CNN Devotes Four Minutes to Micro-Philanthropy

Posted by Peter Deitz on July 3, 2008 at 2:00pm

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Earlier this week, the Global Giving e-newsletter arrived in my inbox. I was surprised to find a four minute video clip in which Global Giving president Mari Kuraishi is interviewed by a CNN anchor (see below).

CNN has made several forays into promoting distributed social action and micro-philanthropy. A few month's back, they published this guide to launching a successful online campaign. They also have created an "impact" section of their website, in which individuals are invited to "take action" on issues they care about (read: donating to nonprofits with household names).

At this point, I'm not the biggest fan of CNN; but it does feel good to see a giant media company acknowledging and encouraging the grassroots to take action. Hey, if Walmart can go green and Starbucks can champion fair trade, then why couldn't CNN become a catalyst for grassroots social change.

What's stopping CNN from devoting more time to micro-philanthropy? I bet there's a team of executives sitting behind some closed doors in the Atlanta headquarters worrying that the grassroots would self-organize to demand better news coverage in North America.

Global Giving's 4 minute spot on CNN:

Tags: cnn, globalgiving, starbucks, walmart

Comment by Brendan on July 8, 2008 at 8:49am: It's encouraging to hear that at least Global Giving hasn't taken a hit in donations with the economic downturn. I imagine Global Giving's success comes largely from the fact that so many people have a general desire to do something good but don't have a particular charity they're passionate about. Any time you give those people selection you'll win. Sounds like a great organization.

Comment by Peter Deitz on July 8, 2008 at 12:17pm: Hi Brendan, Another reason for GlobalGiving's success: they have gone to great lengths to vet the projects that people can fund. They also encourage updates from the field on project status. The two points put together help to create an experience that's meaningful for individual donors.

Personally, I wonder if the "your favorite charity" is a sentiment that anyone identifies with at this point. I am very committed to the change sector, but the last thing I'm going to do is write a check to support the general fund of an organization each year. My connection to them would have to be very strong. As a 20 something donor (quickly approaching 30 something), I much prefer making small contributions to specific projects, whether they are run by a 501c3 organization or not.

Most of the social action platforms I follow and write about permit that very detailed level of donation. I'll probably write up a blog post about the tension between "your favorite charity" and actual grassroots projects in the coming weeks. All the best, Peter

Comment by Brendan on July 9, 2008 at 10:18am: That's a great point about vetting projects. I know that this can be a stumbling block for some people - wondering if their money is going to land in the hands of corrupt politicians or warlords or, even more frustrating, will be used in an organization with excessive administration costs.