Donate by Text Message

Add philanthropy to the growing list of applications for mobile phones. One of the newest and most interesting innovations to combine philanthropy and technology is mobile giving.

Mobile phone users can text a word such as HOPE (American Cancer Society), RIGHTS (Amnesty International), BED (Malaria No More), MEALS (Food Lifeline) or many others to a designated short code and contribute $5 or $10 to a cause. The Bellevue-based Mobile Giving Foundation acts as a clearinghouse for donations, helping non-profits set up codes and settling the billing between carriers and charities. The charges appear on donors' cell phone bills.

Full-text article by Kristi Heim is available via The Seattle Times, 7.27.09.

Report Finds Most Nonprofit Web Sites Lack Information Donors Want

Want to increase the number of online donations you get and the amount given through them? Make it easy for Web visitors to find out who you are, what you do and how you spend donated funds.

This was a key finding from the recently released report "Donation Usability: Design Guidelines for Improving the Donation Process and the Usability of Essential Information on Charity and Non-Profit Websites" from the Nielsen Norman Group.

The report is available via the Nielsen Norman Group, 6.17.09.

Advising Groups on How to Track Online Mentions

Monitoring what people are saying online about an organization is critical, Carie Lewis, Internet Marketing Manager at the Humane Society of the United States, in Washington, told participants at a session of the Nonprofit Technology Conference.

Full-text blog post by Nicole Wallace is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 4.30.09.

Online Giving vs. Online Fundraising

For many fundraising organizations, the first step to becoming digital is to create a Web site. Think of this Web site as the public lobby to your digital organization. A few questions: Is it tidy? Is it inviting? Is there a friendly receptionist?

Full-text article by Philip King is available via Fundraising Success, 3.18.09.

Children’s Hospital Boston’s Philanthropic Tween Website Nabs Eight National Awards

Just three months after Children’s Hospital Boston launched Generation Cures , an innovative online philanthropic community for tweens, the site has been honored with eight prestigious national awards. The awards recognize the site’s kid-friendly content and interactive design, and demonstrate the much needed difference Generation Cures is making by empowering kids to positively impact each other and the world.

Full-text press release is available via Business Wire, 2.18.09.

Twitter? It’s What You Make It

There’s nothing quite like Twitter. It’s a Web site where you can broadcast very short messages — 140 characters, max — to anyone who’s signed up to receive them. It’s like a cross between a blog and a chat room.

Full-text article by David Pogue is available via the New York Times, 2.11.09.

Web Site To Help Local Donors Make Wise Choices

A Web site could forge new links between prospective donors and local nonprofit organizations in 2009.

DubuqueGiving.org is a facet of the GoldPenny Project, a partnership between Dubuque365.com, the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque and the Better Business Bureau of Greater Iowa.

The project seeks to help local donors make wise giving choices, help local leaders promote nonprofit excellence, efficiency and effective governance and encourage and develop a culture of local philanthropy.

Full-text article by Erik Hogstrom is available via the Telegraph Herald, 12.31.08.

Philanthropy on the commons

The future of philanthropy lies in joining the wave of open source peer-production that is enriching public assets, says Mark Surman.

Full-text article by Mark Surman is available via openDemocracy, 4.18.08

Web 2.0 and Social Networking

Facebook has 41 million users and growing. In Ellen McGirt's article on the "it" company in November's issue of Fast Company, CEO Mark Zuckerberg discusses what is next for the social networking company.

In the 19 October issue of The New York Times, Natasha Lomas comments on the life cycle of the social networking sites and the recent Web 2.0 conference.