Grist ‘Save Our Journalists’ Campaign Nets $76,450

Nonprofit environmental news site Grist.org’s latest drive for funds raised $76,450 to keep the site going, reports Poynter’s Mallary Jean Tenore.

That’s a bit more than the site’s goal of $60,000, and not so bad for the site’s yearly total: Grist usually holds three fundraisers per year, raising a total of $175,000, says Tenore. That’ll keep ‘em afloat for a bit longer.

How’d they do it? It was a combination of getting the word out (Twitter, splash pages), donation incentives (“The first 60 people who donate get a water bottle”), and keeping the message consistent with the brand (so instead of a stuffy video, you get a girl wearing a fox mask).

Also, coincidentally, the Gulf of Mexico was filling up with oil at a rate of 50,000 60,000 600,000 1.8 million gallons a day. Nobody wants to capitalize on a disaster like this but you have to admit it’s not a bad time to be an environmental news site asking for money.

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.