Cyber-Philanthropy

Making charitable giving more accessible and intimate is a great thing. Kiva has been standard bearer for changing the way we give. In recent months I've seen some family members become enthusiastic about being able to connect much more directly with people and issues. It may well be that start of a revolution in charity.

Over the holidays one of my best sources for interesting content, Fred Smith of The Gathering, posted a fascinating article about this new development. It leads me to a few questions: (and I'd love to see your thoughts as comments)

-How convenient should philanthropy be? What obligation is there for givers to take the time to understand charities more deeply?

-What will the impact of new technology options be on charity in the next decade? IS there a risk that flashy tools will outweigh quality work?

-How can (or should) "professional philanthropists" use our increased time, experience, and insight to help inform common givers? Should we post both positive and negative reviews of those we've worked with?

-What organizations are already exemplary in their use of technology to maintain connection with donors?

-What qualifies as a "major donor" in the future and what additional information or contact should they expect?

-How does this impact the power imbalance inherent in the donor/charity relationship?

Two new techy toys

I don't think of myself as an early adopter of technology (I still have a cathode ray television), but recently I've been getting to know two software tools that seem to have a lot of productivity advantages:

Zloop is a web-based networking site that i heard about from Fred Smith at The Gathering. It allows remote users to post not only messages, pics, and videos like facebook; but also to form separate "loops" for projects and to post documents that can be downloaded, edited, and re-uploaded in a more current version. It's less fun and visual than facebook, and probably less intuitive; but for professional purposes it is very appealing.

Jott is something I came across through a distant facebook friend. It allows me to send messages by voice on my cell phone that are transcribed into text and sent to any phone number or email address I have set in advance. Best aspect of this for me is the ability to send a message to my email while I am on the go, especially through my headset while driving. the transcription may not always be perfect, but I can spell proper nouns to improve accuracy as I go and I expect to use it mostly only to communicate with myself though it can handle much beyond that.

Anybody out there want to share their own favourites?