Comments on: Economy 2.0 and “consumer philanthropy” = my startup http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/economy-20-and-consumer-philanthropy-my-startup Confessions of a Non-Profit Executive Director Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:17:34 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: abenamer http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/economy-20-and-consumer-philanthropy-my-startup/comment-page-1#comment-953 abenamer Fri, 08 Dec 2006 00:12:03 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/economy-20-and-consumer-philanthropy-my-startup#comment-953 Yes, I'm a big fan of microlending sites like kiva.org and globalgiving.com. However, that works in the context of helping entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, anyone who has ever worked at a charity knows that that's not where funds are most needed. Yes, I’m a big fan of microlending sites like kiva.org and globalgiving.com. However, that works in the context of helping entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, anyone who has ever worked at a charity knows that that’s not where funds are most needed.

]]> By: philk http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/economy-20-and-consumer-philanthropy-my-startup/comment-page-1#comment-952 philk Thu, 07 Dec 2006 23:58:19 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/economy-20-and-consumer-philanthropy-my-startup#comment-952 Good post. from what I've seen, philanthropy is stimulated when the cost of giving appears low relative to the perceived rewards. Friends of mine, and many others are being jolted into becoming philanthropists, most commonly by travelling in countries where a few to a few hundred of their dispensible US dollars can change lives. A friend paid for a year of education for the neice of a man he met in China, who would otherwise been deprived of a now much more promising future. I call this micro-philanthropy. I think there are opportunities for harvesting the ripples of commerce to meet some civic needs, but I also see many needs that wouldn't be met by this method -- like the needs of older, very poor men & women for housing and food. So much depends upon the perception of value by the donor -- which doesn't map neatly to many kinds of needs. Good post. from what I’ve seen, philanthropy is stimulated when the cost of giving appears low relative to the perceived rewards. Friends of mine, and many others are being jolted into becoming philanthropists, most commonly by travelling in countries where a few to a few hundred of their dispensible US dollars can change lives. A friend paid for a year of education for the neice of a man he met in China, who would otherwise been deprived of a now much more promising future. I call this micro-philanthropy. I think there are opportunities for harvesting the ripples of commerce to meet some civic needs, but I also see many needs that wouldn’t be met by this method — like the needs of older, very poor men & women for housing and food. So much depends upon the perception of value by the donor — which doesn’t map neatly to many kinds of needs.

]]> By: Pete Gulka http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/economy-20-and-consumer-philanthropy-my-startup/comment-page-1#comment-921 Pete Gulka Wed, 06 Dec 2006 18:13:17 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/economy-20-and-consumer-philanthropy-my-startup#comment-921 If your concept pans out, the potential here is to fundamentally change the way people view their involvement with the world. Everything is accessible quickly and easily. Any cause is right at your doorstep. This has my cogs whirring... If your concept pans out, the potential here is to fundamentally change the way people view their involvement with the world. Everything is accessible quickly and easily. Any cause is right at your doorstep.

This has my cogs whirring…

]]> By: abenamer http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/economy-20-and-consumer-philanthropy-my-startup/comment-page-1#comment-919 abenamer Wed, 06 Dec 2006 17:39:34 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/economy-20-and-consumer-philanthropy-my-startup#comment-919 Thanks Tom! I'm really surprised and gladdened you took the time to find and answer my post. Yes, I think my startup will absolutely change the way Economy 2.0 web sites work and the way we think about consumer philanthropy today. I've been thinking about this for a year and I'm going to start posting screenshots and HTML pages to a currently fallow URL to be announced. There's much that Benkler talks about in his book that ultimately makes my site even possible in its in conception and business plan and without the current Economy 2.0 sites out there to provide me with a way on how to do things I'm not sure I'd be so confident. However, there are some glaring holes I'd like to fill in both the Economy 2.0 space and the nonprofit sector. Economy 2.0 sites are, frankly, useless to many of the clients served by charities today. It's partly because many of the people who make those sites have zero background in our sector and don't understand internal operations for a nonprofit. That said, many nonprofit agencies have a "closed" architecture -- there's no mechanism for exposing their inner workings to an Economy 2.0 site. This is why you do not see consumer philanthropy sites too often and when they do - they rely only on a subset of cases. Even the most successful sites, like modestneeds.org and donorschoose.org, rely on a "parallel" architecture to nonprofits primarily because that's their workaround. My startup will provide the magic recipe to open up that internal charity architecture and make nonprofits available on an Economy 2.0 site. It's one major facet of the plan which in itself is multilayered in order to deal with many issues related to Economy 2.0 sites as a whole. Thanks Tom! I’m really surprised and gladdened you took the time to find and answer my post. Yes, I think my startup will absolutely change the way Economy 2.0 web sites work and the way we think about consumer philanthropy today. I’ve been thinking about this for a year and I’m going to start posting screenshots and HTML pages to a currently fallow URL to be announced.

There’s much that Benkler talks about in his book that ultimately makes my site even possible in its in conception and business plan and without the current Economy 2.0 sites out there to provide me with a way on how to do things I’m not sure I’d be so confident. However, there are some glaring holes I’d like to fill in both the Economy 2.0 space and the nonprofit sector.

Economy 2.0 sites are, frankly, useless to many of the clients served by charities today. It’s partly because many of the people who make those sites have zero background in our sector and don’t understand internal operations for a nonprofit.

That said, many nonprofit agencies have a “closed” architecture — there’s no mechanism for exposing their inner workings to an Economy 2.0 site. This is why you do not see consumer philanthropy sites too often and when they do – they rely only on a subset of cases. Even the most successful sites, like modestneeds.org and donorschoose.org, rely on a “parallel” architecture to nonprofits primarily because that’s their workaround.

My startup will provide the magic recipe to open up that internal charity architecture and make nonprofits available on an Economy 2.0 site. It’s one major facet of the plan which in itself is multilayered in order to deal with many issues related to Economy 2.0 sites as a whole.

]]> By: tomwatson http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/economy-20-and-consumer-philanthropy-my-startup/comment-page-1#comment-918 tomwatson Wed, 06 Dec 2006 15:52:23 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/economy-20-and-consumer-philanthropy-my-startup#comment-918 Hey great post - lots of food for thought there, got me thinking about consumer philanthropy and web 2.0 the open sourced retail side of it. Very important, you're 100% right. I'd love to hear more! Hey great post – lots of food for thought there, got me thinking about consumer philanthropy and web 2.0 the open sourced retail side of it. Very important, you’re 100% right. I’d love to hear more!

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