Online Social Action Platforms: A Complete List?

June 12, 2008 Tom Watson 12 Comments

In the back of CauseWired, I’m planning to include some form of resources section and one of the things I’d like to do is public a decent list of online social action platforms, at least as of my deadline for changes. Here’s the list I have going so far (thanks to the always well-informed Peter Deitz for helping to round it out). Suggested additions most welcome!

allvoices

Make The Difference Network

CauseWired Platforms, Social Ventures, The Book

Heather

Great list, Tom! It would be great to have a summary of what all these platforms do to separate them a bit, which is what Peter’s starting over at SocialActions.com…
http://www.knowmore.org Tom Inhaler

thanks for including knowmore.org in your list!
http://www.KeystoneAccountabilty.org Natalia Kiryttopoulou

At Keystone we conducted a study of online philanthropy markets that I’m sure you’ll find interesting. It provides a list of websites that we have examined in the online social change field. Available from here: http://www.keystoneaccountability.org/node/159
Hope it helps!
All the best,
Natalia
http://www.exquisitesafaris.com/index.php/journal/more/philip_cubeta_philanthropic_traveler/ Philanthropic Travel

Excellent platforms, heart felt intent, creative execution -virtually speaking of course.

Learn More:
Creating Deeper Philanthropic Relationships: A Brief History

http://tinyurl.com/56w8cl
adventuresinsocialmedia

Hello Tom,

Thanks for posting about the JustMeans social action platform. I’m glad you are familiar with the social media and communications work of JustMeans. Beyond our role in providing a platform for social impact, I want to let you know of our other service areas:

1. Talent:
For Individuals – We have over 2000 great job listings.
For Companies – We provide recruiting service that includes posting jobs, promoting current job opportunities, and direct company recruitment.

2. Technology:
We have mastered social media build-outs and we are now developing customized platforms for companies that want to up-date their traditional styled websites.

Thanks for the great post about JustMeans and the great list of social action platforms!

Ashley Fidel
JustMeans New York Associate
http://www.justmeans.com
afidel@justmeans.com
Pingback: Measuring Social ROI in an Online Marketplace « CauseWired
Pingback: The Evolution of Philanthropy: Philanthropic Travel « Understanding Travelers Philanthropy
http://CanadaHelps.org Zenia

Don’t forget about CanadaHelps.org! We’re a great platform for donors to give through our portal (one-time or monthly), gift with our Gift Cards, and do peer-to-peer fundraising through our Giving Pages.

Zenia
Pingback: The Evolution of Philanthropy « Understanding Philanthropic Travel
http://www.microgiving.com/profile/michelle Michelle

Wow, the list is growing everyday! Thanks for posting.

-Michelle
http://www.SocialActions.com Christine Egger

Tom, a few more for your list, including some well-established and some emerging social action platforms. Our goal at Social Actions is to soon have profiles for all of these available in an easy-to-peruse format. Will keep you posted as that resource comes along!

350.org (www.350.org)
CharityFocus (www.charityfocus.org)
Conexion Columbia (http://www.conexioncolombia.com/)
Dreambank (www.dreambank.org)
Epic Change (www.epicchange.org)
Give2Asia (www.give2asia.org)
GiveIndia (www.giveindia.org)
GoSomething (www.gosomething.org)
HelpArgentina (www.helpargentina.org)
Idealist (www.idealist.org)
Just Give (www.justgive.org)
MissionFish (an eBay site) (www.missionfish.org)
Modest Needs (www.modestneeds.org)
MyC4 (www.myc4.org)
Nabuur (www.nabuur.org)
OneWorld.net (www.onehttp://us.oneworld.net/campaignworld.net)
uPlej (www.uplej.com)
WiserEarth (www.wiserearth.org)
http://www.SocialActions.com Christine Egger

Hi Tom,

We’re continuing to build out the list of platforms over at Social Actions. Here’s a subset of the ones that are (or soon will be) profiled in the Meet the Platforms section of our site, for which we’ve drafted up one-liner descriptions to help give people a quick idea of how each platform differs from another.

We’d love feedback from you and your readers on how well we’re doing in that regard. I’ll check here for comments, and all are welcome to join the discussion on our blog or contact me at christine@socialactions.com.

At the bottom, I’ve added an alphabetical list of all of the platforms we’re now aware of — well over 100 and counting!

Thanks,
Christine

Christine Egger
http://www.SocialActions.com
Join the conversation http://blog.socialactions.com

Amazee: Combines fundraising, project management, and networking resources, with no fee other than what PayPal assesses

Bring Light: Fundraising pages for individuals and groups to collect donations for U.S. registered nonprofits

CanadaHelps: Fundraising pages for, and direct donations to, Canadian registered nonprofits

Care2 Petition Site: One of the largest online petition communities, 9.8 million and counting

Cause Caller: Unique free service for creating or connecting to a cause, and contacting politicians with your message

Change.org: Fundraising and petition pages, within a community of bloggers and others committed to your cause

ChangingthePresent: Fundraising pages, gift registries, and other tools for giving charitable donations in place of other gifts.

CharityFocus: Inspiration and services for individuals and nonprofits, from fundraising and volunteering, to news-sharing and web development

ChipIn: Create a widget, to post anywhere on the internet, to collect money for any purpose

ChristmasFuture: Promoting donations to select grassroots international projects as an alternative to traditional gift-giving

DemocracyInAction: Provides a suite of online organizing tools for nonprofits, to build awareness and mobilize members and supporters and keep them engaged

DonorsChoose.org: Fundraising pages for classroom projects proposed by public school teachers

DreamBank: Fundraising pages to fund someone’s dream, whatever that might be

DropCash: Create a page or widget, to post anywhere on the internet, to collect money for any purpose

Firstgiving: Fundraising pages for individuals and groups to collect donations for U.S. registered nonprofits

Five Minute Action Network: Action-commitment pages for individuals, prompting an action that only takes 5 minutes to complete, and sharing photos and stories about that action

Fundable: Fundraising pages for individuals and groups to pool funds for any purpose. The pledged funds are only collected when a pre-set minimum number of funds has been committed.

GiveForward: Fundraising pages for individuals and groups to collect as little as $1 for any project, any purpose

GiveMeaning: Fundraising pages for US and Canadian registered nonprofits. Votes of support for your project must be collected before fundraising begins, and fundraising must be completed within 90 days. No fees are taken — 100% of the donations are passed through to your project.

GlobalGiving: Fundraising pages posted by vetted registered nonprofits for grassroots-level projects in developing countries

GlobalGiving UK: Fundraising pages posted by vetted registered nonprofits for grassroots-level projects in developing countries

Helpalot: Fundraising pages for individuals to collect donations, votes, and news on projects sponsored by registered nonprofits

Idealist: Post and find nonprofit-related volunteer opportunitites, consultants, jobs, materials, events, and information

JustGive: Donations, gift certificates, wedding registry, and wish list giving for Guidestart-listed US nonprofits.

Justgiving: Fundraising pages for select U.K. registered nonprofits

Justmeans: Jobs, news, and networks for people who create change.

Kiva: Interest-free micro-loan pages for select entrepreneurs in developing countries

Microgiving: Fundraising pages for vetted individuals and registered nonprofits

MicroPlace: Interest-earning micro-loan pages for select entrepreneurs in developing countries

Modest Needs: Fundraising pages for individuals requesting support for a one-time expense, so they can continue to make ends meet

MyCause: Fundraising pages for Australian registered nonprofits

NABUUR: Online volunteer opportunities to support grassroots projects in developing countries

OneWorld.net: Take-action and news pages for 100 U.S. registered nonprofits and 2500 organizations worldwide

PincGiving: Fundraising pages, and direct donations to, North American, Australian, and U.K. registered nonprofits in any one of 14 currencies

PledgeBank: Pledge pages for individuals to encourage others to make the same pledge

Prax: Action pages Canadian individuals, groups, and registered nonprofits

Razoo: Action-taking and goal-setting pages for individuals to create and join around any cause/topic of interest

SixDegrees: Fundraising badges for individuals to collect donations for U.S. registered nonprofits

Spot.Us: Fundraising pages for individuals and groups to collect donations to commission freelance journalists

TakingITGlobal: The world’s most popular online community for young people interested in making a difference, with hundreds of thousands of unique visitors each month.

The Point: Fundraising and petition pages with “tipping points” embedded. The pledged action is only taken when the tipping point is reached.

uPlej: Fundraising pages for select U.S. registered nonprofits, where donations of $4.79 per month are distributed to nonprofits selected by your uPlej social network.

VolunteerMatch: A leader in volunteer matchmaking: 3 million referrals; 55,000 current opportunities; 60,000 member organizations

Zazengo: Tools to track your impact, organize activities, and match your skills and interests to people, projects, and organizations.

_______________________________________________

Alphabetical list of all platforms we’re aware of:

350.org
43things.cm
ActsofKindness.org
AllVoices
Alonovo
Amazee
Ammado (GivingCircle)
ArtHead
ArtTribesNetwork
Ask4
Avaaz
Beautiful Foundation
BetterPlace
BigWhiteWall.cm
Bring Light
Cagora
CanadaHelps
Care2
Care2 Petition Site
Cause Caller
Causes on Facebook
Celsias
Change.org
ChangingthePresent
Charity Aid Foundation
Charity: Water
CharityFocus
ChipIn
ChristmasFuture
CivSpark
Community Goals (Collective Insight)
Conexion Columbia
Convio
Delicious
DemocracyInAction
Diabetes Hands Foundation
DoGooderTV
DonorEdge
DonorsChoose.org
DreamBank
DreamFish
DropCash
Epic Change
Firstgiving
Five Minute Action Network
Flashmob.co.uk
Freecycle
Fundable
Get up
Give2Asia
GiveForward
GiveIndia
GiveMeaning
Global Mindshift
Global Voices Online
GlobalGiving
GlobalGiving UK
GoSomething
Greater Good South Africa
Helpalot
HelpArgentina
Idealist
Join-Me.co.uk
JustGive
Justgiving
Justmeans
Karmadu
Kiva
Lend4Health
LibriVox
LinkedIn
Make the Difference Network
Meetup
Microgiving
MicroPlace
MissionFish (eBay)
MobileMatters
Modest Needs
Moveon
MyC4
MyCause
NABUUR
Ned
NetworkforGood
OneWorld.net
OurMedia
PincGiving
PledgeBank
Prax
Project/Agape
Razoo
Realisr
ReelChanges.org
Remarkd.com
SixDegrees
Small Change Fund
Social Markets
Social Stock Exchange
SocialVibe
South African Social Investment Exchange
Spark
Spot.Us
Squarepeg
Stickk
TakingITGlobal
The Point
UnLtdWorld
uPlej
Virgance
VolunteerMatch
Wahblo
We the Citizens
WeCanSolveIt
Wildlife Direct
WiserEarth
Wokia
World Development Movement
World Peace Emerging
Youchoose.net
Zazengo

Client Spotlight

CauseWired is honored to work with some truly remarkable clients – organizations who are changing our landscape on a daily basis, including the Sidney Hillman Foundation. CauseWired works on development strategy, prospect research, case development, advises on social media, and serves as fundraising counsel to this historic Foundation whose mission is to support and honor journalism that illuminates the great issues of the day. Learn more.

Latest Posts

Teaching New NYU Social Media Course #wnpNYU

This year, I'm honored to be team-teaching a new course at New York University with my friends Marcia Stepanek and Howard [...]

Jan 23, 07 pm
Mario Morino’s Leap of Reason – Challenge and Reward

I'm a story teller by nature and by vocation, so I shivered a little bit when I read this sentence in Mario Morino's excellent [...]

Nov 15, 01 am