Donor2Deed to use Google Earth and Maps to connect donors with projects
Howard Lake | 9 August 2010 | News
Donor2Deed is a new digital service that uses Google Earth and Maps technology to help charities connect even more effectively with their supporters by giving donors a better sense of the impact of their donation on projects.
Donors can explore projects around the world, view the latest field updates, images, text and video content, and then make an online donation, even choosing which budget line to donate to. They stay connected to projects via email, social networks and mobile, receiving project updates direct from the field.
Founder and CEO of Donor2Deed, Olivia Cosgrove, has spent 10 years working in the international voluntary sector for organisations working in Rwanda, Southern Africa, Haiti and south Asia.
“Developing the Donor2Deed platform has given me a unique perspective from both ‘sides of the fence’”, she said, “as a donor wanting to see the impact that I am making; and on the ground – maximising the use of funds in an emergency, making a difference to people’s lives.
“For example, in Kosovo I led a shelter team that became the number one shelter team to respond to the emergency in 1999 after the war. We were the only team to complete its target of 700 homes prior to the Balkan winter setting in. One of the reasons we achieved this was because the public gave generously . This allowed us to get out and buy wood ahead of other agencies: we could respond quicker as we did not have to wait for large international donors to sign contracts that covered the cost of wood.
“The impact of their donations was immense and I had no way to communicate that to them. Imagine how they would have felt if I could have told them the real difference that they made”.
Cosgrove says that Donor2Deed “integrates with charity donor content management systems allowing them to gather donor details and connect with them further”.
The Dublin Simon Community was one of the first to use Donor2Deed and recovered 75% of its investment in three weeks, raising over €2,750 in their first week (December 2009). The most popular donation over six months was €250 for a mattress, and they secured two donations over €1,000 .They told Donor2Deed:
Donor2Deed is also in use by The Salvation Army International Emergency Services Department, and has been purchased by some US nonprofits.
Donor2Deed includes a suite of supporting tools including Report2Donor™ and CashTrail®, financial tools that help charities report their projects’ progress to institutional and individual donors and manage their budgets and expenditure.
www.donor2deed.com
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.