Donations to Little Rock-based Heifer International jumped in the days after a Twitter account satirizing a California congressman shared that one of its hundreds of thousands of followers contributed in the parody account’s honor.
Justin Hendrix, executive director of NYC Media Lab, wrote a tweet on Wednesday that he donated a share of a cow to Heifer in honor of Devin Nunes’ Cow, a joke Twitter account claiming to be handled by one of U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes’ bovines.
I just donated a share of a cow in honor of @DevinCow. One gift of an animal and training in its care can help a family turn poverty into prosperity and self-reliance, per @Heifer. https://t.co/zwTCIL4rqN
— Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) March 21, 2019
The account recently drew attention after Nunes sued it for defamation along with Twitter and at least one other parody account which had already been suspended. The cow account had about 633,000 followers as of Monday morning.
“We’ve seen a spike,” said Chris Coxon, director of public relations at Heifer, speaking about traffic to the website and donor numbers since the account retweeted the donation announcement.
According to its website, Heifer International is a nonprofit that aims to train people across the world in sustainable farming, to help farmers gain access to broader markets and to empower women.
While Coxon said he could not provide specific numbers, he noted cows are a particularly popular choice for donors at the moment. Some of that, he said, is likely due to the viral retweet.
Other animals donors can give money toward include goats, sheep, llamas, water buffalo and pigs, according to Heifer’s website.
The rise in gifts comes during “March Match,” in which donations to Heifer are doubled.
While Heifer avoids taking overtly political sides on social media, Coxon said the nonprofit is grateful for donations from people who share their mission.
“Moments like this bring new people to see the work of the organization and what we’re doing,” he said.