Sharing a “moment of silence” is an existing behavior used to honor victims of gun violence, as well as other tragedies. And with the five-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on the horizon, we knew people would be sharing plenty of “moments of silence” to honor the victims. So we created the Live Moment of Silence. It rethought the way a Facebook post can be used for a brand by tapping into the emerging behavior of “going live” on Facebook. And it turned the traditional moment of silence into a powerful tool to prevent gun violence using the Facebook Live “donate” button.

On December 14th, participants followed our lead and started their own livestreams on Facebook, using the functionality of adding a “donate” button. This meant that after Sandy Hook Promise’s initial post, the “call to action” was coming from users, not us. And all those users’ friends who saw their posts could easily click “donate” right in the post to contribute to Sandy Hook Promise. Once each individual livestream ended, it became a regular Facebook post, functioning as a donation unit.

The use of the “donate” button in the Facebook livestream established a new fundraising platform for brands. Celebrities joined and streamed their own Live Moment of Silence, as did classes and schools around the country. The Live Moments of Silence earned over 65 million impressions and helped surpass the fundraising goal of $1 million, all with a budget of $0.