30 Dec 2010 1 Comment

Cake Wrecks blog takes the cake for fundraising in 2010

The Cake Wrecks blog began their Christmas Charity Countdown (CCC) in 2009 to raise money for 12 different nonprofits in 12 days. As Cake Wrecks writes: “Many of you remember this crazy thing I did last year, when John and I skipped gifts and decorations and instead donated to a different charity each day for two weeks. I asked you guys to recommend places to give, and invited you to join us by giving a single dollar each day to the featured charity. But the really crazy thing is that a lot of you did.”

This year, Cake Wrecks reintroduced the Christmas Charity Countdown, asking for recommendations of places to give, and asking readers to donate $1.00 a day to 12 different nonprofit organizations. Over 12 days, the Cake Wrecks fundraiser generated $24,419 in donations. Over 4,500 people donated, primarily in increments of less than $5.00. Comments on fundraising pages include “so glad you’re doing it again this year” and “$5.00 -  I’m playin’ catch-up, Jen!” Comments on the blog posts are just as supportive and community-minded. Contributing to the success was the enthusiasm for the idea of the fundraiser, the loyal blog readership, the inclusion of the readers in the selection of the nonprofit beneficiaries and, possibly, the low suggested donation amount of $1 a day.

FirstGiving interviewed Jen Yates, co-owner of Cake Wrecks, about the CCC and what makes a great online community fundraiser.

1. Describe the CCC in your own words. What inspired you to create it last year?

The charity countdown started as my attempt to recapture the holiday spirit. I realized I was stressing out over things that are supposed to be joyful: gifts, decorations, parties – and missing the forest for the trees, so to speak. So, John and I decided to skip the gifts and decorations, and instead donate to a different charity every day for two weeks. It seemed only natural to include the Cake Wrecks readers – not to mention we needed their help in deciding which charities to donate to!

2. How do you select the charities that will benefit each day?

Last year was pretty disorganized, since the whole idea was pretty last minute. Every night we spent hours and hours combing through the readers’ recommendations, trying to decide which charity to feature the next day. That made for a lot of late nights, and a lot of stress! This year we tried to get a jump start by researching and narrowing down the list ahead of time.

3. What did you learn from last year’s CCC that influenced this year’s event?

We took note of which charities seemed to resonate the most with readers, and why. We used that information to help us decide which charities to keep on the list this year, and which to replace.

4. Have you publicized the event outside of the blog?

No, not at all. To be honest, if the fans hadn’t responded so positively to the Countdown last year, we probably wouldn’t have repeated it. Now it’s become bigger than just me trying to refuel my own holiday mojo, though: it’s taken off, and is actually enriching our readers’ holiday traditions, too. That’s nothing I could have ever predicted, and I think trying to publicize it might cheapen it: the last thing I want is to turn this into some kind of publicity stunt.

5. What do you think it is about your blog readership that inspires such generosity?

Cake Wrecks readers are pretty unique in that they are – almost without exception – unbelievably kind-hearted, witty, and generous individuals. Even so, I was a tad nervous launching the Countdown the first time last year. Someday I really should stop underestimating the Wreckies, though; their response was really much better than I ever could have hoped.

6. What kind of impact do you think this experience has had on your blog?

On the blog? Not much. However, I’ve heard from enough readers to know that it has affected many of *their* lives for the better. Families are making it a new tradition to give now. Parents are getting their kids involved. Folks are learning more about the charities we feature, and even volunteering or donating to one or more of them throughout the year. It’s really cool to hear all the different ways people are getting involved.

7. In addition to donating through FirstGiving, how have your readers supported the fundraiser?

Some use their own blogs to call attention to the charities we feature, or they post on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Almost everyone has that one charity that resonates a little more than the others, so I see readers doing what they can to help publicize the ones that grab them the most.

8. What do you like the best about the CCC?

We try to feature a lot of charities that have very tangible benefits, because I love looking back and being able to say, “This is what our combined dollars accomplished!” I suppose it’s a bit selfish, but knowing that together we paid for X amount of cleft palate surgeries, or for a new well in Africa, or for this many wheelchairs – well, there’s really nothing that can match that feeling.

9. Do you have any fundraising tips for other bloggers that would want to create a charity fundraiser?

Considering that John and I waded into this knowing absolutely *nothing* and then just muddled through as best we could, my only advice would be to speak/write from your heart, feature charities you truly believe in, and try not to set your expectations too high.

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