Global Giving

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet aside, we Americans tend to be a rather stringy bunch. Hey, I’m right there with you. I don’t think I’ve ever given more than a few hundred dollars to a cause, be it saving Spotted Owls, feeding the poor in Africa or shrinking the ozone hole. I’m sure some of you out there want to scream from the mountaintops, “Hey! I give a lot.” Well, thank you. I’m not talking about you here. I’m talking about the average American who, it turns out, gives about 2 percent to charitable causes. It’s something we all might think about a little more. And since this is a travel site, what about giving overseas?

Well, take a look at the site GlobalGiving.com which shows how the Internet can transform how you support causes you believe in. They have created an Ebay-like marketplace where the “sellers” are groups in poor countries who run environmental, public-health, educational, or human-rights projects. You can go on and contribute amounts ranging from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars…depending, I suppose, on the size of that Christmas bonus you got. It’s Ebay similarity is actual quite intriguing, such that you can easily compare offerings, find possibilities you hadn’t been aware of, etc.

If you want to learn more, check out this story over at NPR about the group.