On the morning of the first day of SXSW, I saw the jaw-dropping photos and videos from the Japan tsunami disaster. The news agencies were reporting that hundreds of people have died and tens-of-thousands were missing. In addition, earthquakes and potential nuclear reactor meltdowns posed serious threats to an already disaster-torn country.
Without hesitation, we launched a fundraising site through CauseVox to rally the SXSW community to support disaster relief. We didn’t want to seem like we were capitalizing on a disaster, so we also decided to cover all the transaction fees so 100% of the donation would go to the American Red Cross.
Within 30 minutes, we registered a domain name, launched a site, and seeded it with key influencers on Twitter to help build momentum.
Meanwhile, bloggers Leigh Duncan and Deb Ng were starting a grassroots effort to raise awareness and support for the Japan disaster too. We quickly found out about each other through Jessica Lin (my better half).
Like all strong movements, we collaborated. Our hope was to leverage the influence of the SXSW community to raise $10,000 for disaster relief. Throughout the day, we made incremental improvements to SXSWcares. The content and design of the campaign changed by the minute as we refined our approach towards the campaign.
In addition to promoting the campaign through social media, we targeted session speakers to announce the campaign. Guy Kawasaki, Brain Solis, Blake Mycoskie, and many more helped spread the word about the campaign. Dr. Natalie hustled exhibitors in the trade show to give corporate donations, and Denice Crowell rallied bands and a field team to raise support. Hanson ran a livestream telethon to raise support too.
Throughout the week, we talked to dozens of media including Austin-American Statesman, CNN, and the Mayor of Austin to further spread the word about the Japan disaster and SXSWcares.
We’re wrapping up the campaign and so far, we’ve beat our original goal and have raised over $100,000 through the SXSW community. This could be the start of a movement. Check us out at www.sxswcares.org.
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