Hi Cougar I’m not sure if I understand how to want get the actual job done.
The idea is great though; I could imagine including an internet shop in the application where you sell “vaccines”. The participator has then to find people who are willing to pay for one or more vaccines.
Go on with this one!!!
Tommy

okay so you wanna do some sort of an awareness site??

Awareness is only part of the idea. Here are two assumptions that drive this idea:

1. Younger people tend to have more time than money. This would be the target audience for the site. These users would raise awareness of specific, actionable issues to a larger group of people.

2. Older people tend to have more money than time. They are caring people, but in general do not have awareness of specific issues (i.e. they know about disease in Africa, but not about 3 children in a village that need a pair of shoes). If this group is aware of an issue, they would be able to donate money to the cause.

The differentiators between this site and a typical giving site are:

1. The younger people would be working on a series of challenges, earning points, achieving higher levels, and earning badges for their efforts. These are rewards that would make participation fun, like a video game.

2. By rewarding users for awareness, not money earned, you avoid the stigma that plagues other charitable sites - the need to directly solicite your friends and family for money.

3. The focus on many small, simple issues rather than one huge, complex issue. If a friend's MySpace profile had a story about a boy who needed a vaccine, I'd be much more willing to give $5 to buy him the vaccine than to just give the same $5 to something bigger like "The Human Fund"

I like this idea. But, would the $5 go to the boy who needs the vaccine, or would it go to a big fund that distributes cash to the charity of choice as directed by the recepient of the points? The cost of managing distribution sounds challenging, otherwise.

Game

Good question, Game. I see the money being pooled and distributed to a larger fund, but still targeted to meet the goal of the smaller action.

For example, the small action may be "Get 5 pairs of shoes for children in a town in Zimbabwee". The money that is collected from that awareness campaign would then be added to a larger pool. Once a month a lump-sum check would be sent to an organization that distributes shoes to children. If the action were around vaccines, that money would go towards a "vaccine" pool and the larger check would go to an organization that was distributing vaccines.

This would definitely have to be transparently communicated to the users of the site.

I like it a lot actually.

Would the user need confirmation about spreading the word?
Would they need to recruit others to the causes?

]V[oogy

As long as a person could choose thier cause (ie. some of us may like shoes more than shots) then it sounds like a good idea.

cougar

Love the idea, I just think its not enough.

people have no problem signing a petition to stop cutting down the rain forest, or joining a facebook group called "If I get 1 million people I will donate $10,000 to the Red Cross" or going to a large world wide concert (live 8).

The thing is thats all most people will do, and how dose that help?

Moogy - Thanks for the support. Users could earn points by recruiting others (similar to how CH offers RPs for inviting friends to join). Not quite sure I understand the first question, can you clarify for me?

SR - Yes, the original idea had a survey to try to match people with their interests. The post is a little too wordy as-is so I had to edit that out of the idea I posted here.

GL - Good question. See my way-too-long comment above for the basic answer (i.e. two groups of people - those with time, build awareness. Those without time, donate money)

For example, in the Facebook app there would be two options. One would be a button to click to simply show support, the other would be a link to the site where you can give money. In general, a smaller percentage of people will donate than promote - but don't forget, in the Web 2.0 economy, eyeballs = $.

hmmm...cougar now this is a noble thought! but thn how will you ensure that the funds will flow to the right cause??? you will be working with other funds?

fossil - I'd personally deliver the funds myself. J/K, but there would need to be some business development work done to find the correct funds to partner with and get verification that the funds were used properly.

awareness...humanitarian cause.. ahh my favorites forge this more..i can see another good portal!

Amazing how you easily got my 4 votes=)

four points i mean.

http://www.change.org

Similar to this, but you are thinking of more incentives and maybe less social networking?

knowtorious - exactly. Instead of building a new social network, this site would essentially provide incentives and tools to work within the social network(s) people are already using. Note that a "social network" could be something like Facebook/MySpace, but could also be more general such as a personal blog, Email, IM, etc..

That site is way cool, though. Thanks for posting the link!

Whether you stick with your proposed point system or change it, I like the idea of contributing to a specific project. I think that is why organizations where you "adopt" a foster child in another country are successful.

Regardless of how crowded the field for donations might be, this is a good idea. You are not setting up a new charity but letting people choose to give money to established ones of their choice, through a new vehicle with a different flavour.

"Might" require a fundraiser's license.

Go for it.

Thanks, Jill! Good idea to look into fundraiser's license, I know there are some tricky legal issues around non-profits.

And have the list of issues sorted with the least viewed at the top, that way the one that most people are unaware of is the one that gets the most screen time.

any updates?