Is there a dark side to Online Charity Contests?

Ian Wilhelm at the Chronicle of Philanthropy recently posted on 'The Dark Side of Online Charity Contests' - where he discussed potential downsides to online charity contests, such as staff distraction (as with much 'event' based fundraising, the return from the effort put in may be much less than the return from other fundraising activities) and the tendency that mainstream causes win (given they are in effect popularity contests).

However, if a charity has a clear focus on what outcomes they want through their participation, they can achieve tremendous results regardless of whether they end up with the financial prize. For instance, a current competition on Facebook is designed to focus on supporter involvement, rather than fundraising per se:

The small prize available reduces the incentive for large mainstream charities to focus on the competition and instead it is a forum where smaller, or less well-known, charities can feasibly mobilise their supporters to gain both presence as well as the potential for the prize.

As of the 19th December, the three leading charities were Hamlin Fistula International (from Australia); Corporación CreArte (from Chile); and the Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and the Pacific. For these charities, the global awareness that has been created through their involvement in the competition, and the opportunity it provides to mobilise their supporters and increase their association with the charity, will be worth much more than $2,000.