Effectiveness of Social Media in Disaster Fundraising: Mobilizing the Public towards Voluntary Actions

When a disaster strikes, nonprofit organizations face the need to mobilize resources as quickly as possible in a limited time frame. Given its characteristics to instantly spread information to masses of people, social media is considered one of the most effective ways for nonprofits to publicize opportunities to take voluntary actions. Despite the envisioned use, however, little has been examined about the effectiveness of social media in encouraging people to give. This paper takes the case of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear threat that struck Japan in 2011 to examine whether the use of social media was effective in nonprofit fundraising. Analyzing data collected in an original online survey, the authors find that the use of social media both before and after the disaster has a positive impact on the amount of donations that nonprofits raise.