$10K Raised through Franklin Templeton “Social Media Challenge”

$10,000 Raised for Program Financial Development,
as Participants Tweeted and “Facebooked” Donations 

The Samaritan House “Social Media Challenge,” sponsored recently by Franklin Templeton Investments, raised $10,000 for financial education and development for its Client Services Program. $5,000 was raised by Fans and Followers, with Franklin Templeton matching the remaining $5,000 for the Grand Total of $10,000. The response was overwhelming, with a frenzy of  “tweeting” and Facebook updates at the program’s finale – a testament that social media is not only here to stay, but is becoming a key player in engaging the public in important causes. Fan and Followers are now serving as brand champions and ambassadors, not only for Samaritan House, but for other nonprofit associations in the San Francisco Peninsula area, such as Second Harvest, St. Vincent DePaul, The Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and others.

Amanda Byers, head of Corporate Citizenship for Franklin Templeton, said, “We are very pleased about the opportunity to help jump-start Samaritan House’s effort to engage the public in a new and exciting way. By using social media to engage their supporters, Samaritan House can educate and mobilize our community to help clients achieve their goals of self-sufficiency.

Kitty Lopez, Samaritan House Executive Director, also commented on how exciting it was to see donations and charitable giving taken to the next level, and is looking forward to future campaigns that embrace Web 2.0 and social media. She stated:

“We at Samaritan House want to help make investing in our work easy, and open to more individuals, throughout the community, and beyond.”

The program launched on August 1, with an invitation for supporters to:

• “Like” our Facebook page ($5)
• Comment on or “like” any post on the page ($2)
• Follow us on Twitter ($5)
• RT or mention our Twitter handle, @Samaritan_House  ($2)

Participants were encouraged in a story on the blog, to share the Facebook Page with their Networks: “Go to our Facebook page and click the link that says ‘Invite Friends,’ then simply choose who you’d like to suggest our page to!” And to spread the word on Twitter, a preset tweetwas created: “$5 to @Samaritan_House from Franklin Templeton for each new Twitter follower in Aug! $5 to like them on FB, too!” Fans rose from 0 to over 400 by the close of the campaign. Other promotions for the Challenge included highlighting it on the association website, www.samaritanhouse.com. A feature story was also published in The San Mateo Daily Journal.

Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN], is a global investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton Investments.  Franklin Templeton Investments provides global and domestic investment management solutions managed by its Franklin, Templeton, Mutual Series, Fiduciary Trust, Darby and Bissett investment teams.  Franklin Templeton Investments recognizes corporate citizenship as a critical link between integrity and performance – how the firm does the right things the right way in order to deliver value to its stockholders, clients, employees and its communities.  For more information, please visit franklinresources.com/citizenship.

 

 

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