In new philanthropy, charity begins online

WASHINGTON — The old thinking goes that to change the world, you have to give millions. But tech-savvy philanthropists are trying to prove otherwise.

Leveraging new technologies and the growth of social-networking Web sites, several online-giving pioneers have been trying to expand the pool of potential donors by democratizing philanthropy and making it more transparent.

America Online founder Steve Case's private foundation today is launching America's Giving Challenge, one of the nation's most ambitious efforts to draw the masses to philanthropy through the Internet (www.casefoundation.org/givingchallenge).

The initiative, which will be featured Sunday in Parade Magazine in The Seattle Times and other newspapers nationwide, seeks to draw people who do not consider themselves philanthropists to go online, find a cause and give money — as little as $10 — to charities around the world.

The Washington-based Case Foundation also will introduce a sister challenge today at Facebook, a social-networking site. Facebook users, through the "causes" application, will be able to donate to any of 1.5 million charities; donations and causes will be displayed on their profiles. The goal is to persuade young people to identify with charitable efforts and inspire friends to join them.

Joe Green, 24, whose Harvard University roommate, Mark Zuckerberg, founded Facebook, designed the causes application. "There's a lot of evidence that this generation, my generation, is incredibly interested in changing the world around them and being civically engaged," Green said.

These are not the first experiments with online philanthropy, but observers said they are the most sweeping.

In the efforts launching today, two nonprofits — Network for Good and GlobalGiving — have partnered with the Case Foundation. Both groups have secure online databases with lists of organizations to help potential donors pick a charity.

Donors traditionally send money to charities by mailing a check, and charities bestow the most attention on the most generous givers. But, GlobalGiving founder Dennis Whittle said, new technology could make "all donors equal in the eyes of philanthropy."

The Case Foundation is giving away a total of $750,000 in the two online efforts, which start today and end Jan. 31. The people who attract the most friends from their social networks to donate to their cause will receive $50,000 to give to charity. The top 100 charities attracting the most online donations each will receive $1,000.

In the Facebook challenge, the foundation will award $1,000 to a charity each day on behalf of the person who solicits the most friends to participate in a 24-hour period.