Borderless Philanthropy
14 January 2008 at 11:56 am
CAFAmerica (Charities Aid Foundation) has radically updated its website to increase the ability of US donors to connect with charities around the world.
With CAFAmerica’s mission to promote global philanthropy and change the culture of global giving, the new website is designed to make international giving by US donors safer and easier than ever before.
For UK and other non American charities, the enhanced site gives them the opportunity to establish a public profile for their organisation. With this they can share information about their work, giving US donors peace of mind to support them legally and tax-effectively.
Administrative information can be provided and updated; applications can be submitted and tracked; news can be regularly changed and current needs and activities can be highlighted.
In addition, success stories can be submitted which can be considered for the CAFAmerica home page and other publications.
CAFAmerica’s CEO Dr Susan Saxon-Harrold says the site offers a wealth of resources for charities to learn about and develop their US fundraising. In the resources section, for example, there are several presentations, some for specific charity types. There are also links to other resources and information.
One of the new opportunities for charities is the on-line option to create a ‘Friends of’ Charity Fund. This is a cost-effective alternative for foreign NFPs seeking to improve their support from US donors.
CAFAmerica says it was launched in the UK last year and it eliminates the time and trouble of establishing and administering a public charity in the United States at about one-fifth of the cost of going it alone.
Chani Adams, development officer, CAFAmerica Global Corporate Philanthropy has been leading the development of the new site.
She says that in designing the website they thought about the daily interaction with everyone, from individual donors; to multinational corporations; to foreign nonprofits. Being innovative in this industry is a never ending process but it is now equipped to deliver a set of truly unique online tools for overseas giving.
The new website uses ‘open-navigation’ to give visitors one-click access to information and the ability to give on-line directly from the charity’s own profile page.
Founded in 1992, CAFAmerica (www.cafamerica.org) is a public charity dedicated to expanding borderless giving.
CAFAmerica is part of the CAF International Network, which spans five continents and manages more than $4 billion in charitable funds.
Web link: www.cafamerica.org
