Humanize the Earth!

Only If committments

December 10, 2005 at 1:05 am | In the Commons, technology, friends |

There’s a really cool website called Pledgebank that allows me (and you!) to make Only If committments. I will do X, but only if Y other people do X as well. For example, if someone from my neighborhood needed a bus ticket to their sick mother in another state, I might not feel okay just giving money, not knowing if they were going to raise the amount needed and be able to go at all. And they don’t want the hastle of having to return all the money if they don’t get enough to go either. So the campaign is set up for pledges of a set amount and when the full amount is pledged, we all give the actual money and the ticket gets purchased.

Here’s a real-world example of a pledge I’ve signed:

“I will set up a $10 monthly donation to CatComm (or $120 annually) but only if 399 other people will too, and only if one philanthropist will match our joint donations dollar for dollar.”

CatComm is short for Catalytic Communities, in Rio. I met the director, Theresa Williamson at the Chicago Omidyar Members conference in July. She’s doing some great stuff that I’m happy to support. Maybe you’d like to as well?