Comments on: Interview with Joe Green and Chris Chan of Project Agape http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape Confessions of a Non-Profit Executive Director Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:12:10 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Daily Kos Bares It All! (At least it's server infrastructure) | Non-Profit Tech Blog http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape/comment-page-1#comment-98565 Daily Kos Bares It All! (At least it's server infrastructure) | Non-Profit Tech Blog Sun, 09 Nov 2008 06:46:19 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape#comment-98565 [...] million pageviews were served with this setup. memcached turns out to be a piece of technology that Causes uses for its own servers. I’m quite curious as to why they don’t use an EC2-based infrastructure and why they [...] [...] million pageviews were served with this setup. memcached turns out to be a piece of technology that Causes uses for its own servers. I’m quite curious as to why they don’t use an EC2-based infrastructure and why they [...]

]]> By: Allan Benamer http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape/comment-page-1#comment-86384 Allan Benamer Sat, 08 Dec 2007 03:10:44 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape#comment-86384 December hasn't ended -- so I'm waiting to see this out as well. It's going to be really interesting. I think what's interesting to me is that Causes launched a way for people to give donations as gifts. I'm wondering if that's going to help... December hasn’t ended — so I’m waiting to see this out as well. It’s going to be really interesting. I think what’s interesting to me is that Causes launched a way for people to give donations as gifts. I’m wondering if that’s going to help…

]]> By: Michelle N. http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape/comment-page-1#comment-85697 Michelle N. Fri, 07 Dec 2007 04:35:59 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape#comment-85697 It's December 2007 - who won the bet? It’s December 2007 – who won the bet?

]]> By: Allan Benamer http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape/comment-page-1#comment-51016 Allan Benamer Tue, 25 Sep 2007 02:55:54 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape#comment-51016 Aha I see what you mean... The problem is two-fold. First, it is not known if potential donors will be willing to contribute to large projects over $5000. Also, nonprofits have yet to place their larger projects on the web. You would need a very healthy marketplace in order to do this or foundations such as yours willing to seed that marketplace by funding the larger projects. If bigger players were willing to play on the web level that would be true, very few foundations have taken the necessary plunge though. Over at the startup I'm building, socialmarkets.org, we don't take that plunge either. Frankly, it's a problem as some of the projects we'd like to present to the public are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, the average donation for each user would have to be incredibly high to deal with listings that large. It's a classic chicken and egg problem though. I'd love for you to advocate for this in the foundation world but I haven't heard of any foundations wanting to use Web 2.0 sites in this manner. Aha I see what you mean… The problem is two-fold. First, it is not known if potential donors will be willing to contribute to large projects over $5000. Also, nonprofits have yet to place their larger projects on the web.

You would need a very healthy marketplace in order to do this or foundations such as yours willing to seed that marketplace by funding the larger projects. If bigger players were willing to play on the web level that would be true, very few foundations have taken the necessary plunge though. Over at the startup I’m building, socialmarkets.org, we don’t take that plunge either.

Frankly, it’s a problem as some of the projects we’d like to present to the public are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, the average donation for each user would have to be incredibly high to deal with listings that large. It’s a classic chicken and egg problem though. I’d love for you to advocate for this in the foundation world but I haven’t heard of any foundations wanting to use Web 2.0 sites in this manner.

]]> By: James Carmichael http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape/comment-page-1#comment-50980 James Carmichael Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:49:42 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape#comment-50980 thanks again; i wasn't clear. i meant a more complete reversal: rather than models that harness the long-tail and many small donations to GET donations, i'm curious about whether there are examples of big-money entities-- foundations, community banking wings of commercial banking, etc.-- creating a presence on the social web as a way to meet new partners to whom they may want to GIVE money. as i said, the only example i've seen of this is the MacArthur Foundation putting itself out there on SL a little. so i guess i'm looking for macrocharities who are exploring ways to use web 2.0 to give away large grants effectively, as well as the reverse. (to give you a little more context): i work for Community Development Financial Institution whose core lines of business are a loan fund and 2 VC funds; all robust by CDFI standards. We're basically trying to get an overview of the new markets created by the social web and web 2.0 and how organizations like us might operate both as lenders (random e.g.: creating microcharities/new marketplace for retail products that help low-income communities) and recipients (i.e., connecting to the commercial banks and major funding partners who are important investors for us). hence all my leading questions. thanks for your patience and help so far. you can check us out at www.bostoncommunitycapital.org if you're interested; the website is a little late-90s, but is decently informative. thanks again; i wasn’t clear. i meant a more complete reversal: rather than models that harness the long-tail and many small donations to GET donations, i’m curious about whether there are examples of big-money entities– foundations, community banking wings of commercial banking, etc.– creating a presence on the social web as a way to meet new partners to whom they may want to GIVE money. as i said, the only example i’ve seen of this is the MacArthur Foundation putting itself out there on SL a little.

so i guess i’m looking for macrocharities who are exploring ways to use web 2.0 to give away large grants effectively, as well as the reverse.

(to give you a little more context): i work for Community Development Financial Institution whose core lines of business are a loan fund and 2 VC funds; all robust by CDFI standards. We’re basically trying to get an overview of the new markets created by the social web and web 2.0 and how organizations like us might operate both as lenders (random e.g.: creating microcharities/new marketplace for retail products that help low-income communities) and recipients (i.e., connecting to the commercial banks and major funding partners who are important investors for us). hence all my leading questions. thanks for your patience and help so far.

you can check us out at http://www.bostoncommunitycapital.org if you’re interested; the website is a little late-90s, but is decently informative.

]]> By: Allan Benamer http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape/comment-page-1#comment-50977 Allan Benamer Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:27:16 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape#comment-50977 Well, I'm definitely the Second Life skeptic and it's probably impaired my researching Second Life properly. If you want a rosier view of Second Life, you might try beth.typepad.com and lotusmedia.org. Beth and Ruby are more supportive of SL and may have better figures to bolster their case. You might also want to ask the Techsoup people as well. As for examples that don't trade on the long tail/aggregating small loans model, I don't understand what you mean. You're looking for online microcharities that take in much larger loans or much larger one-time donations? Well, I’m definitely the Second Life skeptic and it’s probably impaired my researching Second Life properly. If you want a rosier view of Second Life, you might try beth.typepad.com and lotusmedia.org. Beth and Ruby are more supportive of SL and may have better figures to bolster their case. You might also want to ask the Techsoup people as well.

As for examples that don’t trade on the long tail/aggregating small loans model, I don’t understand what you mean. You’re looking for online microcharities that take in much larger loans or much larger one-time donations?

]]> By: James Carmichael http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape/comment-page-1#comment-50932 James Carmichael Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:26:36 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape#comment-50932 alan- just posted a long response but somehow 6+4=10 was the wrong answer on the filter! anyway: all i said was (a) thanks, and (b) do you know of any good examples, besides macarthur found. in 2nd life (i know you're not sold on 2nd life), of major funding sources entering the social web as way of distributing their money and looking to connect to lendees? i.e., examples that don't trade on the long-tail/aggregating many small loans model? those seem harder to find. thanks again. i enjoy the blog and am glad to have discovered it. alan-
just posted a long response but somehow 6+4=10 was the wrong answer on the filter! anyway: all i said was
(a) thanks, and
(b) do you know of any good examples, besides macarthur found. in 2nd life (i know you’re not sold on 2nd life), of major funding sources entering the social web as way of distributing their money and looking to connect to lendees? i.e., examples that don’t trade on the long-tail/aggregating many small loans model? those seem harder to find.

thanks again. i enjoy the blog and am glad to have discovered it.

]]> By: Allan Benamer http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape/comment-page-1#comment-49549 Allan Benamer Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:11:30 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape#comment-49549 No worries, I would suggest looking at <a href="http://flip.onphilanthropy.com/online/2007/09/online-gifts-in.html" rel="nofollow">this article</a>. It's clear that online giving is growing quickly but it's still very small when compared to other revenue streams. The two largest fundraisers that were solely web-based that I've seen online is Network for Good raising $100 million and MissionFish at $76 million. People are forecasting another five years before the volume from online giving starts to catch up with other revenue streams, especially direct mail. No worries, I would suggest looking at this article. It’s clear that online giving is growing quickly but it’s still very small when compared to other revenue streams. The two largest fundraisers that were solely web-based that I’ve seen online is Network for Good raising $100 million and MissionFish at $76 million. People are forecasting another five years before the volume from online giving starts to catch up with other revenue streams, especially direct mail.

]]> By: James Carmichael http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape/comment-page-1#comment-49540 James Carmichael Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:19:03 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape#comment-49540 @Allan:I am sorry to add to a dead chain. @Bill: where did you get the $6bn in online giving statistic from. I am trying to assemble a cursory 2.0 strategy for a community development organization-- we work at a larger scale than the "long-tail" might optimally serve, but nonetheless a sense of the market would be really valuable, and overall metrics (how much is given online, how has it grown, what are the most successful locii of online giving) are proving hard to come by... Thanks for any help you (or anyone)can offer. @Allan:I am sorry to add to a dead chain.

@Bill: where did you get the $6bn in online giving statistic from. I am trying to assemble a cursory 2.0 strategy for a community development organization– we work at a larger scale than the “long-tail” might optimally serve, but nonetheless a sense of the market would be really valuable, and overall metrics (how much is given online, how has it grown, what are the most successful locii of online giving) are proving hard to come by…

Thanks for any help you (or anyone)can offer.

]]> By: Allan Benamer http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape/comment-page-1#comment-27916 Allan Benamer Sat, 30 Jun 2007 02:35:12 +0000 http://www.nonprofittechblog.org/interview-with-joe-green-and-chris-chan-of-project-agape#comment-27916 @Michael: Great questions but I don't know whether first mover advantage means anything so far. It's still too soon to tell. I think the best marketed orgs will do well on Causes. If you had great offline and online marketing campaigns prior to Causes, you're going to do well. It's no surprise that newer orgs that have more of that focus are just kicking butt over more established orgs. Take a look at invisiblechildren.org and how it's got FOUR times as many members as Amnesty. Now THAT'S marketing and the Internet allows people to magnify those strengths easily. @Michael: Great questions but I don’t know whether first mover advantage means anything so far. It’s still too soon to tell.

I think the best marketed orgs will do well on Causes. If you had great offline and online marketing campaigns prior to Causes, you’re going to do well. It’s no surprise that newer orgs that have more of that focus are just kicking butt over more established orgs. Take a look at invisiblechildren.org and how it’s got FOUR times as many members as Amnesty. Now THAT’S marketing and the Internet allows people to magnify those strengths easily.

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