Indian lobby gets votes
By Sameer Batra

Chase is the U.S. consumer and commercial banking business of JPMorgan Chase & Co, which operates more than 5,100 branches and 15,000 ATMs nationally under the Chase brand. Chase has teamed up with Facebook to launch a ‘Giving Program for Small and Local Charities’.  Under this plan Facebook users will vote for their favourite charities. The eligible charity receiving the most votes will be awarded $1 million, the top five runners-up will receive $100,000 each and the 100 finalists, including the top winners, will be awarded $25,000 each. $5 Million will be donated under this entire program.

On Jan 19, 2010, I had written about how at least one Indian charity was faring badly in this voting contest as Facebook has a substantial membership in USA where locals voted for locally known charities.  Also, the more tech savvy Americans were more active in online campaigning for their preferred charities.

But it seems that Indians online have launched a massive campaign to support India oriented charities. The concerted campaign only began in the last few days to when voting stops.

On Jan 19, 2010, Tennessee HQed Isha Foundation which works mainly in South India was in fourth place with only 18254 votes.  The top three positions were Twloha Inc (41543 votes), Invisible Children Inc (31739 votes) and Bridge To Turkiye (20610 votes).  Other Indian charities had garnered only a few thousand votes.

Then there was a late spurt of Indian lobbying.  India’s No. 1 matrimonial site Bharatmatrimony.com sent an email to its millions of members using them to vote for Isha Foundation which works in South India.  Popular mommy blog Indianhomemaker urged its readership to vote for GiveIndia.  Another Indian blog campaigned for Asset India Foundation.

The online lobbying and voting by Indians is bearing fruit.  By 3 pm on Jan 22, Isha Foundation had moved up to third place with 63 thousand votes.  Invisible Children leads with 89 thousand votes followed by Twloha Inc with 74 thousand votes.

Another 24 hours before voting closes and the winner is decided and given the top prize of $1 million.

(Techgoss had published the following story on Jan 19, 2010)

Crowdsourcing charity?
By Sameer Batra

How does any business decide which charity to donate to?  And is it influenced in any shape or form by a desire to build a brand?  Do the senior executives decide?  Do they seek the advice of prominent social workers and human rights activists?

Or do they ask people who can afford internet and have profiles on Facebook?

Chase is the U.S. consumer and commercial banking business of JPMorgan Chase & Co, which operates more than 5,100 branches and 15,000 ATMs nationally under the Chase brand. Chase has teamed up with Facebook to launch a ‘Giving Program for Small and Local Charities’.  Under this plan Facebook users will vote for their favourite charities. The eligible charity receiving the most votes will be awarded $1 million, the top five runners-up will receive $100,000 each and the 100 finalists, including the top winners, will be awarded $25,000 each. $5 Million will be donated under this entire program.

Chase calls this ‘crowdsourcing for charity’. While most of these charities are noble, idealistic efforts and deserve every dollar, the fact is that this is less of crowdsourcing and more of how many people can you motivate to vote for you.  Naturally, the more educated, tech savvy teams have an edge.

Even as the clock ticks down to the last 2 days of voting, the top 5 candidates and vote getters are

1 - Twloha Inc (41543 votes)
2 - Invisible Children Inc (31739 votes)
3 - Bridge To Turkiye (20610 votes)
4 - Isha Foundation Inc (18254 votes)
5 - National Autism Association Inc (16990 votes)

US based charity – Asset India Foundation – which works towards giving education and better opportunities to children of sex workers in India has received only 940 votes. While this US based Indian oriented charity has received $20K from Dell in the past as well as support from TCS, it will get few votes when pitted against charities which work in USA.

Indian Facebook users could have been mobilized to get more votes.  Turkish Facebook users campaigned for charity ‘Bridge to Turkieye’ and their 20610 votes have pushed it to the top 3 with a fair chance of winning $100,000.  Bridge to Turkieye educates teenage girls in Turkey.

Every dollar donated to charity should be commended.  And each of these charities deserves all the money in the world.  But realistically these campaigns are as much about brand building and online activism then finding the most deserving charities. After all, who can stand up and say that a child in Turkey is more deserving than a child in India or USA?