For the first time in this generation’s memory, the global economic downturn forced major donors to revisit their philanthropic guidelines, exacerbating the existing problem of ever increasing tuition costs. To address this issue, instead of relying heavily on soliciting huge sums from a few major donors, this campaign targets a broader base of micro-donors – including X and Y generation alumni, seeking ways to transform these passive alums into active donors.

The Blue Butterfly team conducted surveys and focus group interviews, revealing most alumni did not think micro-donors could see tangible results from their donations nor receive recognition similar to major donors. Changes were proposed including a cool message (most people can embrace donating 1 dollar a day), a more convenient online payment system (X & Y generation is a paperless generation), and a more personalised and instantaneous communication channel between the donor and the recipient through Twitter and blogs (each donor knows how every one dollar is spent thus creating immediate donor satisfaction). Once the modifications were implemented, the story of how a micro-donor would save the day for a Yonsei student began to spread among the alumni, and within 50 days of its launch Blue Butterfly raised USD 2.4 million.

"Elegant Simplicity": The Blue Butterfly was officially launched on December 11, 2009 at the annual alumni association meeting. Playing a video clip for the introduction instead of giving a presentation kept to the campaign’s core modern identity and simplicity.

The Blue Butterfly website is clean and user friendly. 400 dots represent 400 freshmen. As donors are found, the dot of the recipient is activated from grey to green, and with a full scholarship, the dot is finally transformed into a blue butterfly. Passing over a dot or butterfly displays the donors to date.

The Blue Butterfly team kept the key message simple ($1 a day, scholarship for all) so that the concept could be kept coherent even when introduced by many people in different ways. Strategic timing of media alerts on micro-donors addressing rising tuition costs made news. Around 1 million impressions were made for the launch.

"A Case Study with Greater Implications":The original objective of Blue Butterfly was to collect USD 1 million from 1,000 donors and reach 100,000 people within 100 days of the launch. This goal has been achieved and surpassed much earlier than expected. Within 50 days, USD 2.4 million was raised, supporting 60 students for 4 years. Although continued monitoring is needed, once the X and Y generation begin to give, they are likely to continue.Different organisations are praising Blue Butterfly and voluntarily introducing the concept as a possible widespread solution to addressing rising tuition costs. Non-alums of Yonsei University are making donations because they support the concept of micro-donors. Those with employers that have a matching program, or people from the same company or organization can pool their resources towards an individual recipient.

Cost of a scholarship is $1 a day. Cost of a legacy is priceless. So, this compaign continues - one scholarship at a time.