Citizen philanthropy in the Internet age

Image from the Plymouth Intergenerational Center

Milwaukee Aging Consortium member Marsha Vollbrecht, Director, Senior Services, Aurora Senior Health Services, is part of a brave new experiment in charitable giving.

Before I explain, a little background. Getting the margin to support even the most worthy mission is a challenge for nonprofits. Large and well-known organizations vie for big support dollars from big foundations. Meanwhile, small or newer organizations compete to gain enough support to build momentum through charitable donations.

But some believe the Internet might “democratize” charitable giving. Case Foundation co-founder Jean Case thinks that “philanthropy shouldn’t be defined as a bunch of rich people writing big checks. Small amounts of money given by large numbers of individuals can be combined to do great things.”

The more citizens are involved, the idea goes, the more the nonprofit activities can reflect the real needs and desires of the people.

So Case started the "Make It Your Own" grants program, inviting community-based organizations to submit their "citizen-centered civic engagement" programs. From a pool of more than 4,000 programs, a board selected the Top 100 Ideas. The programs are displayed at the website, along with space for comments by the "citizen philanthropists:" you and me.

You can even make a direct contribution to one of the programs from the site.

Vollbrecht’s " Top 100" project with the Plymouth Intergenerational Coalition involves Linking the Generations. It brings together volunteers from the school district, senior center, government, childcare center, finance, healthcare, and more.

Starting today, you and the rest of the world can read about and comment on the grants. A panel of judges will score the proposals, narrowing the field to 20. Each of those will receive a $10,000 grant toward “making their idea a reality.” And in February, we’ll be able vote to select the most worthy project. The top four vote-getters will receive additional $25,000 grants.

If you think Linking the Generations is a worthy idea, why not help make it happen?

And if you think the Milwaukee Aging Consortium is a worthy idea, we'd love to have your support, too, of course.

The Case Foundation site is full of interesting ideas about taking fund raising electronic. Take a little time to browse the ideas at the site. They are new, complex, and layered (and not always clearly described). But it's worth the effort to look around.

What might this brave new world of fund raising mean for your organization? Share your ideas with us here!