Hippie 2.0: The Kiva Trend

There have been a ton of globally and ecologically aware companies that have caught my eye over the past few weeks, so many that I feel like I'm playing catch-up just to get a chance to look at them all. I had several new-to-me companies saved in my browser, and at first glance, I wasn't at all happy with what I saw.

The first three companies are all Web 2.0 donation companies. Obviously, the success of microlending organizations like Kiva led to a lot of people feeling that developing copycat-esque sites was the way to go, and if this is any indication of what's in store, I'm not looking forward to the trend.

First up is the Make The Difference Network. This site is the one that's gotten the most mainstream press attention, mainly because it's "founded" by celebrity Jessica Biel and her father. Using all the buzzwords of having a "social network" involved, non-profits can list their wishes, and members can donate toward a particular wish or add a non-profit as a "friend." At some point in the future, members will be able to have their own blog on the site as well as upload things like videos of their own volunteering or donation. The problem here is that these aren't small wishes. With Kiva, you feel like if you can only give $25.00, you are still making a difference, but with the Make The Difference Network, one non-profit has three goals listed, for a grand total of over $36,000. And the money is for an ad campaign and signage, not direct donations to the work that they are doing. The Make The Difference Network, however, at least verifies that organizations have 501(c)(3) status, as well as gives financials for the organization, which is more than our next company does.

Number two on the list is Giveo, which allows users to register and either create their own causes or donate to existing ones. Now, if you read that sentence carefully, you may wonder exactly how you can create your own cause. Essentially, you can register, and then put whatever you want out there for people to give to. There is no verification at all, and you apparently don't even need to be a registered non-profit at all, judging by the cause I found where a couple is asking for $46,000 to get out of credit card debt. Call me a Hard-Hearted Hannah, but I've never been particularly enamored by the cutesy begging online that's become so prevalent since that first person did it years ago, and I'm even less of a fan now. Giveo lets you post just about anything, apparently, with no verification of where your money is even going, and I'm going to pick this one as Most Likely to Deadpool.

The last one is probably the one with the most chance of success, which isn't really saying much with the company it's keeping in this post. A company called good2gether is proposing a system where non-profits can post their needs to localized "DoGood Channels" which other local web sites (like media outlets) can use a widget to link up their communities to these organizations. It sounds like an added step when many communities already have something like this in place (where I live it's called Volunteer Connection for volunteer opportunities and they have other ones as well for different types of donations), but some smaller communities may welcome the pre-built technology. Right now, the DoGood Channels are in beta, and it shows; no matter what location I tried it still listed opportunities in Boston and the surrounding area.

Overall, I was less than impressed once I was actually able to spend time checking these companies out. As enthused as I've been about what's been happening in the philanthropic space with Web 2.0, we seem to be hitting a wall where buzzwords are key and implementation is lacking. Maybe I just happened onto the Law of Threes?

Sources: MoMB , eHub