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Twin Efforts Aim to Popularize Online Giving
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"This is pretty revolutionary, that technology allows us to do this," Whittle said. "It used to be that if you wanted to give and have an impact, people thought you had to be Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey. But because of the way the technology works, you can be an 'ordinary Oprah.' If you've got $10 or $100 or $1,000, you can come and find a school in Africa to support, and you can get updates from the field to get responses to your support."
The Case Foundation is giving away a total of $750,000 in the two online efforts, which start today and end Jan. 31. The people who attract the most friends from their social networks to donate to their cause will get $50,000 to give to charity. The top 100 charities attracting the most online donations will each receive $1,000.
In the Facebook challenge, the foundation will award $1,000 to a charity each day on behalf of the person who solicits the most friends to participate in a 24-hour period.
Jean Case, Case's wife and chief executive of the foundation, said she thinks the experiment could spark a broader movement toward online philanthropy.
"I see kids all the time and people all the time buying Starbucks cards for $10 and $20," Case said. "We know that they have the capacity to give at that level. We think it's exciting to engage people at the lower ends and say: 'You can be a philanthropist for $10.' "
Sunday's Parade Magazine will showcase ways to give online, said Randy Siegel, the magazine's president and publisher.
"We think that when 70 million readers see their Parade on Sunday, there will be an overwhelming response," said Siegel, a former marketing executive at The Washington Post.
The Parade issue and Facebook, which has more than 50 million users, will help introduce potential donors to charities, Whittle said.
"It's no longer reserved for the elite," Whittle said of charitable giving. These online tools enable it to go mainstream and enable it to become democratized."
