Raising funds for this year’s Terry Fox run or Pink Ribbon campaign is no longer limited to your door knocking abilities. From Facebook apps asking you to “chip in” to crowd-sourcing real-world solutions, the ability to tap the wealth and knowledge of your social network may just be the solution you’re looking for. Social media inverts the “old” mantra “think globally, act locally” and elevates it to a new world of potential. Think locally, act globally. Welcome to the world of social responsibility, brought to you by the makers of results. You. Here are a few examples of what can happen when social media meets philanthropy: 
Idealist.org Idealist is a project from Action Without Borders, a non-profit organization founded in 1995. It’s a social network of individuals and organizations who exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives. Quick Stats: Population: 264 676, Nonprofit Jobs 8100, Volunteer opportunities 12 540, Organizations 74 219, Idealist Groups 656, Consultants 1008, Internships 1765, Programs 1709, People 140 029, Volunteers 75 436, Materials 7222, Speakers 3557, Events 684, Campaigns 589. 
JustGiving JustGiving provides fun and easy-to-use online fund raising tools to help ordinary people raise extraordinary amounts of money for causes they care about. Quick Stats: 4 828 705 people have helped raise £252 669 650 for 4690 charities using JustGiving 
ChipIn Tell them what you’re collecting money for, how much you want to raise and when you need it by; embed the ChipIn Widget on your favorite web site or create your own ChipIn page at yourname.chipin.com; let your social network (via Facebook, MySpace, Typepad, Netvibes, Blogger, Xanga.com, Tagworld, WordPress, Google, etc) contribute via ChipIn’s secure service; and lastly collect your donations via PayPal, direct deposit or cheque. Quick Growth Stats (per month, average): $300K raised, 2000 events, 7500 contributors, 1700 new users. 
Greedy or Needy Each week, this site’s parent company, Cambrian House, provides a $100 prize for the top ranked Greedy wish, and a $100 prize for the top ranked Needy wish. Take heed of their warnings:
“DO NOT USE the word DESERVE. It will turn your voters off faster than a naked man in an ice bath.”
Feeling empowered? Act.
Tweet This!
Print This Post
3 Responses to “Think Locally, Act Globally”
Leave a Reply
Additional comments powered by BackType
April 27th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Thanks Collin,
I would agree that there are some great initiatives out there strengthening social responsibility.
I’m currently using Givemeaning.com to raise funds for a Malawi charity. It provides a webpage, covers credit card charges and allows you to tag/bookmark.
This means 100 per cent of donations go to my charity.
The founder is Canadian Tom Williams, a teenage computer genius who became a philanthropic millionaire. I first heard about his work on the CBC’s The Hour with Strombo.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Great! Will check out Givemeaning.com for sure.
Thanks
cd
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:54 am
I just read about a similar site called “The Point”.
From thepoint.com: “We help people congregate around the issues they care about and combine forces to make things happen. Campaigns (group actions) on The Point are all based on the “tipping point” model – participants take action to solve their problem, but only once a critical mass of people have committed such that the combined force will “tip” the issue. The Point helps you know in advance whether your participation will make a difference.”
http://thepoint.com