I will be watching Twitter like a hawk later this this week. Why? Because 175+ cities around the world will be hosting Twestivals on February 12th, which bring together Twitter communities for an evening of fun and to raise $500K for charity: water, a nonprofit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

While Ben Matthews and PR guru Amanda Rose developed the concept behind Twestival, it’s actually being organized 100% by volunteers. It’s refreshing to see the founders empowering volunteers and giving up some ownership, which is one of my top rules to be successful in social media. Twestival’s viral success stems from providing a basic set of guidelines listed on the Twestival website and encouraging people to create their own events, secure local sponsors, prizes and of course coordinate their own online media outreach.

It's debatable if Twestival will meet their ambitious goal of raising $500K on February 12th but the fact that hundreds of volunteers quickly signed up to independently organize close to 200 events all over the world is something nonprofits should note and watch as the results come in.