While politicians and the media kept discussing about the right approach, we came up with: the involuntary online donation initiative DONATE THE HATE. For every hate comment posted on Facebook, the campaign makes an “involuntary” €1 donation to refugees and EXIT.

Our Facebook tool was given beforehand to (media) organisations affected by online hate comments. As our first supporters they sponsored the initial funding to put the campaign on air.

The interface links the answered comments to the DONATE THE HATE microsite. Thus we are e.g. able to register the involuntary donations in a live-counter and list a top ten of the most generous donors, or rather hate commenters. With the campaign on air we are constantly winning more and more supporters – organizations and private individuals – for our cause.

DONATE THE HATE has spread internationally via social networks and traditional media – without a single Euro of media spend. Our hashtag reached millions of people. Thus we are winning many more supporters – organizations and private individuals – for our cause. Two weeks after launching the campaign even Facebook got in touch, saying they wanted to support us. By now DONATE THE HATE is responding to more than 6,000 hate comments – interacting directly with the haters – and raising more than €14,000 for refugees and against neo-Nazis. The campaign is currently also being adapated in further countries.