Causes is an application on Facebook that is linked to non-profit organizations. This is done to “empower” people to have a positive impact on the world. The organizations are Canadian or American which receive donations, which is the reason for the application. The donations are accepted through credit cards.
The idea of Causes is for a Facebook user to raise money for an organization of their choice. This is done by sending invitations to the user’s friend and asking for donations. An example is Mr. Sugars, whom at his 38th birthday decided to help the Cancer Schmancer Movement, which tries to detect and treat cancer at an early stage. He was passionate about this organization because he was a cancer survivor. So he made the event on Facebook and asked his 3,000 friends to help by donating $38 each. Within a few weeks, he was able to raise $8,000 for the organization.
According to the the monthly active users (MAU), there are more than 35 million people using the Causes application.
The educational value of Causes is for that of social change. There is always something that needs to be done and most of the time it can be done by anyone. With Causes, individuals have the power to advocate for social issues that they feel passionate about. It could also help students build bridges to the community.
Controversies facing Causes is that it is not truly a “Green” way to seek donations. Only 1% of the users of Causes have actually been able to raise money for the non-profit organizations. And the amount of money they have received is about $1000.
Causes is free for nonprofits but it costs them staff time to develop and maintain. It is also free for Facebook users to become a part of, but the outcomes do not seem to be very effective.
Sources
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/about
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/giving/12FACE.html?_r=2
http://www.appdata.com/facebook/apps/index/id/2318966938
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/21/AR2009042103786.html
