There are a lot of great ways to sponsor wishes at Gifter and many worthwhile charities online. One of the ways to give to individual causes is through GiveMeaning.I recently asked Tom Williams, the organization’s founder to participate in an interview. Please check out GiveMeaning and if you donate to one of the many worthwhile projects, consider sponsoring some wishes with your donation receipt at Gifter.org.

What can you tell us about GiveMeaning?

GiveMeaning is the place where people come to make wishes come true. People use GiveMeaning to fundraise and donate to specific charitable projects (i.e. a tangible, specific objective.) Anyone can start their own project or they can donate to any of the hundreds that other people have started. So anyone with a desire to see their world changed (whether in their backyard or half-way around the world) can use our site to make it happen.

There are a lot of ways to donate to causes and charities online, how is GiveMeaning different?

First, we charge absolutely nothing for our service. 100% of every donation (even the credit card costs) are remitted to charity (socially responsible companies pay to sponsor the projects on our site).

Second, our privacy policy is as simple as we don’t and we won’t. Too often, people experience the frustration of being bombarded with more solicitations soon after making a donation online or offline to charity. No where else can you donate with total confidence that your information won’t be shared and you won’t be solicited.

Third, you can actually see where and how your money is making a difference. The only requirement we have of the charities that receive money to work on the projects on our site is that they post blog updates, photos, video and so forth. A good example of this is http://ugandayouth.givemeaning.com.

How is GiveMeaning doing so far?

Wonderfully! We have spent next to nothing in marketing, growing totally by word of mouth. I think unfortunately, donating to charity has become such a hassle that when people come across a customer experience like ours, they want to rave about it.

Can you give some examples of the types of projects that have been supported through GiveMeaning?

They really run the gamut from development projects in Africa to animal shelters in Saskatchewan to a woman’s breast cancer treatment in Seattle. Take a look at http://babz.givemeaning.com Our community raised $60,000 for this woman’s medical treatment in 2 weeks!!!

What are some of the opportunities that potential sponsors of Gifter.org wishes can donate towards through GiveMeaning?

It’s only limited to the sponsor’s imagination.

Any thoughts on the role of small individual donors in the world of philanthropy and charity? Where can they get involved in the best ways?

Yes, harness the “power of plenty” by pooling your individual donation with 100 other people’s small donations. That’s what GiveMeaning is all about. If for some reason, you don’t want to donate through a service like GiveMeaning, then my advice would be find an organization that you haven’t ever heard of that’s supporting the cause most important to you. There are 80,000 charities in this country and most of them are operating with very little resources. Don’t do the easy thing and give to the big, national branded charities that spend millions of dollars on marketing. Do your research, and connect with one of the thousands of “little guys.”

On a personal note, how has your experience in the non-profit world been treating you? How does it compare with your background as a technology entrepreneur?

It’s very humbling to make the switch into the non-profit sector because it requires a wholly different attitude and approach to basically every aspect of running an organization. There is a LOT of skepticism about any new charitable organization and it takes a lot more to build trust, credibility and loyalty than in any other sector I have ever worked in.

At the same time, the rewards are beyond anything I had ever previously experienced.. Despite years of building, investing and advising tech companies from start-up to Fortune 500, nothing was more satisfying than the first $50 donation that came through the site.

I also think that there is much greater value in bootstrapping a charitable “venture” than in raising a ton of $$ early on. This isn’t a market that can be “bought” only earned and with a war-chest, I think I would have fallen to the belief that I could buy my progress.

We are now accepting video wishes for the Million Dollar Blog Post. If you find a video that makes you laugh or relates to your wish then just post the link to the video with your wish and we’ll put it in the comments. It doesn’t have to be a video you recorded (although it can be!)

You can see the first sample along with a wish here.

If you’ve already made a wish, and would like to make another with a video - please go ahead.

If you find a fun video that you’d like to share as part of your wish, please do, and let your friends know about your video wish by blogging about it, and sending them the link.

We have lots of wishes available.

To post a video wish simply make your wish along with a link to the video such as:

I wish we would invest in music education so everyone can appreciate just how funny this is and learn to create new music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

As long as the video is appropriate to the spirit of the project and relates to your wish, it should show up and look like this:

I wish we would invest in music education so everyone can appreciate just how funny this is and learn to create new music.

Tags: youtube, wishes, gifter, million dollar blog post, austin hill, video wishes, weblogs

We’re extremely happy to see more and more people promoting Gifter.org and The Million Dollar Blog Post by writing about the project.

Here’s the latest batch of people who have written about it. We want to thank each and every one of you, and encourage others to do the same…

• Neil Gorman
• Jimmy Moore
• Elle
• Christine
• Becky McCray
• Entrepreneur Today
• Mike McDerment
• Chris Cree
• Ray Edwards
• Kelowna Daily Courier
• Steve Mansour
• Sista
• Lumonics Light Museum
• Lucy
• Quick Online Tips
• Easton Ellsworth

Each one of these people took the time to post about Gifter.org and The Million Dollar Blog Post. For that, we’re extremely appreciative. It’s nice to see others take up the cause and give the project a bit of a boost.

Happy New Year!

Tags: gifter, donations, charity, million dollar blog post, weblogs, blogging, online community

So far we’ve got 6,127 wishes sponsored thanks to the donations from some wonderful people and organizations. They’ve all donated money to their charities of choice; remember, Gifter.org doesn’t collect money. All we ask is that you write Gifter.org on the payment or receipt (not so we gain a tax benefit) as proof that you’re participating in this project. Every dollar that goes to charity sponsors 1 wish.

Please read more on our Sponsor a Wish page.

Note: You might have already donated money to charity. That’s fine! Take the receipt, write Gifter.org on it and send us a copy or post it online for us to look at. That will help sponsor wishes.

To thank our sponsors we’ve added them to the sponsorship roll on the side of this website. As well I’d like to take the time to list them here as well:

• The Blog Herald - 200 wishes
• TheGoodBlogs - 75 wishes
• Carol Kirshner - 45 wishes
• Fred Ngo - 35 wishes
• Christine at Very Random - 28 wishes
• Chris Cree - 1039 wishes
• George Favvas - 500 wishes
• David Crow - 100 wishes
• Craig Silverman - 28 wishes
• Patrick Dinnen - 100 wishes
• Dennis Eusebio - 10 wishes
• Jacob Jay at Holocore Blog - 157 wishes
• Rohan Jayasekera - 100 wishes
• Freakitude - 10 wishes
• Martin Dufort at Kakiloc - 100 wishes
• Andy Nulman - 1100 wishes
• Project Ojibwe - 2500 wishes

Please visit their websites and blogs. You’ll see proof of their charitable donations and participation in the Million Dollar Blog Post project. Plus, you’ll find a variety of interesting content on technology, blogging, surprise, business, entrepreneurship and more.

Tags: wishes, the million dollar blog post, gifter, charities, donations, weblogs, blogging

TheGoodBlogs recently pledged $1 to charity for every new subscriber to their service until January 31, 2007.

A couple of days ago, they came through with a $75 donation to the Canadian Cancer Society.

You can read more about TheGoodBlogs first donation to charity. We can expect more, of course, which means more money for great causes and more sponsored wishes!

This is a great way to have a company sponsor wishes and donate to charity - by encouraging and involving their own community. All you need to do is sign-up at TheGoodBlogs and that will mean $1 goes to charity. This is a community project, and they’re taking that to heart, and helping out.

Tags: thegoodblogs, the good blogs, canadian cancer society, vernon lun, gifter, million dollar blog post, weblogs, blogging

The Blog Herald recently ran a contest to find a promising blog that’s working to make the world a better place.

And Gifter.org won!

First, a thank you to Chris Cree for nominating Gifter.org.

And of course, a huge thank you to The Blog Herald for picking Gifter.org.

The prize was $200, which we asked The Blog Herald to donate to charity instead of give to us.

They donated the money to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is a great cause that supports bloggers. So here we go full circle - The Million Dollar Blog Post collects wishes from you through a blog, we win an award from a great blog (often about information on blogging), and $200 is donated to a charity that protects bloggers’ rights.

And by donating the money and putting Gifter.org on the receipt, The Blog Herald has sponsored 200 more wishes! So please make a wish today. If you’ve already done so, get someone else to. Tell your friends, family, neighbors and contacts. The more people that know the more wishes we’ll collect for the world and the more money that’ll go to worthwhile charities around the world.

Happy New Year!

Tags: the blog herald, theblogherald, weblogs, blogging, online community, gifter, charities, donation, electronic frontier foundation