Donor Advised Fund for the Millennial Generation
Nov 5, 2007 Weblog
Here’s my first hand feedback on the Facebook/nonprofit topic. The Facebook plug-ins that allow donors to support their favorite causes through the popular social networking site basically amounts to a donor advised fund for a new generation. Gifts given through the Facebook Causes application go to Justgive.org where they take a 3% cut for credit card charges, 1% for gift processing, and .5% goes to Project Agape.
If I was to give directly to the nonprofit where I worked via credit card, they would have deducted 1.8% for credit card processing and the rest would go to the intended purpose. If I send in a check 100% would go to the intended purpose.
The problem is further compounded by the fact that when Justgive.org finally does sends the 95.5% gift to the intended nonprofit, no donor information is given to the nonprofit… which makes stewardship and accountability impossible.
Tags: donor advised fund, Facebook, social media
Donors Bid Millions NOT to Rename School
Nov 5, 2007 Weblog
Facebook and embedded giving aren’t the best examples of philanthropy. This story out of Wisconsin. Donors team up to preserve the Business school name for the next 20 years… that’s what I call philanthropy.
Tags: naming, transformational
Generous Kids
Nov 5, 2007 Weblog
This is more of a teaser than anything else. I’ve been thinking about this for some time. I’d like to add a monthly feature where I’ll review a book that encourages people to think about philanthropy. Generous Kids will be the first book I plan to review.
The second book I plan to review is Donna Vanliere’s The Christmas Shoes. This book was suggested to me by Chris Beach back in July. If you have any suggestions for books I should add to my reading list please let me know. I’m not looking for textbooks. I’m looking for story books, kids books, or short stories. Basically, books that cultivate a culture of philanthropy in a unique way.
Tags: book review
Embedded Giving
Nov 5, 2007 Weblog
I’m not a personal fan of “embedded giving.” I feel like it cheapens the intent of philanthropy. It’s the easy way for business to give the appearance of caring, without really making a sacrifice. Like cause marketing, these two methods are exactly that… marketing. Why is the next logical step advancing American philanthropy to link giving with consumerism? First one to tell me wins a can of tomato soup.