Leveraging the Collective Online Voice

To further the work of causes around the world, Water.org has open sourced it’s “donate your voice” technology that allows non-profits to effectively organize and execute viral online campaigns.

WATER.ORG RELEASES POWER CODEBASE AS OPEN SOURCE PROJECT

Donate your voice" technology leverages inherit power of social media for non-profits

Kansas City, Missouri, Today Water.org released the power.Water codebase on GitHub under the GNU General Public License, Version 3. The solution integrates posting content into supporter social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. Since 2009, Water.org has had over 50,000 people donate their accounts to campaigns using this technology with an aggregate social reach exceeding 60 million.

Coordinating viral and vocal online campaigns is one way Water.org has helped raise the overall visibility of the water crisis to mainstream audiences. By leveraging the intrinsic power of everyone online, not just of celebrities, supporters can ban together in unison, with a common message, all at the same time, to have a larger impact on an audience.

“This is the first of several tools Water.org plans to release as open source projects over the coming months”, said Mike McCamon, chief community officer of Water.org. He continues, “The applications of what we’ve developed extend far beyond the water crisis, so this seems like the natural path for us. What we’ve invented has the potential to help even more people, regardless of the cause.”

Water.org has a long history of sharing key learnings, methodologies, techniques, partner networks, and innovations for the benefit of those living in poverty. Many have benefited from Water.org endorsing third party post-intervention case studies, speaking openly about learnings and practices at sector conferences, and building the capacity of indigenous partners. One of the organizations most successful innovations, WaterCredit, which puts microfinance tools to work in the water and sanitation sector, is widely shared and evangelized, furthering the access to safe and toilets but also improving the economic station of those living in poverty.

power.Water is written in Python and the Django framework. The code library can be accessed on GitHub at https://github.com/waterdotorg/power.Water Several of the main features of power.Water include:

-Built with object-based coding techniques in Python
-Supports Facebook Connect and Twitter OAuth for user posting
-Integrates with bitly for link tracking
-Peace of mind that supporters are connecting their account to a known entity
-Curriculum-based model whereby one signup can be used for multiple postings
-E-mail address collection, and solicitation if needed, at signup
-Source coding of visitors for capturing campaign codes at user signup
-Referral coding of visitors for analytics that is also captured a user signup
-Boolean for auto follow/fan at user signup
-Unique user-level identifiable content embedded in each post
-User-level audience filtering for multiple concurrent campaigns or curriculums
-User-level publicly available social media information collection at signup

About Water.org

For more than two decades, Water.org has been at the forefront of developing and delivering solutions to the water crisis. Founded by Gary White and Matt Damon, Water.org pioneers innovative, community-driven and market-based solutions to ensure all people have access to safe water and sanitation; giving women hope, children health and communities a future. To date, Water.org has positively transformed the lives of more than 1,000,000 individuals living across communities in Africa, South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean; ensuring a better life for generations ahead.

Water.org and the infinity mark are trademarks of Water.org, Incorporated. Other trade names used are the property of their respective owners and do not represent an endorsement.