Giving Made Easy

We're hearing a lot about crowdsourcing lately, so we did a quick perusal of websites dedicated to this concept. One we liked is Crowdrise, merging volunteerism and social networking into a community "answering the call to service, raising money for charity and having the most fun in the world." It's also a nicely designed website with both style and purpose in mind.  

If you're inclined to donate to one of the site's biggest projects, the ING New York City Marathon in November, you can choose from dozens of official nonprofit teams, find out about them, in some cases, watch a profile video, view who the individual fund-raising team members are, note how much money they've raised and from whom. Of course you can donate instantly.

Another Crowdrise site we liked is Maasai Marathon: Eco-Warriors Running for the Future. Though the event happened in 2009, contributions continue to roll in, thanks to photo and video updates, commemorative apparel sales and sponsor celeb Ed Norton's tweets. We especially like the excellent "sponsor a runner" page with good graphic indicators comparing how much each runner has raised. Select a runner and go to their biographical page to find personal comments, video, a rolling list of donations with donor name and, once again, that easy one-click donation option.

It's simple. It's compelling and it's tax deductible. Best of all, it gives every donor a sense that she or he has made a difference. Do you have a crowdsourcing site you like? We'd like to hear about it.