Living Philanthropic • Try this at home: Micro-giving or Micro-Philanthropy

Try this at home: Micro-giving or Micro-Philanthropy

Micro-giving. What is it? Well, it’s the true test of power in numbers, Micro-giving is the collection of small donations (mostly $1) from a large number of people (like you and me) to create Macro-results for a specific cause of charity. What I am doing with my mission and the donations you’ve made because of this blog are flirting in Micro-giving territory, which as you’ve seen has been wonderfully effective. It’s all these small bits of good that collectively add up to a greater good and can have on profound effect on changing our world.

So, I wanted to highlight a few cool Micro-giving sites that take advantage of the $1 donation:

Tipping Bucket: I’ve donated through Tipping Bucket on a previous day of my journey. I really dig what Tipping Bucket has done with the micro-giving format. They accept project proposals from organizations in need, whether it is books for a children’s library or building a fresh water well in Kenya, Tipping Bucket is utilizing the power of numbers to promote social change or your money back. That’s right, if the project does not meet the bucket goal, then you are not charged. Obviously, the goal is to make sure every bucket gets tipped over and each project is funded. Check them out: http://tippingbucket.org and tip a bucket!

Project Unum: I recently had lunch with Conor of Project Unum to talk about our individual projects since we both are based in Chicago. Project Unum is now open, but set to have a grand launch as Vonate.org in January 2011, you can sign up and start micro-giving now. Project Unum is a community of people who donate $1 a month to raise money for featured charities. So, basically you subscribe for $15 a year and you get $12 to VONATE for one of two monthly featured charities ($3 goes to the Project Unum NFP to maintain operations). You get to Vote where you want to dONATE your monthly dollar or VONATE. I think this is another great way to get your feet wet in micro-giving on a monthly basis. So, far with about 300 members Project Unum has raised over $14K for charity. Check them out at http://www.projectunum.org and join the $1 movement.

LoveDrop: Here is another micro-giving network of people who unite as a community to help one person or family a month, while they are not helping a registered charity, they are helping people in need. Each month Love Drop delivers a unique combination of unexpected financial gifts, personal encouragement and the support of local and online communities to people and families that need it. Spend a dollar and change a life, the community can make recommendations for people to give to and then rally donations as little as $1 each to combine efforts to make a surprise impact on the featured receiver’s life. To join the LoveDrop Team check out http://www.lovedrop.us and see your gift change someone’s life. (Disclaimer: LoveDrop is NOT a non-profit organization, they are a community in the business of doing good. 50% of your donation goes directly to the recipient. 20% to taxes. 30% to keeping LoveDrop running.)

These are just a sampling of some micro-giving networks working to produce marco-results. If you know of any others, feel free to drop me a note in the comments section!