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: When accessing forums ranging from huffingtonpost.com to linkedin.com these days, there is good chance that you will run into a blogger called Parker plugging a “talkathon.” Apparently this 20-something with good intentions has just discovered the i’m Initiative, whereby Microsoft makes a charitable donation everytime one uses it to send an IM or e-mail. The idea being, “the more you talk, the more we give.” So Parker thought, if he got a bunch of people talking for 30 days, he would get Microsoft to give out a giant sum.

Turns out that Parker is a completely fictional character. That he was created just to popularise the i’m Initiative signals how charitable drives are frenetically innovating in the web 2.0 universe.

Cheaper, faster, friendlier

Matthew Cherian, India CEO of HelpAge, says “conventional fundraising, like direct mailing or organising a Lata Mangeshkar concert, comes at a certain cost.” Click-to-donate buttons hosted on non-profit websites not only cut down these costs, but also bypass the paperwork and time lag involved in processing paper cheques. Such buttons also help the donors save on time and get an immediate connect anywhere, anytime.

Oxfam India’s advocacy and media manager Aditi Kapoor finds the Internet a useful tool for her organisation as well. She says: “We will be using this tool much more in India now because the Internet has become so popular here and people often want to contribute to charities but do not know who to contact.” Besides, all the people a non-profit reaches through its website can be tapped for future fundraising via their e-mail addresses.

On the demographic front, given younger folks’ penchant for living life the web way, charities wanting to tap them have every incentive to get busy online. And as Cherian found to be the case in his investigations, young people are not just sensitive to social causes, they are quite giving when suitably inspired. In fact even small online donations can add up to a success story. Hence Obama’s triumphant fundraising, whereby web donations worth just $25 grew into a financial roar. Hail the power of microgiving!