We’re here to present SpinTO, a case study in using social media to enable community-generated fundraising
Mark works as a consultant engaging citizens in creative problem solving to social or public policy challenges
Adam works as a user experience designer for web and mobile platforms
Born on the same day (April 29, a week before SpinTO), were looking for an excuse to have a big party around our birthday
Avid cyclists, geeks and very avid gays
 
We are not professional fund-raisers
Bike Rally is the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation's primary fundraising event of the year
A 600km journey from Toronto to Montreal in July-August
Charitable, social, physical - many motivations for many people
The bike rally inspired us to create an experience for people who don’t do the bike rally.
We wanted to share the experience of many different people coming together, for different reasons, and having a remarkable shared experience.
Something that would have them talking about it for days and weeks and months
There is a lot of hyperbole in the social media marketing world, and we’re here in part to debunk it
Social media is not about the tools
it's not about getting your message out
Social media is not about the tools
it's not about getting your message out
it's about being social, being human and connected
social media should make you think differently how you can enable people to be social around your cause?
In social web design, we start by asking “what is the social object?”
what is the thing around which people are motivated to be social?
for us, it was the opportunity to have a kick-ass party
people partying for a good cause is nothing new
but the new tools create entirely new possibilities for what “getting social” can mean
so this is our social media strategy, give people a remarkable experience, something worth talking about
increased awareness and fundraising were secondary outcomes designed into the social interactions
PWA - Sit through one candlelight vigil on the Bike Rally and you'll understand why we devoted so much time to this
The Bike Rally is emotionally powerful. It is about the experience of community, of many becoming one.
It taps deep parts of our soul because of the combination of emotional, social and physical intensity.
We were also inspired by another event called HoHoTO which established a framework for our event
HoHoTO was a large holiday party that raised $25,000 for the Toronto Daily Bread Foodbank. It was organized over Twitter.
One person on Twitter suggested that some of the Toronto tech community should pool their company holiday parties and raise some money for charity
Other Twitter people jumped on board and it became a snowball that resulted in $25,000 raised in a matter of a few weeks. From nothing.
Were were interested in bring together three communities under one roof, gays, geeks and cyclists.
This was in part to reflect the diversity of who we are as organizers, for our identities include all three.
No party for an LGBT cause would be complete without Gays….
But we also had a lot of straight geeks and cycling getting into the disco and queer-inspired spirit.
We had straight tech geeks jumping at the opportunity to dress in drag. So they did, to somewhat tragic but hilarious effect.
We also had leaders in the technology community challenging others to step up.
David Crow, the man who’s trying not to actually smoooch me in this picture, is a developer evangelist for Microsoft.
He sent out a personal challenge on Twitter to sponsor SpinTO, which quickly snowballed as other sponsors from the technology community matched his challenge.
In the end, while it may have been social media that got them there, it was about the people who came.
The event had to reflect their spirit, their culture.
This is a community of people who are irreverent, who are used to stepping outside of convention.
This is Ryannah Taylor. She was one of sponsors through Fair Trade Jewelery Company. She was also our DJ.
And yes, she is this tragic and awesome.
They were a community of people looking to explore sides of themselves that normal life doesn’t normally allow.
Our Bike Rally co-chairs understood this, were incredibly supportive and they helped us a lot through a lot of insight and handholding.
They also didn’t try to control the message or keep us from experimenting.
They understood that the project was about the people first, and the Bike Rally second.
We thrived on the contributions of our volunteers.
video, branding, design, DJs, promotion, models, performers, all were volunteers
3 sponsor levels
Silver, Gold, Platinum
Simple, 3 points to describe what sponsors get out of it
Sold through social networks
3 sponsor levels
Silver, Gold, Platinum
Simple, 3 points to describe what sponsors get out of it
Sold through social networks
3 sponsor levels
Silver, Gold, Platinum
Simple, 3 points to describe what sponsors get out of it
Sold through social networks
3 sponsor levels
Silver, Gold, Platinum
Simple, 3 points to describe what sponsors get out of it
Sold through social networks
Ticket prices and sponsorships the primary means of fundraising
Raffle tickets for prizes
Ticket prices and sponsorships the primary means of fundraising
Raffle tickets for prizes
Ticket prices and sponsorships the primary means of fundraising
Raffle tickets for prizes
Ticket prices and sponsorships the primary means of fundraising
Raffle tickets for prizes
Ticket prices and sponsorships the primary means of fundraising
Raffle tickets for prizes
Ticket prices and sponsorships the primary means of fundraising
Raffle tickets for prizes
Specialty drinks at the bar
Specialty drinks at the bar
Specialty drinks at the bar
Specialty drinks at the bar
Specialty drinks at the bar
Specialty drinks at the bar
Mod Club
 
Toronto Bike Union
BoylesqueTO & Skin Tight Outta Sight
BoylesqueTO created a bicycle themed burlesque act for us
Hip hop dance crew Right Clik added some flava to the mix
DJs - Duarte Da Silva and Ryannah Taylor, Qasim Virjee
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Visuals - created by Adam, and some provided by venue
 
Tagging and activity streams
ScribbleLive event liveblogging - partygoers could participate with LCDs behind the bar and simulcasted online
Scribblelive was free to use, and they donated a custom skin for us.
We used Google Docs as a tool for collaboration among organizers.
Google Docs allows….
Google Docs is free to use.
Our blog was setup on Wordpress, the open source blog software.
We installed it on our own shared hosting service, which is cheap. The software itself is free.
The template was designed by Adam with graphic design by ____
We used the blog as our primary website at SpinTO.ca. It integrated all of the other social elements into one coherent context.
SpinTO twitter account shared updates with the Toronto twitter community, helped create excitement and buzz online
Sharing tidbits of new info as they happened and having conversations with other twitter users.
We used Eventbrite to sell tickets and sponsorships because it was cheap and easy to setup.
And of course we had a Facebook event page.
Allowed us to promote the event in advance, share content with our attendees and those on the fence.
We used both Vimeo and YouTube for hosting web videos.
Social sharing of online video is a key tool for telling your story online.
We also used Flickr, the photo sharing site. We had many great amateur and professional photographers come to the event.
We created a photo pool that allowed all those people to add their photos from the event into one collection.
These photos provide fantastic opportunities for participants to relive their fantastic night out, share it with their friends and colleagues, and thereby trigger conversations about the cause.
We used Blip.fm to share music that we felt reflected the spirit of our event.
These blips would also be shared on twitter, which allowed Twitter users to get a good preview of what to expect.
in the end, our message is that you as fund-raisers can use these tools yourselves.
But you can also use them to enable community-generated creative collaborations.