Fundraising idea for OLPC

not sure whether it is sane or not, but i am writing it down as it comes to me when i am thinking of social fundraising

please feel free to steal the idea... or else i might end up doing :)

the idea is based on: 

  • social interaction (donor-beneficiary engagement) 
  • group push (multi-donors per laptop)

each olpc has 1,080,000 square pixels (1200 x 900) - a small but visible facebook/twitter user icon/avatar is 576 square pixels (24 x 24), a normal one is 5776 square pixels (76 x 76) - donors can buy up avatars to contribute to the cost of a laptop

donors who contributed would appear on the virtual wall in the laptop (easily accessible in navigation)

donors messages/comments are also included in the wall

assuming the rate is at $0.001 cent per pixel, a small avatar costs only ~$0.05 and a normal avatar costs only ~$0.50

the whole screen can accommodate about 186 normal sized avatars

why this is interesting:

  • the child recipient and donors can interact when the child browses through the wall (via facebook, twitter)
  • the donor walls are also accessible on the web
  • donors would also be informed of "filtered" activities carried out in the laptop (olpc has activity log feature) which would be posted on to the wall (get donors involved)
  • as it is micro-donation happening across social media platforms, i guess there is some viral element and the group push effect

related prior examples:

http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/

http://fixoutlook.org/

http://www.chapter.org/redevelopment/brick.html

http://www.myactionaid.org.uk/RebeccaHall/sponsor-a-brick-lego-house

http://blamedrewscancer.com/

similar idea:

http://www.slideshare.net/michaelsprague/olpc-micropayment-strategy