Members of the largest social network, FriendFinder Inc., are collaborating on how to distribute $200,000 in donations to charities. This is the first time that members of a large social networking community have been empowered to choose where the company's donations are spent.
The FriendFinder Network includes FriendFinder.com, BigChurch.com, and FastCupid.com. While other social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace have groups set up for charities, FriendFinder Network is actually giving its own money.
FriendFinder Network members can suggest the charities they think are most deserving and then discuss the benefits with other members in a community blog. Membership is free, and non-members can sign up and nominate or vote on charities until December 15th. The sites have received over 30,000 votes already.
Top charities picked by members so far include:
American Red Cross: Provides disaster relief focused on meeting people's immediate emergency disaster-caused needs.
St. Jude's Children's Hospital: Find cures and provides treatment for pediatric cancers and other deadly diseases.
American Cancer Society: Fights cancer on four fronts: research, education, advocacy, and service.
Make a Wish Foundation: enriches the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions through its wish-granting work.
Each Charity will receive from $20,000 - $40,000.
According to company founder Andrew Conru, "social networking is all about giving the power to the people. In this case, we value our members' suggestions on ways to contribute to those in need. We hope that blogging about these donations will inspire our members to do their own holiday giving, and that everyone will learn more about the many deserving charities that need their support."
About the FriendFinder Network
The FriendFinder Network, a division of Palo Alto-based Various, Inc. is the world's largest operator of dating and social networking websites with a staff of more than 200. Founded in 1996, Various, Inc. manages more than 20 multicultural and multilingual personals sites for which over 150 million members have registered, with over 150,000 new sign-ups daily. The FriendFinder network is the trend setter in the online personals sector, using its core expertise to drive both its owned and operated sites and dozens of popular co-branded partner sites. For more information visit http://www.friendfinderinc.com