RSS Fundraising

How do you fundraise with a “Feed”? A “feed” refers to when a website, app, or other online service publishes content in a consistent way: Blogs, FourSquare checkins, stuff like that. You might have heard of “RSS” or “ATOM” – that’s what we’re using so you can use just about any content on the internet to give to a great cause. How does it work?
  • Log in to HelpAttack! http://www.helpattack.com
  • Click “New Pledge”, the leftmost blue link near the top.
  • Click “Give with an RSS or ATOM feed” (the last option)
  • Or you can just go here: http://helpattack.com/cause/choose?type=Feed
  • Choose a cause
  • You are now on the pledge screen. Copy and paste a link, any URL, that you think publishes content related to your cause, or your reasons for giving (see examples below)

For example, you could give with each Flickr upload to a photography nonprofit. You could give 5c each time a pet is posted to a pet rescue organization’s website. You could give to the Red Cross each time they update their blog. You could give with your LinkedIn network updates, or a Tumblr, or someone’s Diggs, or…anything! See specific examples below.

Try it out, and think about these questions (let us know what you think! feedback@helpattack.com):

  • What should we call this type of pledge? What words do most people associate with RSS and ATOM feeds?
  • What websites or content would you want to pledge with?
  • Does the email and broadcast messaging make sense for your pledge?
  • Would you ‘get it’ as a first time user?

It’s true that many people aren’t quite sure what an RSS or ATOM feed is. Remember that we can always set it up for an audience beforehand, and publish a link that will pre-populate the pledge screen with the correct URL, so no hunting, copying and pasting, is required.

Examples

LinkedIn

You can pledge your LinkedIn network updates.

You can also pledge with LinkedIn Answers feeds. For example, give to an environmental organization each time a Green Products or Sustainability answer is posted. Visit the above URL and use the form on the right.

Flickr

You can pledge any user’s photostream.

Visit any user’s photostream. E.g. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mouser-nerdbot/ Copy and paste that URL into the HelpAttack! pledge page.

You can also use feeds from photo sets. E.g. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mouser-nerdbot/sets/72157627572432263/

Tumblr

You can pledge with any Tumblr. Just copy and paste the URL into your HelpAttack! pledge page. E.g. http://kimjongillookingatthings.tumblr.com/

Blogs

Most blogs produce an RSS or ATOM feed, linked directly from their homepage. Just copy and paste the blog’s main URL into your HelpAttack! pledge page. Also, some blogs offer an RSS feed for each category or subject.

YouTube

YouTube’s RSS feeds may be a little tricky to find. But fear not, you can substitute any account’s username in this URL, and retrieve the feed:

http://www.youtube.com/rss/tag/mlfnow.rss

E.g., replace ‘mlfnow’ with your YouTube username and voila! Just paste that into HelpAttack!’s pledge screen.

Facebook

Doesn’t HelpAttack! already have a Facebook pledge type? Yes, but this one allows you to give with Facebook page updates, like the Red Cross’s: http://www.facebook.com/redcross

Think of this as our Proxy Pledge for Facebook, in a sense, where you don’t have to use your own Facebook account.

If you’re having trouble, look for a “Get Updates via RSS” link in the lower left, or wherever Facebook moves it next week.

Twitter

Doesn’t HelpAttack! alrea-… yes, but this one allows you to give with anyone’s public Tweets, without needing to use your own Twitter account. All you need to do is copy and paste their Twitter URL into HelpAttack!’s pledge page. For example, Mark does amazing work at http://twitter.com/hardlynormal