SU2C.org: Cancer Awareness Goes Social

SU2C invests in cancer research, building interdisciplinary Dream Teams, with every penny donated going to the most promising projects. Their phone-bank showcase arrives 9/5/08 in a prime-time special on all three networks, yet this event is a landing point, not a launching pad. WHi began five months before, enabling users to create teams, invite friends to "stand up together," track fundraising goals, and communicate with the donor community. SU2C.org empowers survivors, family, and friends not only to get active but to unite in their common cause. For $1, users can Launch a Star in "The Constellation," honoring anyone with a cancer diagnosis. We also integrated into the site the "The Stand," a Facebook application in which users create cards to share their link to cancer; friends are invited to stand side-by-side in this photo-mosaic. By leveraging social networks to energize a framework of giving, WHi not only filled the lead-time to the TV special but built a grassroots momentum.

Every 60 seconds an American dies of cancer. SU2C's response to that hard reality? Take a hard stand: "This is where the end of cancer begins." Before the bright lights of the TV special, the site stares down a vital task — rally the community, secure their commitment, and establish SU2C.org as the place to come when the subject turns to cancer. When SU2C was introduced on 5/28, the site had 40,293 visits. Within an hour, over 300 teams had begun. When Katie Couric asked the community to launch a star as she did for her husband, there was a spike of 15,602 visits. When Christina Applegate's diagnosis broke, two stars were launched for her, 15 messages were left, and 1,458 visitors came directly to her star from blogs and emails. As of 8/19/08, there are over 17,000 registered site users and over 22,000 Facebook fans, with nearly 6,000 of the Facebook users joining The Stand. Though the telecast is weeks away, WHi's web-effort already has the stars aligned for cancer fighting success.