James Norton
The Web: a powerful agent for charities and foundations
Beyond these admirable tricks, the Web's ability to capture the full range of human emotion and activity holds a potential to do something very noble. By allowing people to give resources intelligently to foundations that further compassionate, constructive causes, the Web is beginning to serve as a powerful agent for the world's charities and foundations.
From a typically patchwork beginning, the world of online giving has expanded to encompass almost every major established foundation, charity and philanthropic association. There's even a search engine specifically dedicated to accessing charities on the Web; Philanthropysearch.com exists as a conduit for online giving, with an index that encompasses an expansive umbrella of religious, social, community and health-related charities.
Of course, like most search engines, it's not perfect; a search for the United Jewish Appeal failed to produce a direct link to the organization's fairly well-established Web site, and a search for Amnesty International produced no results whatsoever. Like most search engines, Philanthropysearch.com will need to do some growing before its grasp of the Web begins to approach "comprehensive."
Once you've figured out how to reach your charity of choice, however, your search for great online giving opportunities is not necessarily at an end. If there's any constant across the spectrum of online charities, it's that bigger does not necessarily mean better. The American Red Cross, for example, has every reason (and presumably, every resource) to make itself into a model for smart online giving.
But while the site is rich in bulletins and very in synch with current events, its navigation is labyrinthine, and users can make very few choices about where their dollars go.
Users clicking on a graphic that urges them to help Venezuelan flood victims are routed to a donation section where users are stuck with a choice between three broad fund categories: international, national, and local. And none of them obviously (or deeply) document how a contributor's money is distributed and spent.
But it's not only The Red Cross that suffers from Web burn. Doctors Without Borders is a group dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to civilians regardless of political borders, and is one of my favorite charities -- and one of my least favorite charitable Web site.
I was saddened to see a group whose work is world-acclaimed for its courage and compassion falling behind the standard long ago set by corporate sites like Microsoft and Macromedia. The site is inconsistent in its design, and, once again, suffers from the overload syndrome: it simply gives users too many pieces of extensive, seemingly unconnected piles of information.
Considering the circumstances a good charity works with, this is nothing short of a tragedy. Good charity sites, like most well-constructed Web sites, allow their users an unprecedented access to information and a powerful sense of control over where their energy is spent. A casual giver can capture the essence of a charity's function, click a button, and donate any given amount with minimal effort. A more serious philanthropist can dive into a charity's mission, methods and many physical works of good, and make a well-informed choice to reach out to other human beings in need.
The Heifer Foundation operates a site that should serve as a model for online giving. By giving useful animals to families who need them, The Heifer Project encourages self-reliance, and gives a natural means of providing food and income to people in developing nations. Its online catalog is delightful; by allowing users to select the type of animal they wish to give, and giving users rich documentation of the sort of effect their gift will have, The Heifer Foundation deepens the experience far beyond the act of simply writing a check.
Its easy to write off this sort of accessibility and comfort as being a playful waste of time. But this would be a mistake. When a person knows about the effect their donation will have on the lives that are reached by a charity, there is a much stronger reason to give, and a much richer reward. And its exactly this sort of knowledge that a well-conceived online giving site can provide.
It's a gift that's given back to the giver.