UC turns to social media to raise student aid

The University of California is hoping to harness the power of social media to raise money for student scholarships.

The UC system launched a six-week campaign on Wednesday that combines the old-school nonprofit model of donors pledging funds toward a specific fundraising goal with the Internet-driven concept known as crowdsourcing.

As part of the campaign, students, alumni, business executives, politicians and even a handful of Hollywood celebrities are promising to perform a task – for actor Jamie Foxx it’s performing a rap song, for Gov. Jerry Brown hosting a lunch for 10 UC students – if they reach a certain fundraising goal.

Participants are supposed to tell people on their social networks about their promise and invite them to make donations through links to the campaign’s web site, www.promiseforeducation.org .