I am thrilled to announce that a gift of one heifer has been purchased through the generosity of GrayMatter Minute’s social media community.

Thank you all so very much for supporting our holiday heifer campaign for Heifer International.

We raised $415 toward our $500 goal.

I feel VERY confident that we would have actually hit the $500 mark this past Friday had it not been for a “user error” committed by yours truly when setting up the “end time” on my ChipIn fundraising widget. (I accidentally set it to end at 12 noon instead of 12 midnight. Woops.)

Live, learn, mooooove on, right?

I look forward to sharing what I learned about social fundraising with you in a forthcoming post. Until then, congratulations and thank you for your kindness in passing on the gift.

Click here to view my official Heifer Thank You card to all of you who supported this effort — from donations to retweets to facebook posts and emails. I know you’ll miss my #heifer-inspired “Cow Tips” and action-packed cow videos as much as I will.

Friday, December 18th is the last day of our “holiday heifer” campaign for Heifer International. Your last chance to own a $5 share of our very social cow. This cow will go to a community in need and provide a gift that keeps on mooing for years to come. If you haven’t pitched in, please consider our request for help: just $5 toward our $500 goal. We even made a quick little moovie (get it?) to inspire you…

If it doesn’t appear above, you can view the video on YouTube: Holiday Heifer.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to our community cow thus far. This has been a wonderful opportunity to experience the generosity of friends — and strangers!

I’ll write a post-holiday heifer recap of the campaign as a mini-social fundraising case study. I learned a lot about social fundraising tactics and tools (and cows, for that matter) and have a lot of ideas about what I might have done differently which I hope will be of value to both individuals and nonprofits.

Heifer International: Passing on the Gift

Thanks again. And we wish you very happy holidays.

Why a Heifer?

Here’s information direct from Heifer International:

Heifer
Heifers Equal Hope

When a family has a cow, every morning there’s a glass of rich milk for the children to drink before heading off to school. Classes are paid with the income from the sale of milk, and there’s even enough to share with the neighbors.

A good dairy cow can produce four gallons of milk a day – enough for a family to drink and share with neighbors. Milk protein transforms sick, malnourished children into healthy boys and girls. The sale of surplus milk earns money for school fees, medicine, clothing and home improvements.

Better still, every gift multiplies, as the animal’s first offspring is passed on to another family-then they also agree to pass on an animal, and so on.

And because a healthy cow can produce a calf every year, every gift will be passed on and eventually help an entire community move from poverty to self reliance. Now that’s a gift worth giving!