Overview
Around the world, organizations and individuals are working on great projects to combat global poverty. To make their efforts effective and sustainable, they must connect with three groups: donors whose funding is tied to greater transparency and oversight, similar organizations to share best practices, and local stakeholders to leverage resources and insight. Engaging with each of these groups separately can be challenging, but improved web technology and increased Internet penetration in developing countries offers a solution.


Sustainability (triple bottom line/for profit) Model
Our social enterprise uses a hybrid for-profit and non-profit business model to offer value to organizations. Our for-profit approach focuses on the organization/donor relationship. Right now donors feel out of touch with the projects (and organization) they are supporting. This lack of engagement is usually due to shortage of reporting resources. Our goal is to create a long lasting emotional connection between the organization and the donor. We will do this by improving the way organizations report progress and by empowering donors to take action themselves. People want to feel moved -- and when they are -- there are unlimited benefits for the person, the organization and the people and project in focus.


Open by Nature
The platform is open by nature and allows organizations to create that emotional connection that their donors have been waiting for. Through progress updates, photos and video organizations can engage with their current and potential donors in more meaningful ways. People will feel empowered by this transparency and direct contact, and will therefore want to self-organize in their community around the issues that resonate with themselves.

Much like open source software (and architecture) we are early adopters of open philanthropy. By using standards in the social sector we can have an effect similar to Apple's AppStore. This ensures that the community is founded on collaboration and information sharing. But unlike the AppStore, our project doesn't own this data. It is decentralized in nature (like blogs) making it a purely open platform.


Non-profit Model (sustainable through our for-profit and through other funding sources)
The non-profit model focuses on incorporating local stakeholders into the community. Their local insight will make projects more effective, and their involvement will lead to capacity building and greater sustainability of projects. We will actively populate the website with local stakeholders through partnerships with organizations spreading the Internet to the bottom of the pyramid. Our partners will be in a position to promote our platform and offer instruction in its use. Additionally, we will remove barriers to entry by offering the website in a low bandwidth setting and in multiple languages.

By promoting greater connectivity, our platform will enhance the impact of aid providers so that a greater number of people are lifted out of poverty.



Our Platform in Action
We've already begun to build the platform we've discussed. We started development of the platform to improve the connection between organizations and their donors this summer.

This is a screenshot of an organization, Acumen Fund, and all the projects they are working on the field. But the real power lies in the tools to visualize (and discover) projects by region and issue.




Once you find a project in a region/issue you desire you can drill into the project. Engage and really get into the project as though you were on the ground the whole time. Through a progress timeline you can watch as the project comes together. And photos/video help tell the story.





More Information
Live Demo:
http://myactionmap.org/map?code=socialgood

More Info:
http://myactionmap.org

About the creators:
http://janisb.com/john-brennan-bio/