Social Giving 2.0: Driving your passion for support

One might argue much of the positive impact of social networking is that of thought proliferation, networking, & idea generation for those fortunate and plugged into techno-sphere. However, one recent positive trend, as observed by this author, is one directly benefiting actual people in need in our society. I call this ‘Social Giving 2.0′

The influence of social networking, is wide and deep in our daily lives of today. Technologies offered under blogging & now micro-blogging, has increasingly allowed for open thought exchange, unobtrusive news reporting, and in many cases even political appointments. Take a look at the prime example model of community organizing by the Barack Obama’s campaign team that many argue played a significant role in Mr. Barack Obama’s seat as the President – “What Businesses Can Learn from Barack Obama’s Social Media Strategy” OR “Presentation: Barack Obama’s Internet Strategy“. On the flip side, there are significant negative impacts of social media in our culture ranging from an addiction of worldly exposure of one’s daily minutes of life to confusion around one’s internet social identity in a realm that has no established guidelines or monitored rules of conduct. A few of the social networks have also become prime grounds for undesirable people. Regardless the pro and cos of social networking, it is here to stay.

Increasingly non-profit organizations are tapping into popular social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. The social networking community is actively accepting this model. YouTube announced its launch of a channel – YouTube Nonprofits specifically for nonprofit organizations to upload footage of their work, public service announcements and calls to action. The channel allows these organizations to collect donations with no processing costs, using another tool, Google Checkout for Non-Profits. Facebook has applications that allow users to make donations and recently launched an Impact Channel that connects users with various political and charitable causes.

These efforts have certainly paid off. In 2007, for the first time in history, more than $300 billion dollars went to charities, according to the annual report of Giving USA Foundation released June 23. Online fundraising in the United States has grown rapidly from $250 million in 2000 to an estimated $6.9 billion in 2006, according to the ePhilanthropy Foundation ($13.2 billion globally). In 2008, Heifer International, for instance, raised more than 28 percent of its donations online, and the United Way of America brought in $257.4 million via the Web.

In addition, innovative websites have helped boost the growth of giving globally. Kiva.org, a person-to-person microfinance site, enables individuals to become direct lenders to specific entrepreneurs in the developing world. UniversalGiving.org helps donors engage with projects in countries and causes of their choice – projects that have been carefully vetted for quality. 100 percent of donations going to the donated project, according to the agency. says Pamela Hawley, founder of UniversalGiving. “The Web service has seen tremendous growth: 85 percent from the first quarter of 2006 to 2007, and 101 percent from the first quarter of 2007 to 2008″ says Pamela Howley, founder of this service, in a recent interview. She attributes such growth to the “gift packets” they’ve introduced, such as $20 to help provide “a lifetime of clean water” for a family, or a similar amount for eyeglasses to “save the sight of a child.” People can also design their own packets, she adds, like the 10-year-old who is sending soccer balls to youths in Ethiopia. “What seems to be compelling is that we aren’t asking for a change in [donors’] lifestyle – they already give gifts for birthdays or anniversaries. We’re just asking them to give something more meaningful,” Ms. Hawley says.

New tools have even appeared to spur giving without money during these rough economic times, when people tend to cut back on contributions. GoodSearch.com allows donors to give to their favorite charities every time they conduct an online search on Yahoo (which donates a penny per search), and GoodShop.com donates a percentage of every purchase made from more than 700 retailers. Some 60,000 charities are already benefiting.

On January 8, 2009, a tweet (aka message on Twitter.com) went out asking, in a call to action, other cities to join in hosting a Twestival (brainchild of Amanda Rose) on February 12th 2009, with the aim of bringing local Twitter communities together offline (in person at social gatherings) and raising money for the social cause Charity: Water. In less than a month, close to 1,000 volunteers hosted events in over 200 cities around the world. In all, more than 10,000 people attended. The result is $250,000 USD raised. This is a notable step in social networking. Such event organized by community members without any moniker of corporate sponsorship or group fund raising. It was achieved simply through the combined generosity of individual giving.

Mashable, Kompolt, PayPal and celebrities including Alec Baldwin, Hayden Panettiere, Brea Grant, Corbin Bleu, Ernie Johnson, Kyle Petty, Elevenmoms and Linkin Park are joining together for a major social media charity event launching at the SXSW festival in Austin, TX. The Social Media SmackDown challenges teams to use Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and StumbleUpon to compete to raise the most money for their chosen charities. This 10 day charity social network challenge (March 16th to March 26th, 2009) is expected to reach a combined audience of over 1 million people.

‘Social Giving 2.0′ is not a movement, nor a fad of time. It has been going strong since 2006, as seen in the numbers. The key to its success? A movement that has embraced the times and empowers donors to govern their own passion of giving in the ways they chose. At the same time, they allow the donors to transparently share their support with friends, no matter how big or small the monetary donations may be. It indeed is empowering the individual to give meaningfully, while letting them decide what meaningful is to each. Without setting restrictions around giving they are continuing to get a high return, while working the community using platforms, that people know best. There is a significant lesson here to be learnt by other industries needing to use the power of online community.

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