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Relief International: a New Idea in Crisis Fundraising
September 21, 2000: I've been having conversations with the board of directors of a new startup called Relief Interactive ( http://www.reliefinteractive.org/) or REACT for short. REACT's plan is simple: to create a single online location where (1)a donor can learn about each agency that is involved in providing relief for a given crisis, and give monetary support to the agency of his choice, (2) to involvethe media in order to capture a potential donor at the point they are moved to give and (3) to ensure that such a site is accessible to a global body of Internet users and donors. If you have an international relief nonprofit, you need to talk to them about participating in this venture. Not only will you get new donors from participation, but this kind of site is going to raise awareness of all aid in a given region, and this kind of site might even bring some of your own donors back to you instead of another charity. REACT is working with online news media so that, when they carry a story about the next international earthquake, war, or famine, there will be an extra graphic or link about "how you can help" directing the viewer to the REACT page for that country or region or crisis. On that page, each nonprofit who provides aid there will be listed, with links to the nonprofit's site and donation pages. While people will be able to make donations directly from this snapshot crisis page, the money will go directly into the relief agency's merchant account. REACT will not be taking any money for this service, but merely acting as a conduit between the online news reader and the nonprofit. 100% of the donations would go to the nonprofits participating. With all due respect to the Red Cross, too many people can't think of any other nonprofit when they're moved by impulse to make a gift, and they should have a choice. This process will give them such a choice. REACT just got a technological support grant from Ventera, a major web development firm, who will be developing the site, so that's both a sign that they believe in the process, and that the site will work well! They are also working to get hosting donated to keep their costs low. At this early stage, REACT and Ventera are eager to make sure that the site design meets the needs of the nonprofits it's meant to serve. I'm hoping you'll be as impressed as I am with this concept and agree to discuss this with your counterparts, and give them some input in these early stages. | |
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