Live Your Life Be Free!

I found this great site called Changing the Present. It aggregates different charities allowing you to buy little increments of things to support charities. Here is the gist:

For just a few dollars, you can protect an acre of the rain forest or fund an hour of a cancer researcher’s time. You can provide a child with a first book, an AIDS patient with life-saving drugs or a hungry family with a nourishing meal. Take a look. You’ll find something for virtually any cause.

The categories include: Animal Welfare, Homelessness, Global Health etc. Under the "Peace" heading, I found that for $50 that I could buy three soccer balls for children in Liberia, Sudan and Columbia. The thinking is that the recreational activity would create normalcy in some of the most difficult environments in the world.

The idea of the site is to give people a chance to give more fulfilling presents (you can get a custom-made card made to go with your gift). The site owners are trying to tap into the $250 billion market that Americans spend on buying presents each year for one another. They even have a "Hall of Shame" where people post their worst gifts ever – such as a whoopee cushion that seems ridiculous in comparison to clearing 10 square kilometers of a minefield for only $30. People feel empowered when they know exactly what they are giving instead of just trusting that their charitable gift will be directed to the right place. Hence the soccer balls.

I think this is a great idea – but as a web site marketer I can’t help but think of tweaks… Based on my experience, people like to give locally, so maybe if they made the gifts searchable by location it would be more effective? Also, they could make the gifts searchable by keyword – tapping into that common behavior on the Internet – they could use the feedback from the search reports to create more interesting indexes as well. Finally, wouldn’t it be great if there was a feedback loop similar to when you sponsor a child through World Vision? I think it would be fulfilling to see your gift in action, or the results of the donation. 

I am glad for this site, and others like it for finding new, creative outlets for people to give to charity. I just wish that I found it before Christmas or else I wouldn’t have bought all of those whoopee cushions!