The first sign of a groundswell was the $60,000: that is the amount that came in within 24 hours. When we received word that we needed to meet the payment on our $250,000 note with M & T bank, we first notified our close group of practitioners, immediately followed by our worldwide newsletter community.
The heartening initial response made the goal seem possible to make, but the next 48 hours would tell the tale.
We decided to do a webathon, a telethon on the web, broadcasting via streaming video (UStream.tv). It was a fund-raising medium we had experimented with once before—on a much smaller scale!
Other organizations have since asked us for advice, and here’s how we did it.
We assembled a system: a gmail address for communicating pledges, a spreadsheet for recording them, a skype number for call-ins. We assembled a team: anchor, co-anchor, gmail responder, Skype call taker, UStream chat monitor, and—all important!—a dedicated spreadsheet scribe. We assembled a simple set: a couple of tables, curtained room screens for backdrops, and a whiteboard on an easel for showing results. (The picture above shows what viewers saw on their computer screens.)
Some technical issues were more challenging. With a T-1 line already in place, we could broadcast streaming video via a dedicated computer. But that’s not like having a television studio, folks! We had one camera that was cabled to the computer, so we could show only what the camera saw. When we wanted to broadcast YouTube clips, we had to set up a television monitor, and film the screen. Similarly, to show slides, we set up a screen and projector, and turned the camera to that screen.
With all these items in place, the rest was a matter of people: talking, interacting, responding. Some people were with us for the broadcast in the Dharma Room at KPC. Others were on line, chatting, writing, calling: encouraging us, cheering results, and, of course, donating.
