Zynga – the world’s leading social games company – has worked with several charities to integrate giving opportunities within their social games. Most recently, Zynga has partnered with Save the Children to aid disaster victims in Japan. (Please visit Save the Children site to donate.)
Previously, they have supported campaigns for Sweet Seeds for Haiti, Water.org, San Fransisco SPCA, and the World Food Program. For these causes, Zynga players are given opportunities to support the charity during their online game experience.
Crops for a Cause
For hospitals, online gaming presents an interesting opportunity to support fundraising efforts. Last fall, the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital promoted a campaign through Zynga’s Farmville to raise money for building a new children’s center. Farmville players were able to give by planting Candy Cane crops on their virtual farms for a donation of 25 Farm Cash. All proceeds from the sale of the crops were donated directly to the hospital.
This effort was part of a broader social media campaign that UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital developed last fall to raise more than $600 million for the hospital called the UCSF Challenge for the Children. Individuals and teams from the Bay Area used social media to compete in raising money for the hospital. Funds raised through the social media challenge went towards the construction of the 183-bed hospital.
Details of the campaign are here:
The eight-week fundraising competition, running through Dec. 16, is designed to reach out through social media channels like Facebook and Twitter and encourage people to contribute as individuals or become team leaders in support of the children’s hospital.
Leaders will draft teams of fellow supporters through their personal networks, then compete against other teams for various prizes leading up to the grand prize of naming a prominent space in the new hospital. The campaign’s primary goal is to increase community engagement with the future hospital at Mission Bay, so the winning team will have the largest number of individual donations, rather than the highest total donated. That puts a school or service club on equal footing with a corporate executive.
For more innovative ideas on using social media for fundraising, be sure to check out Beth Kanter’s blog.
