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What can anthropologists do on betterplace.org?

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

SocialEntrepreneurship-HOT1

As part of my guestblogging on Savage Minds I have written up (a few parts of) the story behind betterplace.org, also reflecting on how an anthropological perspective informs what we do. I’d be very excited to get more anthropologists on the platform. Here is my call to action for them:

Although betterplace.org mainly targets the German donation market, we have projects and visitors from all over the world . Among the ways we’d love to get anthropologists envolved, let me name just 3:

  1. Tell us about organisations and projects you are excited about. We’ll contact them and invite them onto betterplace.
  2. Visit projects already on the plattform while travelling and write down your impressions on the projects betterplace-page. This helps grow the Web of Trust.
  3. Check out projects in categories you have some expertise in (health, education, good governance) and critically interrogate project managers on their theory of change etc.

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Posted in betterplace.org, joana breidenbach | No Comments »

Are Haiti-donations hurting fundraising for other project?

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

In his article about aid to Haiti, Alexander Glück predicted that “Initiatives that aren’t engaged in Haiti will see a slump.” We have been discussing this question as well on our team, and analysing the impact at betterplace.org.

More donations for Haiti means more donations for other projects
What we’ve seen is actually that the opposite prognosis is the case! Compared to previous months, the numbers between the 15th and 26th of January 2010 show very clearly that many people who have donated to aid in Haiti have at the same time decided to donate to other projects at betterplace.org. Once they’re on our platform in the mood to help, they browse through other projects that may not have anything to do with emergency aid and click on the Donate button!

Apparently, engagement is not just a zero-sum-game. And that makes us happy!

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Posted in aid industry, betterplace.org, donation market, joana breidenbach | No Comments »

2009 is dead, long live 2009!

Monday, February 1st, 2010

If you happened to watch television in the evenings during December, in order to relax after a long work day, you may have noticed more than one “Year in Review” program. Well, we’re also taking the time to recap everything that happened in the turbulent year of 2009. As Joana Breidenbach already reviewed the social sector in her four part blog posts, I will dedicate this year in review more toward what has happened specifically at betterplace.org (and sorry, some links are in German!).

1st Quarter

The year began just the same as it ended in 2008: eventfully. Many exciting projects found support on betterplace.org. One such project, that we found particularly interesting, was Cinema Jenin. The goal of the project was to build a cinema in the Palestinian town of Jenin to revive the film culture within the city and refugee camp. The construction of the cinema building is now nearly finished.

Two other cool projects that we’ve promoted since the first quarter of the year, are Skateistan and Boxgirls International. Skateistan is an educational project founded as a skate school in Afghanistan. This approach had us thoroughly fascinated. The same goes for Boxgirls International, which provides women and girls the opportunity to develop abilities in the ring and further apply those strengths to their own personal and professional lives. This project is just bursting with energy.

But everyone also sometimes needs a time-out. And that applies to servers as well. It was this fact that spurred our campaign „Server down – Engagement hoch“ which we brought to life on the International Day of System Administrators. Instead of a boring “The server is temporarily unavailable” message, our banner allows webpage operators to now offer their visitors the opportunity to shorten their waiting time while simultaneously making the world a little bit better.

2nd Quarter

We received a lot of visits in April. During our Open House day, Prof. Dr. Peter Eigen, the founder of Transparency International, gave us the honour of holding an impressive speech. He elaborated on the idea of an Open House and awarded betterplace.org as a “Chosen Place in the Land of Ideas”, an initiative under the patronage of Germany’s Federal President, Horst Köhler.

That the activation of one’s own community can work like a charm if the context is right was shown this year by Pennergame. Throughout 2009, the animators for online games encouraged their members to support homeless people over betterplace.org. Even now, they are the largest Team on our platform. Keep it up!

Around the same time, we were able to announce an important next step for ourselves: the betterplace.org nonprofit will become a nonprofit corporation in the near future. This step should help us to be stronger without inflating our organisational structure.

3rd Quarter

We were of course also very happy about the engagement of actress Anna Maria Mühe with betterplace.org. In July, Ms. Mühe visited the Children’s Hospital Bärenherz in Leipzig and has been supporting it ever since. You can read about her visit on the Bärenherz project site on betterplace.org. In addition, she agreed to grace our homepage with her photo during the second half of 2009.

In the fall, the Mozilla Contribute Week took place. All those Internet-savvy people out there were challenged to make accessible their knowledge of the Internet and its possible adaptation for social projects. betterplace.org supported the Mozilla Contribute Week in Germany as the mediator between volunteers and suitable projects.

During the fashionable autumn season, we decided to try out our trend-setting capabilities. Together with the creative portal 12designer, we launched a t-shirt contest. The resulting contributions were all of very high quality. You can view the winning shirt design at Speradshirt. That’s how sexy changing the world can be.

betterplace.org is there for everyone. That’s why even large organisations use betterplace.org to collect donations. A good example of this is action medeor, Germany’s largest medical aid organisation. In just one year, they managed to collect 12,250 Euros for their work. The organisation was especially convinced to use betterplace.org because of the ability to stay very current as well as the inexpensive cost of new donor acquisition.

In the 3rd quarter of 2009, we were also able to prove that television viewing doesn’t inevitably make one overweight, ignorant and depressed. The agency “Heck-Antrieb” (“Rear-Wheel-Drive”), together with “Kropp & Ritzert Create GmbH” produced a pro-bono spot that was broadcasted nationwide. You can see the program online here, on our Facebook page, or on our profile on meinVZ.

4th Quarter

Another wonderful campaign took place in the 4th quarter of 2009. Together with eBay and the sale service providers LIMAL and DHL, we were able to setup an infrastructure allowing brand manufacturers to donate goods auctioned at retail price on eBay to projects on betterplace.org. And the nice thing is: the manufacturers and other parties agreed to forego service costs and donate 100% to designated projects over betterplace.org.

That’s how far we’d come by October 2009. Just two years since the founding of betterplace.org, we’d almost broken the 1 Million Euro record of generated donations. We’re naturally very happy about this and thank you for your excellent involvement!

Jumping the hurdle of 1 Million Euros in donations was also a timely concept for us, since we arranged the annual “Global Online Giving Marketplaces Conference” in November. Attending this conference in Berlin were 13 international online giving platforms. Together, the organisations agreed to work deeply together, planning a global campaign to move more people toward engaging online.

Just in time for Christmas, we began a whole slew of activities, such as another online Christmas Wish Tree campaign, wherein supporters could fulfill the wishes of young Children’s home residents. We crafted together an online Advent calender featuring 24 “doors” that opened, thereby providing 24 different opportunities to do some seasonal good.

Companies also use Christmas as a time to spread the cheer. Take SoftMaker for example, whose Load and Help 2009 campaign allowed users to download their SoftMaker Office 2008 package free of charge. The company donated 10 cents per download toward projects on betterplace.org, gathering altogether 6,089 Euros!

Just before the end of the year, we were able to launch the Payback Payback Donation World , enabling Payback credit card holders to donate their collected rewards points toward online projects at betterplace. Donors can see exactly what their generosity impacts. Naturally, 100% of the points are passed directly to intended projects.

Last but not least, a super story for the end of the year. A flower shop in danger of closing in Charlottenburg was saved by an initiative over betterplace.org. The initiative caused such a stir that it was even reported on by various offline media. Brilliant campaigning! It’s what we always say: stop crying, get cracking!

As you can see, a lot has happened. But we’re still far from done. Quite the opposite, rather. We are eager for the new year and look forward to more exciting stories, gripping campaigns and interesting experiences. Our transformation into a corporation will take place soon and then it’s full steam ahead! We’re still brimming with ideas…

Posted in betterplace.org | No Comments »

With Payback, you can now support small and large aid projects

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

Payback-Logo

Press Release from December 14. 2009

For the first time in Germany, Payback – together with the donor platform betterplace.org – has made possible a completely new method of online donations.

Sponsorship for a bed in the Children’s hospital Bärenherz in Leipzig; dyslexia educational assistance for the children from socially impoverished families at Lichtblick Hasenbergl in Munich, School books for children living in the largest slum in Kenya – whether it’s an aid project in a local region in Germany, or a far-away foreign hotspot, millions of Payback members are now able to do good with their collected points. In the newly created Payback Donation World, members can choose to allocate their collected Payback Points to go 100% toward concrete aid projects. Members first select a project to support from among the many options and follow the directions online.

The Payback Donation World was designed and implemented with betterplace.org know-how.  “We were won over by the revolutionary donation philosophy of betterplace.org,” said the Payback CEO Burkhard Graßmann. “With this concept, Payback is taking a pioneering role in the donation sector. The platform enables that which donors today wish for: personal, concrete and comprehensive aid,” according to donor expert and betterplace.org CEO Till Behnke.

Donors can see for themselves how their points are directly transformed into good on-site use, without bureaucratic hindrances and red tape. In contrast to anonymous donor accounts, the collected Payback points don’t all go into one big pot. Rather, each Payback member has before them the individual, concrete projects, initiated and implemented by real people who are available as references to the work being done. This is how projects are able to be created. And this is how the interactive Payback Donation World allows its members to take initiative to be a part of this good work themselves. The certification of non-profit status is a prerequisite for starting a project.

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Teeter-totters and swing-sets or, How to activate one’s network over betterplace.org. A prime example

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

This year, the Berlin Football Club (BFC), Dynamo became the first professional football club to have a playground built on their stadium grounds. The club has its diligent fans and supporters to thank, as well as betterplace.org, the transparent marketplace for social engagement. The entire playground project was financed in record time by donations made over betterplace.org. Such a successful campaign is therefore a prime example for effective fundraising among one’s own networks over betterplace.org

Set-Up
Fans of the BFC Dynamo began by posting a profile site on betterplace.org. Potential supporters and helpers could read about chosen tactics: how the project was planned, how much money is needed for which specific purposes, and who was managing those tasks. A teeter-totter was the first in line to be constructed, followed by a swing-set, a bench, a sand box and – last but not least – a slide.

Kick-off
To give the project the initial boost needed for its launch, the project managers next activated their networks: the fans of the BFC. They displayed the playground project prominently on the club’s official homepage along with a link to the project page on betterplace.org. Fans, guests, sponsors and journalists learned first-hand about the planned construction of the new play area. Each contact was thereby a possible networker for further donors.

Gameflow
The project was quickly picked up on and discussed in the club’s forums. One click, one donor – it couldn’t be more simple. Fans were updated about latest developments on the project as well as the donation levels needed for the next step. The project managers posted a Call-to-Action text with a link to the project on their website. The text could be cut and pasted and passed along through emails, messenger, blogs, or online communities. Whoever had their own BFC fan page could use the downloadable project widget to spread the word. As soon as one phase of the project was completed, the project managers documented the accomplishments with photos and blogposts on betterplace.org. This transparency motivated new donors: “There’s something going on, and I want to be a part of it!”

Game analysis
The community of donors on betterplace.org soon outgrew the boundaries of the playground project, reaching out to other supporters and even members of other football clubs – an astonishing effect. In one online community for active football fans, a user remarked on a common solidarity: “Separated by our colors, united by our cause.” The success story of the new BFC playground illustrates more and more the preferred mode of action for social engagement on betterplace.org. Instead of the more-costly and less-efficient conventional fundraising practice to cover all bases in every direction, a project could be specifically targeted, spread and concluded all via betterplace.org. Tailoring messages specifically within one’s own target groups and networks can optimise the donor potential for the organisation.

Plagiarism emphatically recommended!

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Posted in betterplace.org, fundraising, projects | No Comments »

Press release: Making the world better à la Web 2.0 – Why the future of fundraising lies in the Internet

Friday, December 11th, 2009

More than one million videos are viewed daily on the YouTube video platform. The latest printed edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica includes 65,000 articles – the English version of the Internet site Wikipedia with their 3.1 articles, offers 50 times more. And if the social network Facebook, with its over-300 million members, was a nation, it would compete with the USA as the third largest country in the world. It’s undeniable: the Internet is on the rise. It’s no wonder then that more and more donors are turning daily to online giving opportunities, especially during Christmas time.

“The Internet is ideal for connecting people with knowledge worldwide. It offers exactly what donors are looking for today: more transparency of their money’s application and direct contact with those who benefit from their donations,” according to Till Behnke, founder of the non-profit Internet platform betterplace.org. With more than 20,000 members and over one million Euros of generated donations, betterplace.org is Germany’s largest donation-community. Behnke explains that the largest portion of gifts received stem not from the “classic donor aged 60 years and up,” but rather from those under 40, a much younger target group which until now has been inaccessible for the classic aid organisations.

Younger Donors, better project comparisons, quicker feedback
Access to new target groups is not the only appeal for using the Internet in the social sector. The benefits of online-donations are manifold. As with YouTube or eBay, it’s much quicker and easier to find what one is looking for on the Internet. On betterplace.org, for example, one can filter by region or topic to find specific projects. Then the donor can invest money, needed goods, or voluntary work — according to her wishes and personal interests – into helping the particular project of her choice, such as a children’s home in Berlin or a cooperative in Honduras that needs to install solar panels.

Is a donor uncertain about how well the project seems to work? The Internets many avenues of communication allow for project managers to update their supporters regularly on the status of their projects. One can also review the publicly available project evaluations from other community members, many of whom have visited the location of the projects themselves. In finding a project to support, members are themselves supported by a wide array of online multimedia: videos, photo reports and blog posts are frequently sent to inform donors of the recent progress made on “their projects.” The multimedia communication possibilities can then also work to motivate other members to support a project. “Up till now, donating was a one way street. We want to make it into a roundabout,” says Behnke.

Cutting fundraising costs online
At the same time, the Internet cuts fundraising costs, which are often considered to be too high by classical aid organisations. Stephanie Sczuka, a fundraiser for action medeor, one of Germany’s largest medical aid organisations, says: “Conventional expenses for new-donor acquisition costs action medeor between 70 to 90 Euros. Our project on betterplace.org received 15,000 Euros within a short time. The acquisition of these new donors would have cost us around 17,000 Euros by conventional methods.” Of course, how the donor loyalty will continue to develop on the free platform remains to be seen, according to Sczuka.

The Internet is particularly well suited to giving the countless small initiatives a chance to make their work known alongside the large aid organisations. These on-site projects were often previously unknown, now for the first time they have the chance to apply for online support worldwide. Those projects that are seated outside of Germany and therefore not recognized as non-profits by the German tax department or that are too small to qualify, can present their projects on betterplace.org without acquiring a seal of approval, a label which is often too costly for small organisations to obtain. Good intent and purpose: these are the only requirements to posting a project on betterplace.org. According to the 30-year old Behnke, the Berlin start-up doesn’t monitor the presented projects.

This openness naturally raises criticism. Burkhard Wilke, the managing director for the German Central Institute for Social Questions, which issues the non-profit seal of approval in Germany, considers the open access to betterplace.org “risky.” He stated in the Berlin Tagesspiegel that the commentators on the betterplace.org platform could lie, using visually rich language to feign a help project for African children, while actually using the donations received for their own purposes.

To this, Behnke replies: “Of course, we can’t check every project in the world – no one can. Everyone who works in the social sector has to be honest about that. However, alongside the well known and trusted validation-measures – such as the seal of approval or the recognized non-profit status issued by the revenue service – both of which we show on our platform, we are additionally able to highlight a previously overlooked dimension: individuals with their own positive – or also negative – ratings, on-location travel reports and comments.” Behnke sites Wikipedia as a positive example of this, as well as the rating systems for goods and services from other online associations. “This ‘mass intelligence’ is an important supplement to previous trust mechanisms. We believe that individuals and socially engaged associations are competent in finding the information that they deem necessary for their decision to donate.” No one on betterplace.org donates to projects that seem suspicious.

Already convinced: Ashoka and Prof. Eigen, founder of Transparenc International
Behnke and his team are not alone in their opinion. The betterplace.org concept is gaining more and more advocates, some of them prominent. Next to Ashoka, the world’s largest organisation for social entrepreneurs, Prof. Dr. Peter Eigen also supports the two-year-old portal. “The previous form of worldwide aid needs renewal. It must be transparent, participatory and immediate – like betterplace.org,” says the founder of Transparency International, a world renowned  organisation that fights against corruption, which is known to be one of the largest problems for development cooperation. Thereby, Eigen says he has still never read a single Wikipedia article nor signed up for Facebook membership. He’s only ever seen a couple of videos on YouTube. One of those was about a project on betterplace.org.

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Posted in betterplace.org, development 2.0., philanthropy | No Comments »

Twende Pamoja: How one small organisation entrusted its fundraising to betterplace.org

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Big gifts come in little packages -  Twende Pamoja is a prime example of this. Without their own powerful fundraising apparatus, Twende Pamoja has relied almost solely on betterplace.org to reap donations quickly and efficiently. As well as abundantly.

Twende Pamoja is Kiswahili for “Let us walk together.” That’s exactly what a couple of Germans have been doing since the year 2000, together with their friends and partners from the east African country Tansania, on the island Zanzibar. It was here that the aid organisation Twende Pamoja was established.

The project’s fundraising success is due in part to Twende Pamoja’s embrace of the full gamut of online-fundraising opportunities: the internet is fast, current, and aesthetic and a presence on the internet is inexpensive to maintain. And that’s just how Matthias Mnich, Michaela Blaske, and Verena Specht-Ronique, who placed the organisation Twende Pamoja on betterplace, brought it into being. Never before have potential supporters had the opportunity to stay so up to date or to develop with as much transparency such trusting network relationships as they now are able to with betterplace.

Admitting to weakness
Transparency and the development of trust require the strength to openly admit weakness. While Twende Pamoja thanked supporters for donating toward the material needed to produce cloth bags, they also simultaneously admitted that the bags were not competitive in the long run and openly reflected in hindsight that this project wasn’t especially sustainable.

Ongoing Communication with Donors
Up to now, Twende Pamoja workers have written a total of 167 blog posts about their seven projects; that’s almost 24 blog posts per project. News about the life of the projects have been updated continuously through the blogs, fresh information is reported as it happens, and the trusting relationships between the supporters and the project initiators are maintained. Users who are connected to a particular project as an Advocate, Visitor or Supporter, receive a prompt email from the betterplace system each time a blog post or photo is uploaded for the project. “There’s a news update on your project!” it says, and since news always serves to pique interest, a single click on an embedded link takes one directly to the updated information on the project blog.

The blog entries also give the project managers the opportunity to show supporters that they are pouring their hearts into their work. Together with photos that portray the history and evolution of the project, the regular blog updates turn the act of donating into a real experience. One doesn’t only donate money or goods, but rather feels connected in tackling the project alongside the project managers.

Low costs – high rewards
It takes less than 20 minutes to post a project on betterplace.org. But without proper care and attention the project may wither. In order for it to grow and thrive, those responsible for the project have to put their backs into it. Verena Sprecht-Ronique has worked with Twende Pamoja since its founding and has been responsible for two projects on betterplace. She invested several hours each week to update blogs and photos and to develop the project’s network. She describes the response of her labors with one word: “Phenomenal!” Not only has Twende Pamoja won countless new donors, but in comparison to the limited fundraising opportunities of pre-betterplace-days, the organisation has now also risen in international prominence. “Today we even receive support from England–a super publicity effort!” according to Verena. As a small organisation, Twende Pamoja has virtually outsourced their Online-Fundraising and now links their projects directly from their homepage to betterplace, where they are then elaborated and evaluated by the Web of Trust.

Activating networks
One important key to a project’s success is to activate one’s networks. You have to hold matches under several logs simultaneously to really start the fire going. In other words: write loads of emails, exhaust the rolodex, inform colleagues, friends and acquaintances about the project on betterplace, send around the link, post it in your email signature, on

Facebook, on Twitter, in your status update, tell the whole world! And be sure to remind everyone: spread the word!

“But don’t forget that the project rating system is also very important,” says Verena. She remembered to ask friends and acquaintances to rate her projects with several stars, pushing them to the top of the Recommended Projects list on betterplace.

Enabling the beneficiaries to act for themselves
Because betterplace participation is possible wherever internet access is, Twende Pamoja decided to take their results one step further: the organisation trained people from Zanzibar on how to use betterplace.org (using laptops that were acquired from a betterplace.org project). With no more go-betweens, the shortest route between points stands wide open: the Zanzibari are now independently fundraising with betterplace for the construction of a street to a maternity ward and for an important bridge. The crow doesn’t fly any straighter than that.

many thanks to Becky for the translation!

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Posted in Dennis Buchmann, betterplace.org, fundraising | No Comments »

Naked on the Beach or on the Platform?

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

The essence of our platform lies in true stories, stories about people who want to better their lives and make a contribution to their communities.  It also relies on those who want to support projects by giving of their time, money and know-how in order to realize them.  Our platform is a place where they can meet each other and establish contact.  Photos and videos play an important role in bringing the stories and projects to life in a way that words cannot.

This new means of communication provides many opportunities, but it also entails some risks and new responsibilities.  If people want to promote better living conditions for others and publish other people’s personal stories on the internet, it must be ensured that personal rights and privacy are protected.  Even the best-intentioned of us working on behalf of other people must still request our subjects’ permission for their lives to be publicized in words and images on the betterplace.org website.

Betterplace project managers undertake to only publicize information about others once such permission has been granted.  If an organization collects money for African children and writes about their project on betterplace, we will assume that permission has been granted by the children’s parents or guardians, and that it complies with our Terms of Use, which state:

4.2 The user is fully responsible … for all content publicized by him/her.  Before … publicizing any content on the platform the user shall ensure that his/her … content does not violate any legal provisions, moral or ethical standards or the rights of third parties (including but not limited to copyright and trademark laws, rights of name, author’s rights, legal data protection, laws protecting minors, etc.).  In particular, the user undertakes to obtain, before publicizing any texts or images, the required consent by any third party concerned, such as the photographer or the persons shown in images or named in text.

But when I look at the projects on betterplace.org, the world seems to be divided into two factions.  There are many projects in Western industrialized nations canvassing for support on behalf of individuals in need; most of them do so in an anonymous fashion without naming or depicting the people concerned.

By contrast, the projects promoting campaigns in the South will show images of the people concerned and in some cases, provide rather graphic descriptions of their circumstances.  Are those involved aware that their mother is described as a prostitute and their father as a drunkard?

The division of the world into one part where personal rights are adhered to and another where they seem to be less significant has a long tradition.  It reaches back to the very first contact between the New and Old Worlds, later peaking during the eras of imperialism and colonization.

No matter where they live, people have an equal right to privacy.

Today we know better: people around the world have equal human rights and they have the same right to privacy.  There is no clear definition in this regard, however: in some countries (e.g. the USA and Australia) it is common practice to ban photography on public beaches because otherwise scantily clad ladies might find themselves in someone else’s photos – a complete overreaction, in my opinion.  Obviously, perverts should be prevented from taking photos of naked children on the beach, but to put all photographers under a blanket suspicion is absurd.

A platform like betterplace.org intends to enable a dialogue between people from different parts of the world and from different societal strata, allowing them to communicate on a par with each other.  It should be a matter of course that the same rights should be accorded to all people here more than anyplace else.

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Posted in betterplace.org, human rights, joana breidenbach | No Comments »

betterplace.org in UNDP’s South-South Cooperation Newsletter

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

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A few weeks ago, David South, Development consultant and author of UNDPs Development Challenges, South-South Solutions Newsletter, came by the betterplace office to take a look at our work. When I asked him how he had come about betterplace.org, he answered: he found me on twitter! So much for the twitter-scepticts.

Read the article about how we can Make the World a Better Place for Southern Projects. (As the UNDP always publishes the newsletter on its South to South Website only months later, here is the link via David Souths blog)

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North Korea still without betterplace!

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

From Michael, our CFO, I recieved this impressive message:

Out of the 194 countries in the world, internet users from 188 countries have visited www.betterplace.org. Among the still unconnected are Turkmenistan, North Korea, Eritrea, Tschad und die Central African Republic.

Posted in betterplace.org, joana breidenbach | No Comments »

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