Before June, I had vaguely heard of K-Pop - mostly thanks to 2012 mega-hit Gangnam Style and Psy. The name itself, K-Pop, really suggested to me that this was something lightweight. And if you had told me eight years ago how K-Pop took third party fundraising and took it to another whole level of overnight support, I would have smiled and changed the subject.
Earlier this month, the band BTS announced they and their label were donating $1M to Black Lives Matter. Inspired by this gift, a fan Twitter account (@OneInAnARMY) challenged fans to match this $1M. Which the fans did in less than 24 hours. While many parts of this are interesting, including the grass-roots reverse match, it is even more interesting to see this as a very different way that celebrities are endorsing and supporting major charities. BTS is not a formal spokesperson for Black Lives Matter - instead they are working to raise money and awareness on their own.
You might think this is a one-off situation. Last year, a YouTube celebrity, MrBeast, got feedback from fans encouraging him to celebrate reaching 20M YouTube followers. One thing led to another and he announced a tree planting campaign looking to raise $20M to plant 20M trees. He partnered with charity Arbor Foundation raising this in less than two months.
A new community has developed around Club Quarantine, a 7 evenings a week virtual nightclub. What started by four queer artists as a way to for members of the LGBTQI community to gather remotely to dance and listen to good music has expanded into a genre mixing platform. Club Quarantine has also included a co-production with local Toronto theatre company SummerWorks and has regular activist and fundraising activities. Started just a few months ago in Toronto, it now has over 66M followers. Club Quarantine has regularly highlighted causes connected to current events and asked participants to give providing links and fundraising total updates through the night.
Traditionally when we think about third party events, we think of garage sales, bake sales, and often donations of a few hundred dollars from people who live physically close to each other. This new sense of community based on passionate interest, personal identification and linkage through social media is particularly interesting in fundraising. The fans of BTS called themselves an "Army." The fans of MrBeast feel so connected that they encouraged him to celebrate the 20M followers milestone in a way that suggests they view themselves as part of a larger community. Club Quarantine has connected the international LGBTQI community in new and powerful ways.
This is an exciting and interesting time in third party events. This is definitely NOT your parents third party event.
Ann Rosenfield is old enough to be most of your parents and has been fundraising since before some of you were born. She is the Editor of Hilborn Charity eNews and a working fundraiser.
Image of BTS via Getty Images
