{"id":7212,"date":"2011-04-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.causevox.com\/?p=393"},"modified":"2024-05-08T19:08:31","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T19:08:31","slug":"how-the-sxsw-community-raised-over-120000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/blog\/how-the-sxsw-community-raised-over-120000\/","title":{"rendered":"How the SXSW community raised over $120,000"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"110318-N-SB672-773\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On March 11th 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck the northeastern coast of Japan. The massive earthquake triggered a tsunami with waves as high as 77 feet that pushed as far as 6 miles inland. Tens of thousands of Japanese were reported dead or missing and hundreds of thousands were left homeless.<\/p>\n

That morning, CauseVox helped launch a campaign — SXSWcares<\/a> — to rally the South by Southwest (SXSW) community to support Japan disaster relief. Within 10 days, along with collaborators, the campaign raised over $120,000<\/strong> for the Red Cross.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll discuss how SXSWcares exceeded their goal and which key lessons we learned.<\/p>\n

About SXSW and the American Red Cross
\n<\/strong>SXSW<\/a> is a film, interactive, and music festival that takes place annually in Austin, TX. SXSW started in 1987 with 700 participants; it\u2019s grown to attract over 20,000 in 2011.<\/p>\n

The American Red Cross <\/a>is a humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and education. The American Red Cross is an affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, a network of Red Cross organizations.<\/p>\n

The SXSWcares Campaign
\n<\/strong>The Japanese earthquake and tsunami occurred on the first day of SXSW Interactive, a gathering of the world\u2019s top online influencers and innovators. The SXSWcares campaign\u2019s purpose: to rally this community to raise awareness and harness support for disaster relief.<\/p>\n

SXSWcares began as a grassroots campaign with a handful of SXSW attendees. After seeing the news, the team used the CauseVox online fundraising platform to launch a campaign-branded giving site within 30 minutes to capture the urgency of disaster giving.<\/p>\n

The original goal was to raise $10,000 within the 5-day interactive portion of SXSW.<\/p>\n

Campaign Techniques
\n<\/strong> Several techniques made SXSWcares successful:<\/p>\n