Microgiving In Online Philanthropy
Microgiving: In Online Philanthropy
These new online charities steer your donations to causes nearest to your heart — and may even put you in direct contact with the organization or individual who benefits from your gift. They help you enlist your family members, friends and colleagues — your social network — to support your cause and leverage your single donation into a larger and more effective contribution. Remember the March of Dimes? Think of these microcharities as the modern, technology-driven offspring of the March of Dimes. The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, wasn’t just for the Carnegies, Fords, Mellons and Rockefellers. Its appeals for a 10-cent contribution to fight polio went out to every American. If you’ve made charitable contributions online or through social media, you probably don’t need to be persuaded that it’s the way of the future. If you haven’t given online, though, it may be only a matter of time until you do. Here are indicators: Even with the difficult economy, online giving grew 35 percent in 2010 and accounted for 8 percent of all fundraising, according to one study. Internet-based contributions to 140 of the nation’s largest nonprofits were up 34 percent in 2010 (to a total of $1.2 billion), fueled by their increasing use of such popular social-media tools as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, according to an annual Chronicle of Philanthropy survey. 11 percent of all cellphone owners have made charitable contributions via text message, according to a 2010 survey commissioned by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Social Net-Giving Much of the growth in online giving is coming from sites that make Internet users not only donors but also fundraisers. Say that you decide to give away $1,000 in the form of 40 separate contributions of $25, or 20 contributions of $50. Do it the old-fashioned way — with checks, postage stamps, etc. — and it might take you a day or two, plus weeks to get acknowledgments for your contributions back in the mail. Do it online, on the other hand, and you might be done in an hour or two, receipts and all. (Use a credit card and you can even rack up airline miles or points in the process.) Or say, for the sake of example, that you have only $50 to give but want to help raise $1,000 for your charity of choice. You could do it the old-fashioned way — getting a fundraising kit from the charity and going to door to door to solicit friends or desk to desk to solicit co-workers — and spend days or weeks until you reach your goal. Or you could do it all from your own computer — using tools on the charity’s website to reach any of your friends or other contacts with an email address, Facebook account or cellphone — and meet your goal in a relative flash. Some newer “social fundraising” sites — and , for example — let you set up a page to raise money for a charity (or support your cause in some other way) and then invite everyone in your social network to join with you. You can even use online social media tools to promote older-fashioned offline events such as bake sales or raffles. Next: Personal Touch In the old days, small donors may often have had good reason to feel that their contributions were lost in the maw of a mammoth charity. No longer. Technology — the Internet and mobile communication — has changed everything, to the point where the $5 you give online today can be half a world away tomorrow, on the ground and doing good.
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Microgiving In Online Philanthropy Small Is Beautiful
You make a difference with modest charitable giving
Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Oprah make the headlines for their multimillion-dollar gifts to charity. But there's a sea change underway that, for the rest of us, makes charitable giving in the Internet age much more democratic, much more social and much more personal. Call it "microgiving" or "microphilanthropy." New charitable organizations and their websites want your modest donations — sometimes as little as a dollar — and in return they help you get the biggest bang for your buck. See also:Your Guide to Microgiving
Ways to provide a helping hand. What is microgiving? How does it work? ReadThese new online charities steer your donations to causes nearest to your heart — and may even put you in direct contact with the organization or individual who benefits from your gift. They help you enlist your family members, friends and colleagues — your social network — to support your cause and leverage your single donation into a larger and more effective contribution. Remember the March of Dimes? Think of these microcharities as the modern, technology-driven offspring of the March of Dimes. The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, wasn’t just for the Carnegies, Fords, Mellons and Rockefellers. Its appeals for a 10-cent contribution to fight polio went out to every American. If you’ve made charitable contributions online or through social media, you probably don’t need to be persuaded that it’s the way of the future. If you haven’t given online, though, it may be only a matter of time until you do. Here are indicators: Even with the difficult economy, online giving grew 35 percent in 2010 and accounted for 8 percent of all fundraising, according to one study. Internet-based contributions to 140 of the nation’s largest nonprofits were up 34 percent in 2010 (to a total of $1.2 billion), fueled by their increasing use of such popular social-media tools as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, according to an annual Chronicle of Philanthropy survey. 11 percent of all cellphone owners have made charitable contributions via text message, according to a 2010 survey commissioned by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Social Net-Giving Much of the growth in online giving is coming from sites that make Internet users not only donors but also fundraisers. Say that you decide to give away $1,000 in the form of 40 separate contributions of $25, or 20 contributions of $50. Do it the old-fashioned way — with checks, postage stamps, etc. — and it might take you a day or two, plus weeks to get acknowledgments for your contributions back in the mail. Do it online, on the other hand, and you might be done in an hour or two, receipts and all. (Use a credit card and you can even rack up airline miles or points in the process.) Or say, for the sake of example, that you have only $50 to give but want to help raise $1,000 for your charity of choice. You could do it the old-fashioned way — getting a fundraising kit from the charity and going to door to door to solicit friends or desk to desk to solicit co-workers — and spend days or weeks until you reach your goal. Or you could do it all from your own computer — using tools on the charity’s website to reach any of your friends or other contacts with an email address, Facebook account or cellphone — and meet your goal in a relative flash. Some newer “social fundraising” sites — and , for example — let you set up a page to raise money for a charity (or support your cause in some other way) and then invite everyone in your social network to join with you. You can even use online social media tools to promote older-fashioned offline events such as bake sales or raffles. Next: Personal Touch In the old days, small donors may often have had good reason to feel that their contributions were lost in the maw of a mammoth charity. No longer. Technology — the Internet and mobile communication — has changed everything, to the point where the $5 you give online today can be half a world away tomorrow, on the ground and doing good.
Your Guide to Microgiving
Ways to provide a helping hand. What is microgiving? How does it work? Read Experts like Kari Dunn Saratovsky, a vice president of social innovation at the Case Foundation, which is pushing the use of new technologies to “democratize” philanthropy, say that it’s all about empowering people whose sense of social purpose may run deeper than their pockets. “There is a great deal of good that can come from opening up the process of philanthropy and helping redefine what it means to champion a cause you personally care about,” she says. “We feel strongly that social media are helping level the playing field to allow all of us to see ourselves as philanthropists.”How One Man Started a Microgiving Group
Dan Morrison wasn’t planning to help lead this revolution when he traveled to India in December 2006. He went at the invitation of the Self Employed Women’s Association to tour villages that had been devastated by an earthquake. An economic development consultant at the time, Morrison visited the village of Vachharhajpur, where, having lost funds to rebuild its public well, women were walking more than four miles every day to get clean water from a neighboring village. Once back home, Morrison decided to raise the money to finish the well in Vachharhajpur. He designed “e-cards” that recounted what he had seen and emailed them to his friends and relatives. Almost instantly he began receiving contributions, and in early January 2007 he wired $5,000 to India. The well was finished in May. Morrison knew that with new donors, his success could be repeated in village after village in India. So he set about creating a charitable organization based on the premise that anyone can be a philanthropist. Morrison built his new charity, called 1 Well, from the ground up, on the Internet. The charity empowered Morrison's budding army of citizen philanthropists to raise money from their social networks, just as he had done. In short order his organization had 15 people signed up to raise a total of more than $100,000 — and three projects in India fully funded. As 1 Well took on projects that went beyond its original focus on water, the group changed its name to . But the original premise remains the same. “Small donors may only be able to budget a charitable gift of $50,” Morrison says, “but they can leverage their social network to raise $1,000 or $5,000 or $10,000.” — B. H.Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in. Cancel Offer Details Disclosures