Aid agencies are using the internet to raise awareness and mobilise support in the wake of a major disaster like the Haitian earthquake, writes GORDON SMITH
WITHIN MINUTES of the massive earthquake in Haiti last week, the web was buzzing. While much of the breaking news was on traditional media websites, charities mobilised quickly to help relief efforts by raising awareness and funds.
Aid agencies like Trócaire, Concern, the Irish Red Cross and Oxfam Ireland were using their own websites to provide information. Mindful of the powerful community on social networks, they also placed regularly updated content on sites like Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and on individual blogs.
“The web would never have been so critical in an emergency before, but now it’s clear digital media has a critical part to play in a relief effort,” says Ruth Rowan, head of web at Concern.
“Literally that day, we were able to e-mail our supporters in Ireland and the UK and we set up an appeal page on our site. We had already blogged about it and we had launched an Irish marketing campaign with banner ads on a number of sites.”
Using video, audio and live reports from aid workers at the scene also shows donors how their money is being used. “With an emergency, it’s so important because there’s an immediacy to it,” Rowan says. “You can reach vast amounts of people in a short time and keep them updated.”
Social media also serves a charity’s role of advocacy.
In 2007, Trócaire ran a television segment about the difficulties facing women and baby girls in the developing world.
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland briefly banned it as a political advertisement. A revised ad was issued a week later but, in the meantime, Trócaire simply posted the original version on YouTube.
Many people still feel uncomfortable donating online but would still visit charities’ websites before donating by post or over the phone. Bringing the same information to social networks makes sense, says Trócaire’s communications manager Emer Mullins.
“We realised very early on that we have to go to where people are to get new supporters. It’s not a fad, it’s a fact of life. NGOs and charities have to keep up with this.”
Aid agencies aren’t the only ones using the internet to mobilise support in the wake of a major disaster, however. The anti-virus company Eset has warned that cybercriminals are exploiting public interest in Haiti by posting footage from the stricken region.
In reality, these sites try to infect visitors with malicious software. Another scam is to send fake e-mails requesting donations, where the link downloads malware or can be used to steal the recipient’s credit card details. Eset recommended that people should only visit recognised news or charity websites.
The fast reaction to unfolding events has been matched by swift response from the public. In less than a week, Concern’s website received more than €1.3 million in donations for Haiti. That figure beat the charity’s previous online record by a considerable margin and it accounts for 70 per cent of all Haiti funds raised to date by Concern.
To put the figure into perspective, total online donations have traditionally been about 4 per cent of annual income for Concern.
The time lag between online campaign and more traditional print and post means the final percentage probably won’t be as high, but it’s a sign of how important the web has become for charities and NGOs.
The web also allows them to control their costs, as they operate under tight budgetary constraints anyway. An online campaign can be put together faster and cheaper than expensive print or radio advertising. “We always try to keep our marketing costs down, but from our experience, there’s a good return online for less cost than there is for traditional marketing,” Mullins says.
Trócaire’s income from the web isn’t yet on a par with its offline fundraising activity, but the figure is growing. Money raised online during its annual Lenten appeal doubled between 2006 and 2008 to about €300,000. Its online Global Gift campaign brought in almost €500,000 in 2009.
In addition to breaking news stories, charities are also using technology in other interesting ways.
Jonathan Irwin, founder of the Jack & Jill charity for sick children, jokingly calls his own Twitter feed “more like a grumpy old man’s Twitter” but says it helps to drive traffic to the Jack & Jill website. “It comes from all over the world, which is very encouraging. It knows no geographical boundaries,” he says.
Jack & Jill has become synonymous with recycling mobile phones to raise funds for its home nursing services. It has now signed up more than 1,200 schools to donate old mobiles in return for an interactive whiteboard valued at €3,000 for the classroom.
A self-confessed “dyslexic” when it comes to technology, Irwin nevertheless sees the value in technology to overcome a squeeze on funding.
“We’ve never spent a penny on advertising and I can quite easily see the power that’s in the likes of Facebook,” he says.
