail newsletters to regular supporters, and fundraising events.
But for the most recent campaign, IDEO.org wanted something a little different.
The CauseVox Campaign
“We wanted to differentiate this campaign, and highlight the fact that funds would go to support the Fellows program directly,” said Cris Valerio, one of the campaign organizers. She did a bit of searching for online fundraising platforms and came across CauseVox. As the opening quote indicates, she was drawn to CauseVox’s simplicity of design. “We also wanted to incorporate video, and CauseVox let us do that easily,” she said. In addition, she reported that the fact that donors could cover CauseVox’s fee through “tips,” was also a welcome feature.
IDEO.org created a CauseVox page, a video, and then they were off and running.
Mainly, their campaign was broadcast to their current network via social media, e-mail, and mailing lists. It was also spread beyond their internal network through word of mouth. The campaign chugged along, and when all was said and done, they had raised over $27,000 (thanks in part to a large swell of support in the final days)! Their campaign page can be seen here.
“If we learned a lesson from the campaign, it was that we might have had even greater success had we tried to reach outside our current network and connect with new supporters,” said Valerio. That aside, the folks at IDEO.org sounded quite pleased with the results of their campaign and the great support they got from their donors.
Proceeds from the campaign will help to fund next year’s IDEO.org Fellowship class. The organization is considering pursuing projects involving health in India, mobile banking in Uganda, and other projects that are designed for broad impact.
Other recent projects include 1) a new sanitation offering in Ghana, which included in-home toilets for many, and 2) a scalable business in Kenya that sells water alongside hygiene and nutrition projects.
Congratulations, IDEO.org – we (and the rest of the world) are eagerly awaiting your next creative innovation!
