UN Refugee Agency Tops List of the Most Engaged Charities and Non-Profits on Twitter

Hey folks... so it's that time of year -- you know, the holidays -- when many of us are thinking about giving and helping those lessfortunate than us. To that end, we thought we would take a look to see how various charities and non-profit organizations are handling their social media efforts. After all, it's important for non-profits to hop on trends like social media; particularly with platforms like Twitter and Facebook, charities have a great opportunity to reach out to people and mobilize their supporters.

We put together a bit of a news release about it, which is pasted below, along with the rankings. It's really interesting to note that some of the organizations we associate with giving around this time of year aren't anywhere to be found. We'd love to get your thoughts on these sorts of lists, and if we missed someone, let us know in the comments!

UN Refugee Agency Tops List of the Most Engaged Charities and Non-Profits on Twitter

Empire Avenue Ranks Top Organizations Based on Social Media Audience Size, Activity and Engagement

The UN Refugee Agency has topped a list of most engaged charities and non-profit organizations on Twitter, according to a report published by Empire Avenue (http://empireavenue.com), which ranked dozens of organizations based on criteria including the audience size, activity and engagement of their official Twitter accounts. Through the @refugees account, the UN Refugee Agency reaches an audience of more than 1.1 million followers and engages them frequently on matters relevant to the plight of refugees, raising awareness of issues facing them around the world.

Empire Avenue is a social stock market game where one can virtually invest in anyone for free, including any Twitter account. In addition to the aforementioned metrics, the value, or "share price," is influenced by supporters who buy shares in the account. Empire Avenue compiled this report near the holidays to gauge the effectiveness of organizations in raising awareness for their particular causes via social media.

Charity Water (@charitywater), which pledges to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations, placed second in the rankings, while CARE (@care), which fights poverty with an emphasis on empowering women and girls, placed third. Rounding out the top five are (RED) (@joinred), which aims to fight HIV and AIDS in Africa; and Room to Read, an organization focused on education and literacy.

The top 35* are as follows (Organization name - Twitter account - Score/Share Price**)

1. UN Refugee Agency - @refugees - 31.33
2. Charity Water - @charitywater - 31.19
3. CARE - @care - 30.15
4. (RED) - @joinred - 30.07
5. Case Foundation - @casefoundation - 28.74***
6. Room to Read - @roomtoread - 28.65
7. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - @gatesfoundation - 28.64
8. DoSomething.org - @DoSomething - 28.53***
9. Unicef - @unicef - 27.45
10. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - @peta - 27.44
11. The CAA Foundation - @caafoundation - 27.43
12. Greenpeace - @greenpeace - 27.10
13. WildCare - @wildcare - 26.90
14. WWF - @wwf - 26.87
15. Greenpeace Brasil - @GreenpeaceBR - 26.86
16. Akshaya Patra USA - @AkshayaPatraUSA - 26.83
17. American Red Cross - @redcross - 26.55
18. Oxfam International - @oxfam - 26.14
19. Save the Children - @savethechildren - 26.08
20. Amnesty International - @amnesty - 25.98***
21. LIVESTRONG - @livestrong - 25.25
22. American Cancer Society - @AmericanCancer - 25.12
23. Doctors w/o Borders - @msf_usa - 25.06
24. National Wildlife Federation - @nwf - 24.94***
25. Nature Conservancy - @nature_org - 24.76***
26. Stand Up To Cancer - @su2c - 24.28
27. Humane Society of the United States - @humanesociety - 24.13
28. Bullying UK - @bullyinguk - 23.75
29. Autism Speaks - @autismspeaks - 23.55
30. Make-A-Wish America - @MakeAWish - 23.42
31. Help For Heroes - @helpforheroes - 23.41
32. Malaria No More - @malarianomore - 23.22
33. Create The Good - @createthegood - 22.09
34. A Safe World 4 Women - @safeworld4women - 21.73 ***
35. Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project - @charlizeafrica - 21.36

* Some organizations have multiple Twitter accounts – regional branches or offices -- though scores reflect the primary or official accounts.
**Score is the “Share Price” on Empire Avenue, determined by a range of criteria, including the frequency of engagement, size of audience and more.
*** We had omitted a few groups from our initial publication of this ranking. This has been since rectified (edit made Dec 21, 4:29pm Mountain)