Recommend a donation website

June 26, 2006 11:55 AM

What social networking sites are there for managing personal donations? I have some projects in mind that require more resources than I have available. I'd like to set up some system for people to donate both money & expertise to help me take my ideas & realize them. I could just put up a little writeup with a PayPal Donate button on my personal domain & point to it from various places I frequent, but I'd like to see if any of the donation-oriented social networking sites have any elements that'd make them a more attractive venue for my plea.
posted by scalefree to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

It's a bit of an indirect solution, but you might look into something like LinkedIn to generate a network of non-profit and technical contacts. When you have proposals together you can contact them and route interested parties to donation links.
posted by Mr. Six at 12:03 PM on June 26, 2006

Best answer: Here's a list of these types of websites.
posted by storybored at 1:47 PM on June 26, 2006

I'm not sure it's exactly what you want, but I like the idea behind PledgeBank, which is on the list Storeybored posted. You set the goal amount, and if not enough people pledge money to reach that amount, everyone gets their money back (or never actually pays in the first place, not sure).
posted by IndigoRain at 4:26 PM on June 26, 2006

Pledgebank doesn't involve money.
posted by divabat at 6:02 PM on June 26, 2006

Could you please clarify, Divabat? I know that it can involve money... I've heard of an example.
posted by IndigoRain at 11:34 PM on June 26, 2006

Well, PledgeBank doesn't collect any money. Most of the pledges go along the lines of "I'll do this if X people do this with me".

If there's money involved ("I'll donate $X if Y people donate $X each" or something), the money goes straight to the target of the pledge, not to PledgeBank.
posted by divabat at 12:48 AM on June 27, 2006

Response by poster: FYI, I went with one of the recommended sites for the first phase of my campaign. Basically, I have a lot of ideas about hybrid techno/social self-organized systems for use in politics, economics & social welfare, but I'm not in a position to act on any of it because all I have is a shitty 10 year old laptop that's limping on its last legs. So I'm asking the people around me to chip in & help me out if they think I'm on to something. Once I've got a suitable tool I should be able research some of my ideas & put together some proposals for more structured work, at which time I'll start putting out a call for collaboration in designing & testing some applications based on the concepts. If you think I'm for real & want to see what I can do, drop some money in the hat. Here's the link: scalefree.net laptop fund drive
posted by scalefree at 11:53 AM on June 27, 2006