The online (micro)charity organization ‘Crowdrise‘ has grown in presence and influence since its founding a bit over a year ago. Its goal was/is to raise money by encouraging people to sign onto ‘teams’ that use their social-media presences to reach out to their friends. The team thus pools its time and the money collected, and […]
Harsh Op-Ed On ‘Charitable Scrooges’
Debates about social media as catalyst, about political responses to economic crises, about open internets, about the care of our health… can help us sharpen our own positions and/or encourage us to take on ideas that we had avoided. This particular blog outlet tends to focus on the nexus of nonprofits, politics, and communications technologies, […]
Efforts to Green Up Baltimore Schools From The Ground Down
Building a house on sand can be a disaster. Building a playground on it can be beneficial to Baltimore’s kids and to Baltimore’s urban environment. The premise is simple and ancient: the ground wants to be a sponge that absorbs water and feeds plant life. Humans, their buildings, and their machinery pack down that sponge […]
Twitter And Philanthropy In The Holiday Season
“Twitter and philanthropy. They go together like a horse and carriage….” Well, it does not rhyme, but at least you are not hearing my Sinatra impression. The philanthropic and nonprofit communities have been on the forefront of many extensions of the uses of social media, largely because the financial investments are minimal. The rewards can […]
If Charities Can Not Market Apps, Then Text Them Your Support
So Apple is uninterested in working with the nonprofit and charitable community to give them access to the iTunes Store for money raising. There are other ways that bypass the Byzantine process of Apple acceptance and still offer means to support (some of) your favorite charities with your mobile device. Even your iPhone: Texting donations […]
NeighborWorks America Helps Small Businesses Too
NeighborWorks America has been helping citizens finance their homes since 1968, when Dorothy Mae Richardson, a homemaker and community activist in Pittsburgh, enlisted city bankers and government officials to join with her block club to improve her neighborhood. That early, grass-roots, endeavor to improve the urban housing of Pittsburgh became the successful model replicated across […]
#Philanthropy: Apple – The Bad Apple In The Corporate Philanthropic Bushel?
We have often discussed the roles corporate philanthropy plays both in supporting environmental, social, educational (etc.) causes and in the arguments that corporations should not be preemptively philanthropic as corporations (though even those who criticize ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’/CSR tend to encourage share-holders to be philanthropic). A recent argument has flared up over Apple’s unwillingness to […]
Can No Social Media Be As Philanthropically Engaging As Social Media?
It is a delicious irony suitable for for the latest diva of over-the-top corporate pop (As an old fogey, I confess I’m still surprised at how much Ms. Gaga’s persona is so dependent on what Madonna has already done. But back to our story): A denizen of social media and public attention announces via social […]
