February 17, 2011; Source: AolNews | An employee of the Red Cross – actually a social media specialist – got her Twitter accounts mixed up and sent forth a “rogue beer tweet” that specified she was planning to “get slizzard” – slang for inebriated. Her supervisor, Wendy Harriman, did not freak out or fire the staffer but instead sent out the following good-humored response to the incident. "We've deleted the rogue tweet but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we've confiscated the keys."

And in came a slew of donations from followers who obviously appreciated the approach.

In a follow up blog posting the Red Cross stated, "While we're a 130-year-old humanitarian organization, we're also made of up human beings. Thanks for not only getting that but for turning our faux pas into something good."

All we can say is “good form.” There is something to be learned here in terms of what many donors want out of the organizations they fund.—Ruth McCambridge