April 10, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
Jeff Brooks, author of Donor Power Blog, says he usually thinks it’s best to give donors plenty of ways to be involved in the causes they support. But he says he has finally found a case of too much donor power—RealityCharity, which bills itself as the first “person-to-person giving platform.”
The group allows donors to make gifts directly to people who describe their needs and make a pitch for money—an approach it says is more efficient than traditional charitable giving.
“We should cut out the middlemen and let the people decide,” Alexander Blass, the site’s founder, told the Associated Press.
But Mr. Brooks, creative director at Merkle/Domain, a fund-raising consulting firm, says the group does not deliver “the structure and vision we normally expect from a nonprofit.” Nor are the gifts tax deductible.
“RealityCharity creates an atomized, market-driven approach, not community. A great nonprofit creates a community around the cause,” he writes.
What do you think about such “person-to-person giving”? Share your thoughts by clicking on the comments link below this posting.
