Seth Godin points me to The 59 Smartest Orgs Online, a clever little PR site for Squidoo, NetSquared and GetActive.
These charities were chosen for their excellence in online storytelling and collaboration with their donors. We didn’t play favorites to one cause over another, nor did we look at their fundraising goals or number of members. Instead, these organizations are winners because of their web 2.0 smarts and a willingness to engage their constituents far beyond asking them to dig into their pockets.
Sure, there’s nothing wrong with profiling non-profit organizations online, or letting visitors rate them Digg style. However, to me this is just a publicity stunt with the hopes of some viral spin by other websites blogging about it, and even putting the list in their sidebars widget-style.
I’m sorry, but to me this is cheap and cheesy. I sincerely there’s something positive coming out of this for the non-profit organizations listed.
Originally posted on January 17, 2007 @ 5:21 am
seth godin says
Sorry if you think it’s cheesy. Our goal is to help non-profits succeed. If highlighting successful online promotions and approaches makes it easier for others to follow in their footsteps, what’s the problem?
In my experience, low-cost, high-effectiveness outreach programs meet resistance at some non-profits for just one reason: they feel risky. Surfacing what is working decreases that risk.
Thord Daniel Hedengren says
As I said, I hope the non-profits benefit from this. To me it just looks like Squidoo PR.
Can you tell me how these 59 non-profits will benefit from being on this list? Other than that people landing on the page in question through reports like this will get to know that they exist, that is.
silvia gonzalez says
como puedo hacer para solicitar donaciones para una asociacion no lucrativa de GUATEMALA.