December 12, 2002 | Read Time: 2 minutes
A coalition of nonprofit, foundation, and business leaders in metropolitan Washington hopes that a new Web site will increase charitable giving in the region.
TouchDC.org helps donors learn about the work of local charities, make online gifts, and find volunteer opportunities in the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, and suburban Maryland. The new site grew out of community leaders’ efforts last year to encourage giving to local groups in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
By and large, Washington-area charities ended 2001 on solid financial footing, but they now face significant challenges in the form of government budget cuts and decreased or stagnant giving by individuals, foundations, and corporations, says Elizabeth T. Miller, director of Washington Grantmakers’ New Ventures in Philanthropy Initiative. Washington Grantmakers, an association of 142 foundations and corporate-giving programs, heads up the coalition of organizations behind TouchDC.org.
In addition, Ms. Miller says, some local donors and companies have chosen not to participate in the annual United Way campaign because of allegations of financial misconduct and inflated fund-raising totals at the United Way of the National Capital Area, a member of the Touch DC Coalition.
“We don’t want those donors to go by the wayside,” says Ms. Miller. “If they’ve chosen not to give through payroll giving, we hope that they’ll use TouchDC.org as a vehicle to continue to give.”
TouchDC.org was built with financial support from the AOL Time Warner Foundation, and is the first local version of Network for Good, the online-giving site run by AOL Time Warner, Cisco Systems, and Yahoo. Because the companies cover all transaction and credit-card fees associated with processing the donations, 100 percent of all gifts made through TouchDC.org goes to recipient charities. Ms. Miller says that if the site is successful, the AOL Time Warner Foundation plans to develop local versions of Network for Good in other regions.
To get there: Go to http://www.touchdc.org.
