Charities see potential in tapping young Web users to promote their causes online Buy vigrx without prescription, By Wailin Wong

Tribune reporter

April 30, 2008

Online social networks used to be just gathering places for friends and long-lost acquaintances. Then the marketers arrived, followed by politicians and job recruiters, cheap vigrx from uk, all looking to tap into a growing mass of young people who are spending much of their time on the Web. Compare vigrx prices, Now, non-profit organizations are testing ways to raise money through these networks, betting that the Internet's viral nature will open fresh avenues for fundraising and marketing, overnight vigrx.

It's a big change for non-profits as they shift from direct-mail campaigns and relying on the checkbooks of older givers to the unpredictable whims of Web popularity. Canada vigrx, Though the transition is nascent, charities see potential in recruiting young activists who already use online networks to broadcast their identities and make connections.

Actress Cynthia Osuji of New York is a case in point, buy vigrx without prescription. She became interested in a women's health non-profit when she received a mass e-mail about auditions for a Circle of Health International-sponsored benefit production of Eve Ensler's "A Memory, cost of vigrx, A Monologue, Find vigrx no prescription required, A Rant and A Prayer." The group also was seeking board members to plan the show.

After Osuji, 26, discount vigrx overnight delivery, won a spot in the cast and joined the board, Vigrx professional, she added a copy of the show poster to her MySpace profile. Out-of-town friends who couldn't attend the show ended up making donations and two "Facebook friends," casual acquaintances who learned of the benefit through the site, online pharmacy vigrx, came to the March performance. Order vigrx cheap online, Osuji said the show brought her back into community service, an activity she hadn't pursued since high school. Buy vigrx without prescription, "Violence against women and women in conflict [areas] is something that's very personal to me," she said.

Circle of Health International has its own Facebook page, cheap vigrx no prescription, and 26-year-old Matt Bieber clicked on an application called Causes that allowed him to invite more than 100 of his 200-plus contacts to publicize the non-profit on their profile pages. Vigrx generic, His recruitment effort was akin to distributing virtual bumper stickers with the option to donate through the site. Eleven of his friends added the non-profit to their profiles.

Sean Parker, purchase vigrx, who helped create Causes, No prescription vigrx, said, "If you can activate a group of people and get some of those people to replicate the process … you've got the basis for a movement."

Outside of general communities like Facebook and MySpace, there are also social networking sites dedicated to philanthropy such as YourCause.com, vigrx prices, HopeEquity .org and actor Kevin Bacon's SixDegrees.org.

Now established institutions like the MacArthur Foundation and the Case Foundation want to know more about the tie between digital life and philanthropy, buy vigrx without prescription. Buy cheap vigrx internet, They are funding studies of online social networks, civic engagement in the Millennial Generation and philanthropy in virtual worlds like Second Life.

"We're not claiming [online networks are] the panacea for philanthropies, vigrx canada," said Ben Binswanger, Vigrx online without prescription, the Case Foundation's chief operating officer. "[But] we think it's way too early to dismiss it as an Internet fad. … We're going to keep pushing down this path because we see enough spark here to make it interesting."

Power to engage

For non-profits, buy vigrx canada, the power of social networks is engagement, Discount vigrx without prescription, not necessarily sheer dollar numbers. Buy vigrx without prescription, "If you send out a direct-mail piece, you never know if people open it up or not, unless they mail a check back to you," said Steve Byers, director of development and communications at Kansas-City based WaterPartners International, which promotes safe drinking water. "With the online community, we know which pages they're clicking on, buy vigrx from us. … They want to provide feedback and interact with the organization in ways that are very exciting and challenging."

WaterPartners created three fictional characters from Ethiopia, Find discount vigrx online, India and Honduras and placed them in a virtual village on Second Life to illustrate the challenges of accessing potable water. The avatars also have profiles on MySpace and Facebook, and shots of their Second Life village are posted on photo-sharing site Flickr, vigrx prescription. While the amount of money raised so far is tiny, Buy vigrx lowest price, Byers said he could see online marketing and fundraising slowly displacing direct mail.

"I've been in fundraising for over 20 years, so this is really kind of a brave new world for me," he said, buy vigrx without prescription. "I've really had to rethink my whole approach to fundraising through the Internet."

Clearly, online fundraising is in its infancy, buying vigrx online. A survey by The Chronicle of Philanthropy showed that online giving for 187 large charities totaled $1.2 billion in 2006, Vigrx cheap, up from $881 million in 2005. But of 147 organizations, 103 said online donations accounted for less than 1 percent of total contributions in 2006, cheap vigrx no prescription.

"There is no really large, Vigrx from india, significant fundraising happening on social networks, but there's a sense in the non-profit community that that's where the prospects come from," said Michael Hoffman, buy vigrx low price, chief executive of Chicago non-profit consulting firm See3 Communications.

Building relationships Buy vigrx without prescription, Some non-profits that have a presence on social networking sites have discovered a new relationship with users. Vigrx approved, Carie Lewis, the Humane Society's Internet marketing manager, said she finds herself responding to lots of mundane questions on pet care as a result of maintaining a presence on Facebook, online pharmacy vigrx, MySpace, Purchase vigrx overnight delivery, YouTube and Flickr. More important, Lewis said she's discovered supporters outside the organization's traditional demographic of women in their 50s, cost vigrx.

"It was a lot of work, Vigrx, but it really paid off for us," Lewis said. The Humane Society has raised more than $33, find cheap vigrx,000 on Facebook from users who have set up pages to protest everything from puppy mills to seal clubbing in Namibia. Cheap vigrx from canada, The amount of money raised is small, but convinced Lewis' bosses that the online efforts have merit.

"Traditionally, discount vigrx, I think non-profits focus on high-value donors, Vigrx in uk, and what MySpace provides is an enormous network of people who are able to get involved through volunteering, offline events and donating in smaller amounts," said Lee Brenner, buy discount vigrx, who oversees activism-related content on MySpace. Vigrx non prescription, Link [Chicago Tribune]

Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune.

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