Hard-Wired to Give: How Technology Speeds Positive Change

Evolutionary science tells us that, genetically and metaphorically speaking, we are hard-wired for compassion and altruism. But with the blazing pace of change in technology that characterizes modern life, what are the implications that the more literal hard-wiring of our lives bring to bear on how we extend our generosity?

News, whether it's a major world event breaking at CNN or a flash mob pillow fight taking place three blocks away in a half hour, moves at the speed of light and lands right in our hand. Our increased reliance on personal technology has radically transformed our ability to stay informed and connected, and just as quickly, as the situation merits, we can respond.

We need to look no further than the efforts of the Red Cross to find an example of how the immediacy and broad availability of personal technology can be leveraged to make a difference both vast and fast. Within hours of the January 12 earthquake, The Red Cross made an immediate commitment of $200,000 for relief, and announced that sending “HAITI” as a text message to 90999 would result in a donation of $10 that would simply appear on your next phone bill.

Within hours, the amount raised rushed past the $1 million, and then the $2 million marks. On Thursday January 14th, it was $5 million and it was still rising rapidly. By Friday, it had doubled again to $10 million, with no sign that the digitally-delivered spigot of compassion and generosity was turning off anytime soon. And three weeks after the quake upended millions of lives and rendered into rubble vast reaches of the Haitian capital, the amount of money raised through the application of handheld technology stands at $35 million and counting.

On the Forefront

Perhaps no one is better capable of helping us to better understand the relationship between technology and charitable activity than the folks at TechSoup. Located in San Francisco,with a front row seat to view the explosive innovations in hardware and network connectivity that the '90s ushered in, TechSoup was one of the pioneers in actively supporting the ability of non-profit organizations to adopt cutting-edge tools to manage operations, fundraising, and delivery of service.

Working exclusively with 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations, TechSoup's mission since opening their doors in 1987 has been to help nonprofits navigate rapid technological change by facilitating access to cost-effective communications, management technologies and usage instruction. Initially a clearing house for acquiring basic hardware and software needs, program support has evolved and expanded in keeping with the pace of change over the past two decades. For example, TechSoup offers such instructional services as helping client organizations more tightly weave social media like Twitter and Facebook into the fabric of their operations, and to do so effectively in supporting the core mission already in place.

TechSoup is a premiere authority on the role technology can play in the success and effectiveness of a nonprofit, and perhaps the biggest champion of the nexus between modern tools and the provision of service to communities in need.

It may then come as a surprise that even Marnie Webb, TechSoup's co-CEO, cautions against placing too much hope that technology by itself will make great things such as donations and membership magically appear. Talented people, clear communication and strong relationships are the foundation onto which modern tools must be overlaid in order for them to be truly effective.

Webb tells Tonic that having access to the latest tools is obviously important and beneficial for an organization, for how it functions and for how it is able to communicate with donors. But using the specific example of Red Cross and their amazing results in raising support for Haiti, Webb makes two critical points.

"Don't confuse the tool with motivation," she cautions.

The vast sums raised by Red Cross are perhaps better understood in terms of the magnitude of the event itself, of how deeply we felt the occasion as something that spoke to our sense of humanity. It is a tragedy to which we would have responded regardless of the mechanics of how we would choose to extend our generosity.

But secondly, while the text messaging program no doubt allowed the outpouring of our support to happen quickly and easily, the framework for making it possible did not. Webb indicates that the communications tools Red Cross is using in their Haiti relief program did not arrive this month, but have come about through careful consideration and planning, from having gifted people in the right positions, and in having engaged in clear and comprehensive dialogue both within the organization as well as externally with key stakeholders and constituents.

Getting the Sector on Board

Organizations hoping to quickly replicate the impact of what we're now seeing with Red Cross through technology alone set themselves up for disappointment. The human factors of talent, communication, and relationship management must be the first order of business. When they're addressed and dialed-in at the outset, "what you then can do is put the right tools into place to engage your supporters quickly in a meaningful way," Webb advises.

She offers examples at all scales of service and outreach: In addition to Red Cross, March of Dimes and The American Cancer Society represent established and immediately recognized service organizations that have invested the time and energy into research and planning as preparation for successful adaptation of their respective outreach programs to leverage emerging technologies. But there's certainly room for success at the local scale. For a community group keen to spread updates and engage active support in response to the closure of a neighborhood school, the well thought-out use of social media can be indispensible in mobilizing targeted action.

None of that is to discount the impact that technology's immediacy makes if uniquely positioned to accomplish critically important tasks when time is of the essence. One example Webb points to is FrontlineSMS:Medic, an open source text messaging platform that is proving invaluable in the transfer of critical information in the delivery of health care in underserved communities around the world. Another is Ushahidi, a communications platform that receives and reports location-specific instances of violence that may stem from contentious elections or xenophobia in order to help citizens stay out of harm's way.

Kiva.org provides a different while highly relevant example of technology as a fundamental aspect of the act of making positive change. Based on recognition of the life-changing impact of microloans, Kiva.org channels small loans at low interest rates to individual entrepreneurs.

A sum of money that to us may seem quite modest represents a princely, unthinkable sum to those with a dream of a successful small business in a developing nation where per capita income is a fraction of what the average American earns. And Kiva makes these connections and delivers support exclusively as an online resource for microloans.

Established in 2005, Kiva makes loans that average approximately $400. Such support goes to help grow individual entrepreneurial efforts and is demonstrably improving lives by successfully and effectively transforming the small into the large. Kiva's embrace of technology makes supporting their efforts immediate and simple, through blog posts and feature articles on the success of their loan recipients, as well as a suite of applications that designers have created to provide project tracking updates, global mapping of their outreach project locations, and analytical tools that allow monitoring progress and provide both visibility and accountability.

The increasing presence of social media technology is making it ever easier for charitable organizations and private companies to team up and reach out together to people in offering an opportunity to help make positive change a reality. Life insurance company Foresters, a long-time supporter of Children's Miracle Network, is making a $20 donation for each new friend who joins the charity's Facebook group during the month of February. And along these same lines, Texas electric utility Bounce Energy is making a food donation to the Houston Food Bank for each new Facebook fan that it receives.

Knowledge is Power

But as with most things in life that are beneficial and good, there are pitfalls to avoid and cautions to keep in mind, and this is certainly true as our lives become increasingly wired and our relationship with technology expands to include how we act generously. It's distressing to consider how this is even possible, but while disaster brings out the best in most of us, it can prompt the unsavory and the heartless into action as well.

While it may seem like obvious online common sense, it bears repeating: An unsolicited email asking for money from an organization to which you do not belong and whose name is unfamiliar to you should be seen as a bright red flag. Consider that within months following the disaster visited upon the city of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region, some 4,000 cases of fraudulent charitable activity were found to have cropped up online, set up by people somehow capable of taking advantage of a tragedy and of our compassion and generosity to make a fast buck.

Knowledge is power, and as luck would have it, the same rapid and beneficial changes in technology that make it quick and easy for us to give are there to make it just as quick and easy for us as potential supporters to tell the good apples from the wormy. Online resources such as GuideStar and Charity Navigator are available to let us quickly determine whether a plea or the organization that has made it is on the up-and-up.

Technological change at its very best has delivered on the promise of making a positive impact on our lives. The Internet and the cell phone allow us to know what's going on around the world in real time, and just as quickly as we sense our emotional reaction to a big event, we can avail ourselves of the modern communications tools on our desks and in our pockets to reach out to commiserate, to express compassion, to contribute.

Better and newer tools that function at the speed of light are only as useful as the people and organizations who rely upon them. But for those of us for whom making a positive change in the lives of people matters greatly, whether they're in our neighborhoods or struggling in a distant part of the world, these astonishing, networked assemblages of silicon chips lend ease and speed in letting us connect with those who share our goals, and to show them some love for their inspiring work.

Light heart photo courtesy of rakkasan69 via Flickr

Red Cross mobile app photo courtesy of Cambodia4kidsorg via Flickr.

TechSouop photo courtesy of DreamponderCreate via Flickr.

Ushahidi photo courtesy of whiteafrican via Flickr.

Word cloud photo courtesy of Cambodia4kidsorg via Flickr.