The Web 2.0 world is a great environment for connecting people and causes in ways that until recently were unimaginable. One example of an excellent peer-to-peer philanthropy platform in www.globalgiving.com.
The mission of Washington, DC-based GlobalGiving is to sustain a “marketplace for good” that connects donors directly to the causes they care most about. Since its launch in 2002, GlobalGiving has helped thousands of donors give over $11 million to approximately 1,000 projects worldwide.
Theodore Malloch, an advisor to GlobalGiving, recounted to me several stories (which are also included in his upcoming book titled Generous Giving) of individual giving that were enabled through GlobalGving.
Malloch described the story of Paula Diley, Durham, NC, who was raised to be a “giver.” She comes from a family of nine and learned how to share at an early age. Through her siblings, she saw the importance of celebrating with others when they are blessed. Diley set out a goal to give to all one hundred and ninety four nations of the world.
Diley maintains a running list of all the countries of the world and crosses each one off as she is able to give. So far, she is up to 69 projects in 67 nations! Diley also makes sure to support a variety of different projects, from play pumps in one country to healthcare issues, water quality, education, schools, economic development and aids awareness.
One of Diley’s giving inspirations is Muhammad Yunus, an economist from Bangladesh and the founder of Grameen Bank [ www.grameen-info.org ]. Yunus is a Nobel Peace Prize winner known for his work in micro-credit loans. Yunnus started with a small amount of his own money, and it spread to so many people. After Diley read Yunnus’ book “Banker to the Poor” she realized that although she only has a small amount to give, combined with others, needs can be met all over the world. Today’s web facilitates the process of aggregated giving.
Malloch also recounts the story of John Burg and Heather Haines, Washington, DC, who instead of asking for traditional wedding gift items like a blender or toaster, decided to register on GlobalGiving. This couple believes that have been so fortunate that it made sense to be able to give back.” Haines explained. “In the spirit of giving, we wanted to be able to give our guests another option.” The couple is excited about a project in India, the destination of their honeymoon. In addition to putting the India project on their registry, they are making a contribution of their own in honor of their guests.
Malloch also cites the example of Timothy Campbell, New Delhi, India, who is a habitual GlobalGiving gift card buyer. GlobalGiving allows people to make a charitable gift to somebody while allowing them to choose the cause, and perhaps find a new project or organization in need. Campbell’s family has always enjoyed the tradition of giving each other donations as well as gifts. He says, “I have recently begun to feel that it is more important to a lot of people I know to be able to support a cause they believe in rather than to receive a physical gift.”
A final example highlighted by Malloch is Nicole Shampaine, Washington, DC, who also uses GlobalGiving gift cards. Shampaine likes the idea of giving recipients the option to choose the project they would like to support, instead of picking something for them. GlobalGiving has something for everyone with projects ranging from environmental issues to bringing poor girls out of poverty through soccer.
The various examples that Malloch cites with respect to the GlobalGiving platform illustrate how giving has changed in today’s world. Individuals through GlobalGiving are empowered to engage in widespread peer-to-peer giving. Givers are typically more motivated when they see the impact of their gifts; web sites can facilitate this process of giving.
Three months in, the iPhone is great, but I don't deny that there isn't appeal in an Android phone. Though young and unpolished, Google's mobile OS has, unsurprisingly, tight integration with Google services. Much like my own brain, tightly integrated with Google's mail, calendar, reader, maps, photos, and, oh yeah, search. Synchronization between Google services and Blackberries or iPhones had been weak in the past, but some official and unofficial solutions have emerged.
Gmail access on any smartphone has been easy and supported ever since they implemented IMAP. Their help provides setup information for major devices.
Today Google announced that Google Sync for Blackberry can now synchronize your Gmail contacts, in addition to Google Calendar events and alerts. Any changes made on the Blackberry will sync back to Gmail/Calendar. This also makes moving to a new device easy.
For iPhone users, its slightly harder because Google can't have it's own app running in the background synchronizing changes. NuevaSync is a solution that I've been running without issue for a couple months now. The iPhone supports Microsoft Exchange for mail, calendar, and contacts. NuevaSync acts like a Microsoft Exchange server and serves as a middleman between your phone and Google for bidirectional syncing of calendar and contacts. The service is currently in beta, and also supports syncing contacts from Plaxo.
I recently came across a cool iPhone app from Urbanspoon - it's the magic 8-ball for meals. Whether you have a group that can't make a decision or your stomach is growling louder than you can think, the app spits out a restaurant suggestion when you give it a shake. Are you one of those people who can never accept the first suggestion? Shake it again, and then suck it up because your friends are hungry.
The iPhone's accelerometers pick up when you're giving your phone a hopeful shake, it figures out where you're located via GPS, and then it picks its suggestions based on the top-rated restaurants in your location on Urbanspoon (because their site also features restaurant reviews in cities across the US and Canada, and is breaking into the UK and Australia as well).
Urbanspoon is the world's leading provider of time-critical dining data, a major division of a very important multi-national corporation, and an... [more]
Even though I only have enough air miles to buy a blender, I still dream of the day when I finally have enough points to book a flight, only to be thwarted by airlines not having any award seats left. Yapta is taking care of that problem - their new service provides award seat alerts on flights on Alaska Airlines, Continental, Delta, United, and U.S. Airways, so that you can know exactly where and when you can 
redeem your award miles.
Yapta (which stands for Your Personal Travel Assistant...cute) also offers price change alerts that have saved travelers over $90 million since the company was founded in 2006. If the price of your flight drops after you've booked on an airline's website, you're eligible to a refund or travel credit. The free service also tracks price and availability of flights of any flight that you choose, every day.
"One of the biggest frustrations for frequent travelers is not knowing when they can actually redeem their miles to book an award seat," said Tom Romary, president & CEO of Yapta. Romary is also looking at it as a service to airlines: "Airlines want their frequent fliers to use miles because it strengthens their loyalty program,"he says. "Our award seat alerts stimulate the usage of frequent flier programs and therefore will have a positive impact on the airline's balance sheet and income statement."
Our purpose is to make it easy for you to secure the best airfare deals available on the Web. We do this by giving you a tool to "tag" the trips... [more]
