Little Jimmy

Our 2 children go to a tiny rural school with less than 100 pupils.

Last Saturday, one of the parents shared a crowdfunding link in our daughter's class WhatsApp group.

The link let us know that one of the families in our school commuity has a little boy with a life-threatening illness which most of us weren't previously aware of.

He needs special treatment that's only available overseas and his parents were traveling to save his life at great expense.

Any parent reading this message can imagine the gravity of that situation, see themself in the shoes of those parents, and feel the emotional pull to act...

But especially when the strength of the message is reinforced by feelings of affinity and proximity.

Because that family lives nearby and our kids are in school together, we have shared values and experiences.

So I clicked through, made a donation and reshared the link on my Facebook profile.

The total raised was around 900 Euros, and I thought to myself "It'll take a while to hit the 20k target".

It turned out I was completely wrong.

By Tuesday they had hit 20k, and kept going.

That link travelled through dozens of WhatsApp groups and was reshared on hundreds of social media profiles.

1 week later they've raised 53,000 Euros, and the donations keep coming in.

This is the true power of virality on organic social media.

When your messaging reaches people emotionally in a way that feels familiar and relatable - they will take action, make sacrifices, and tell their friends to do the same.

Your friend,

John Caprani