Creating a bond between donation and cause online

While the Virtual Field Trips are detailed but archival in nature, GlobalGiving's site ("Give Direct. Change the World.") provides a less personal, but more up-to-date, look at its projects, and allows donors to connect directly with a variety of social and environmental causes around the world. Founded in 2001 by a pair of former World Bank executives, the organization has facilitated donations totalling $1.6 million to some 400 international projects, and at any time, the site features a searchable collection of more than 300 undertakings in 70 countries.

GlobalGiving's home page has very little 'information' of its own, but dozens of links -divided into several clusters- which lead the visitor to specific details about the organization's projects. At time of writing, the center of the page was dedicated to material about a recent PBS documentary (The New Heroes) which featured 12 initiatives supported through the site, a list of GlobalGiving's 'Top 10' current projects (ranked by how close they are to meeting their funding goals), and a handful of other news items. To the left, details about specific projects are accessible through regional and topical listings, keyword queries (eg: "asia, human rights"), and a search Wizard - which matches potential donors to compatible projects through a short questionnaire. Finally, for those who'd rather not make a direct decision about how their money is allocated, a "GG Matching Fund" steers donations to projects that are closest to reaching their funding objective.

As your research reaches the level of individual projects, each venture is given its own homepage with a tabbed summary of its goals, funds needed (and whether any donations have been made to date), information about the people involved in the enterprise, progress reports, and photo galleries. Above and below the tabbed content are options to bookmark or print the page, e-mail the information to a friend, create a registry of preferred causes, or even copy and paste a re-directing HTML script into your personal website. Naturally, there is also a donations link, where surfers can either make immediate contributions to specific projects via plastic or PayPal, or mail a check to the foundation's Bethesda headquarters.

Both of these sites illustrate the effective execution of a great idea, as each has found its own way of making the benefactor feel closer to the beneficiary. (An objective that enriches people at both ends of the exchange.) Of course, this article is -as always- merely addressing innovative or interesting websites, and is not concerned with ranking the merit of the relief organizations behind these or any other homepages. While both are clearly reputable, there also many other worthy organizations that would gratefully accept your support, and if Live 8 left you wishing that there had been an 800-number waiting to take your pledge, this is for you - there are still hundreds of websites standing by.

Page: 1 | 2