Twitter donation tool created for those ‘rage fundraising’ moments
Howard Lake | 3 March 2017 | News
Twitter users can now respond to an infuriating tweet by donating via Twitter to a US nonprofit. Trigger is an app that lets them channel their annoyance in a positive way.
It was created by ecommerce developer Isaac Alfton who describes it as “retaliatory giving”. It arose from the personal need he felt on seeing offensive tweets to make an effective response.
As well as making the donation it can generate a reply to the original message so that the person posting it sees that their original tweet inspired a donation. This can be particularly satisfying, but equally it can just inflame the conversation, so it is an optional feature.
Ready to retaliate?? Its simple, just tweet: $ (amt to send) @ (handle of org) and #TriggerGive. Instant satisfaction.
— Trigger Give (@triggergive) March 2, 2017
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Such fundraising approaches have been used before, such as the donations in January 2017 to International Planned Parenthood Federation in the name of Vice President Mike Pence (who received confirmations for each gift made), and the unwittingly sponsored neo-Nazi march which raised funds for refugee groups in 2015.
Alfton had been working on the tool during the US election campaign and then worked hard to complete it following Donald Trump’s election victory.
How to donate
You can donate to any tweet with a dollar amount, the Twitter name of a US nonprofit, and the hashtag #TriggerGive. First, however, you have to create a Trigger account and register your credit card.
You then choose whether you wish to include a reply so that the author of the original tweet is informed of your donation.
Donations can be made to any verified US nonprofit that has a Twitter account. If a nonprofit hasn’t registered with Trigger it is invited to do so when someone makes their first donation.
You can even use your TriggerGive account to set up regular monthly donations.
Donations are processed instantly, but if you mistyped the amount or wish to change your mind you can “edit donations’ via Trigger for up to 24 hours.
Fees
Trigger charges a monthly fee of $1.59 to cover its costs, but does not charge anything on the donation. Donations are processed via PayPal which charges 30c and 2.9%.
Alfton told Mashable:
“It’s a really empowering tool. “It’s simple, and it also engages other people and raises awareness of wherever you are donating to.”
Instead of getting mad, #GIVE! #retaliatorygiving through #TriggerGive! #donate #nonprofits
— Trigger Give (@triggergive) February 27, 2017
Dear @EPAScottPruitt I'm donating $25 to @EnvDefenseFund to protect my children's health from you #triggergive #climate #cleanair
— Shaun Dakin #ClimateAction 🆘 (@IsCool) February 28, 2017
$5 protect the animals @ASPCA #triggergive
— quinn.peterson27 (@PhnixEntrtnmnt) March 2, 2017
Other Twitter donation tools
There are other tools that let you give via Twitter, including Goodworld (which lets you donate via hashtag on Facebook, Twitter and the web) and tinyGive.
In the UK GOOD Agency introduced #DONATE in April 2015.
Other creative ways to donate in retaliation
- Hillary Clinton campaign fundraisers with every tweet by Donald Trump (November 2016)
- Donate the Hate turns hate comments into donations (February 2016)
- TrollAid ensures abusive online posters promote fundraising for refugees (January 2016)
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.