Internet Sparks Outpouring of Instant Donations
33808
Faced with searing images of suffering and grief in South Asia, Americans are finding an instantaneous way to reach out to tsunami victims: on their home computers.
306471
A new crop of online philanthropic sites is opening up the traditionally stodgy world of charitable giving.
546106
With political fund raising, campaign advertising and organizing taking place in full swing over the Internet, it may just be a matter of time before the Federal Election Commission joins the action.    Well, that time may be now...
715514
Some new rules to keep in mind while donating your money and goods.
37029
The loan servicer is raising some serious cash.
537934
A vast online network is being used to promote social and environmental responsibility.
1998
CAMBRIDGE -- Millions of Internet videos are being recorded worldwide, from the beaches of Rio de Janeiro to the US campaign trail. They're popping up on laptops, cell phones, and desktop computers everywhere.
579019
By Marni Pyke  mpyke@@dailyherald.com  Whether you're seeking help for a personal crisis or simply want to volunteer, a new Web site offers dozens of answers in minutes.
530607
The recent success of the Firefox movement -- thousands of volunteers spreading the Gospel of Mozilla to every corner of the Internet -- is spawning a new kind of growth.
300681
With political fund raising, campaign advertising and organizing taking place in full swing over the Internet, it may just be a matter of time before the Federal Election Commission joins the action.
133660
The Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged $3 million and Amazon.com has raised more than $3.5 million in online donations to aid South Asian countries devastated by tsunamis.
291416
Make sure your donation does what you want.
753968
Here's a novel way to be a philanthropist.
203020
The business of US politics is booming on the Internet, as 2008 White House hopefuls rake in donations, organize, and get their message out, hoping that online efforts will yield real-world votes.
270132
(InfoWorld) - Credit card thieves are becoming big-time charity donors, but it's not out of the goodness of their hearts. According to Symantec, the criminals are starting to use charitable donations as a way to check whether their stolen credit card numbers are working. Fraudsters have been using a similar technique for years, but until recently, they tended to make minor purchases on online retail sites. Now, as these sites have become better at identifying and blocking these transactions, the criminals have begun looking elsewhere, said Zulfikar Ramzan, senior principal researcher with Symantec. "Using a charitable organization as a way to verify a credit card number is a relatively new technique, and it's probably being used by a minority of the more innovative guys," he said. Credit card numbers are bought and sold in underground "carder" forums, which bring together the people who have stolen the credit card numbers with those who want to use them. These charitable donations are typically made by the person buying the card numbers as a final check to ensure that the numbers will work, Ramzan said. Last month, the Red Cross was forced to return nearly $7,000 that was donated in the course of 700 fraudulent transactions, said Carrie Martin, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross. "We routinely see this kind of activity," she said. "We have someone in place who deals with this on a regular basis." This fraud accounted for a tiny sliver of the Red Cross's $6 billion in revenue last year, but the organization also has to pay staff to stay on top of the fraud, Martin said. This is not the only time that fraudsters have found ways to misuse charities. In another common scam, the criminal will give the charity a fake check and ask that a portion of it be returned in cash. Though the check will initially clear in the charity's bank account it will eventually be returned. By then, however, the charity will have already paid out to the thieves. "These kinds of things have hit charities before," said Ramzan "I feel bad because all these charities are trying to do good and you have these fraudsters that try to take advantage of them because of the way they work."
218824
Blog: Instead of charging a penny to see if an account is active, they donate to the Red Cross instead.
224544
The Internet proved its value for fund raising, new private political organizations flexed their muscles with aggressive ad campaigns and Americans both contributed money and voted at phenomenal levels.