How One Zoom Meeting Raised Over $1,000 for the UCLA Latino Alumni Association

January 13, 2021

Disclaimer: This post is reflective of our company while under the name Pledgeling and the listed information may be outdated. Please refer to our main company website on Pledge for current information and resources.

This is a guest post authored by Andrea Arias, Events Coordinator at Pledgeling, about her personal experience using Pledgeling’s virtual event fundraising products for a cause close to her heart.

My UCLA education was made possible with a scholarship from the UCLA Latino Alumni Association. After graduating this past March and joining the Pledgeling team full-time, I got more involved with the UCLA Latino Alumni Association and decided to combine my two worlds.

Last winter, the UCLA Latino Alumni Association had a fun ‘Ugly Sweater Soiree’ over Zoom to gather our community safely during the holiday season. It was clear that our seamless technology was the solution the UCLA Latino Alumni Association needed to streamline fundraising during the festivities, while maintaining focus on the DJ, games, and music.

Prior to the event, we did not set a fundraising goal because we weren’t planning to focus on fundraising in the first place. We thought, let’s just see what happens if we offer an easy option to donate. After setting up the Virtual Donation Overlay and text to donate in minutes, ULAA was able to raise a little over a thousand dollars in forty minutes! Now we have a thousand more dollars in our Scholarship Endowment fund to support Latinx students’ UCLA education. This was without planning a marketing campaign for our fundraiser far in advance! Having an easy text to donate option makes a difference.

I can’t recommend the Virtual Donation Overlay and text to donate enough to all nonprofits and alumni associations. We live in exciting times where you don’t need to throw fancy, expensive galas for your donors. One hour or thirty minutes of virtual programming can raise thousands of dollars for your mission - it’s that simple.

Join the #PledgeToDoGood! Now is the time.

Screenshot taken during this virtual event on Zoom when they surpassed $1k raised in 40 minutes!

The cause mentioned within this blog post aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goal #4: Quality Education.