In a previous blog post, we talked about how President Obama utilized social media to create one of the most successful fundraising campaigns of all time. That fundraiser raised close to $750M.

Social media continues to grow in usage year after year. So it’s no surprise that experts predict that his reelection campaign will top $1 Billion. But more surprising, Mitt Romney’s campaign may possibly hit the same mark.

That’s brand new territory for presidential candidates. In 2008, Obama raised nearly $746 million. That was double what George W. Bush raised just four years earlier — which itself was double what Bush raised four years before that. This is the first time ever that presidential fundraising shot up that fast.

But it all makes perfect sense.

About 2/3 of Obama’s record-setting fundraising was earned from online donations in 2008 (over $500M). We all know that each year, the internet becomes more popular, new social media sites pop up, and new trends come about. Luckily for Obama and any group who wants to create a fundraising campaign, the 2012 online trend is raising money.

Take sites like indiegogo where complete strangers managed to raise over $700,000 for a bus monitor all online in a couple of weeks. Then, we turned around and raised over $7,000 all online for the guy who started the fundraiser for the bus monitor.

Then, there’s Facebook’s Causes and JustGive and SocialVibe and literally hundreds of thousands of other sites designed specifically for online fundraising.

What sets EMI apart from other fundraising card companies is that we provide a fundraising product that has raise money for groups just like yours year-after-year for over 17 years. With that said, we also adapt to advancements in technology and online social interaction. EMI gives you the ability to not just offer your discount card customers a great card with 20 or more awesome local discounts; we also give you the ability to offer them access to over 100,000 online deals. These deals can often be printed out and taken into a store or used as a coupon code for online shopping.

We provide an option online outlet to sell your cards as well. Networking within your community and word-of-mouth will no doubt help you sell these cards. But why not take it to the next level like our President and utilize online sales and social media to increase the volume of cards that you can sell and make this next fundraiser the most successful one ever for your group.

About Phil Dattilo

Phil Dattilo is the National Marketing Director for Educational Marketing, Inc.  Phil has been with EMI since 1995 leading the company in creating one of the best academic and athletic fundraising products in the country.