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Charity Year Round
Charitable giving isn’t just for disaster response, tax time, and
the holidays. With the summer in full swing, a new school year fast
approaching, April 15 a distant memory, and the holiday season
months away, charity volunteering and giving might not be a priority
for many Americans. Yet charitable organizations have year round
needs and events.
To help connect Americans with charity opportunities in their local
area, www.CharityDrives.org
has developed a not-for-profit community driven website. This
advertising-free site enables individuals and organizations
nationwide to post, search and filter information on and about
charity drives within their local area.
High school senior Michael Klenner of Orange, California, who
collects goods for his local Salvation Army, notes,
"The internet has become central to my generation, from Myspace to
CharityDrives.org, I'm happy that there are free easy-to-use tools
to market charitable efforts to thousands in my area."
Originally developed by concept development firm Aedeas Group, in
response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the
search-powered website fills the absence of a central online
location for volunteers, and individuals to find local places to
donate goods.
Chris Seta, partner at the firm, remembers, "I felt frustrated as I
watched the havoc caused by Katrina. Even more frustrating was the
lack of immediate Internet resources to locate nearby charity sites.
I had no idea where to give and what to give." Realizing the lack of
online resources, the Aedeas Group quickly mobilized a team of
developers to build a resource to fill this void.
Gaining national attention through viral marketing,
www.CharityDrive.org 's
easy-to-use interface enabled local organizers to market their
charity drives and donors to find local sites to drop off goods.
"Aside from helping the community," states Robert Patterson, partner
at the firm, "the project also became a playground for us to
implement some new Web 2.0 technologies, and we were one of the
first community-driven sites to utilize the Google Maps API and
dynamic geocoding to maximize the user experience."
In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, organizers from Los
Angeles to Des Moines to Boston utilized the site to promote local
drives, collecting toiletries, canned food, clothing, and other
goods for the relief effort. In recent months, the site has been
expanded to include literature on how to organize a drive, links to
charitable causes, forums for discussion, and success stories for
inspiration.
If you are looking for a family project, need to complete service
hours, or want to make a difference in our local DC area community,
visit
http://www.charitydrives.org .
The Aedeas Group is a San Francisco-based consulting and concept
development firm specializing in originating and cultivating
innovative ideas from inspiration to marketplace. For more
information, visit
http://www.aedeas.com.
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