In the core of the Xperedon platform are an ever-growing database of charities (5,629 charity organizations are listed at the time of writing this article) and the innovative idea called „charity profile” or „charity portfolio”, a handpicked selection of registered users, that consists of up to 20 charities of their choice, that they intend to support. Users manage these portfolios freely, adding and removing charities, sharing their profiles to show off, or opting for private donations, that are not visible to others. They can select regular donations, with monthly plans starting as low as $10, or they can obviously choose occasional donations with any amount. „Think of it as your personal charity DNA,” says Julian Worth, who hopes that it’s just a matter of time, when these charity profiles will become as popular and important to their users, as their Facebook accounts or Twitter feeds. „Xperedon is all about lifestyle giving, making it relevant and fun, while putting control firmly in the hands of the donor,” he adds.

The name Xperedon comes from a tricky acronym: „Expenditure Related Donation,” Julian Worth tells us, which refers to one of the features of the platform. The CardLink service, that also debuted with the launch of Xperedon a few days ago, allows users to link giving to spending, either as percentage on overall expenditure or (in an even more sophisticated scheme), by associating the type of spending with the type of giving. “Cardholders that sign up automatically spend more, typically between 3% and 6%. The card industry is all about volume, so we expect other issuers to follow suit and offer this ground-breaking service to their clients,” Julian Worth highlights. Due to the scale and ease of these “automated donations,” the CardLink service, can also be a most cost-effective way for charities to collect donations. According to the company, after the costs, some 95% of the money raised reaches the charities wherever in the world they are.

Yet another novelty of the platform is the option to create what they call Corporate Donation Schemes. The concept is based on corporate donations, that could be directed to the charities of the corporate’s employees’ choice, using the selection of their charity portfolios created in the Xperedon platform. “We have a number of companies in the US that are considering running this program,” Julian Worth tells Fundraisr.Org, although no company names can be published until agreements are reached in these negotiations.

Considering how crowded today’s social media scene is, a breakthrough for a newborn platform might as well sound difficult, but it can definitely be strengthened by, well… more social media. „Absolutely, that’s all coming,” Julian Worth ensures us when we’re asking whether a Facebook application, mobile or tablet apps are being developed to make it even more attractive for users to interact with Xperedon. (By the way, I was the 8th to like Xperedon’s Facebook Page)

A few days into the launch of Xperedon, it may be too early to tell whether the social features offered by the site will truly revolutionize the act of giving. When asked about registration volumes and first user feedbacks, Julian Worth highlights: „It’s early days and we are monitoring it. There is a lot of intereste, and we expect this to increase further when we are written about in the traditional press.” As for growth plan, no actual numbers were made public. „Our aim is to get out to as many users as possible of course, and to integrate CardLink with as many banks and card issuers as possible. The latter is a relatively slow process, but we are in this for the long haul,” Worth concludes.

Participating celebrities include actors  Josh Duhamel, Marlee Matlin, Jane Seymour, Jackie Chan and Jimmy Smits; television personalities Dr. Phil McGraw, Nancy O’Dell and Leeza Gibbons; and award-winning music stars Chayanne, Reba, Rascal Flatts, Wynonna Judd, Sara Evans and Pat Green, American Red Cross said in a statement earlier this week.

Part of the holiday charity campaign is an online catalog whithin the American Red Cross’s webstore, called “Gifts that Save the Day“, enabling people to make donations that could provide food and shelter for victims of disasters. The donation can be a military comfort kit with a robe, a phone or a music card, or simply basic necessities that would help families that lost everything in a catastrophe. Donations made through the “Gifts that Save the Day” program, that are Red Cross program area-specific, rather than attached to a specific program of the organization, are entirely tax-deductible – Red Cross notes. Other ways of donating in this holiday season includes the making of a $25 donation by texting the word “GIFT” to 90999.

“This holiday season, I’m giving the gift of hope by supporting my local American Red Cross,” Reba said in a video message about the campaign. “Instead of sweaters and ties, I’m giving gifts from the Red Cross Holiday Giving Catalog.” Reba also has sent an e-mail to Red Cross supporters nationwide encouraging them to donate this holiday season.

“Perhaps it’s because my father was a doctor, or because I played one on television, but I think my favorite gift in the catalog is the gift of vaccination against measles,” Jane Seymour, the primary celebrity spokesperson for the campaign said. “It’s a great honor to be asked to take part in this worthwhile endeavor for the American Red Cross. I can tell you from personal experience that the time I spend volunteering has enriched my life,” she added.

Celebrities, such as Wynonna Judd, Chayanne, Rascal Flatts, Reba, Matlin, O’Dell, Evans, Green, Gibbons and Chan also used their Twitter and Facebook pages to encourage their fans and followers to participate in the campaign. “$25 vaccinates 25 children around the world against measles. Wanna help? http://bit.ly/RCHoliday“, Judd tweeted.

According to the American Red Cross, a recent survey shows that despite economic difficulties and the current downturn, 57% of Americans are planning to give at least $50 to charitable causes throughout this year’s holiday season.

The elite club includes AOL co-founder Steve Case, investor Carl Icahn, former junk-bond king Michael Milken Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison, film director George Lucas and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
According to Philanthropy Journal and the Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg wasn’t available for further comments. In a video he previously prepared, he stated “There’s so much that needs to be done, it would be better to start now.” According to Forbes’s estimation, Zuckerberg’s fortune is in the area of USD 6.9 billion, making him one of the world’s youngest billionaires. This estimation, however, is somewhat theoretical, since Facebook is yet to be listed on the stock exchange.
Zuckerberg’s current announcement followed his first charity pledge earlier this year: in September he promised to give USD 100 million to public schools in Newark. He made his decision public in the Oprah Winfrey Show. Zuckerberg, himself is a Harvard University dropout.
Details on Zuckerberg’s current charity pledge are yet unknown.

Except that now there is, thanks to a recently launched website Allthis.com, the “eBay for charities” or the “marketplace for things money can’t buy,” as its founders put it. The new type of auction site features diverse types of listings on behalf of “vendors”, who offer the income directly to the charities they chose to support. Bidders on the other and will receive te product or service they need, and wire the money directly to the charity. Any type of expertise, passion or product can easily be turned to cash for the good cause this way.

“We created allthis with a vision to leverage an individual’s expertise and network as an alternative method of donation, while giving non-profits a creative way to excite and unite their supporters,” said Paul Weinstein, CEO and co-founder of Allthis.com, when the website was launched in late May, following a year and a half of preparations. “Ranging from access to the influential, engagement with the creative, to the downright silly, what people have to offer is infinitely diverse.”

Among the moms offering Sunday lunch recipes all children will like, and designers with several decades of expertise offering brochure design for any business or good cause,

Scammers and fake charities are just as swift to react using the peaks of the public urge for giving, as real charities (if not faster), and while in times of difficulties it is always easy to find camouflage to their malevolent efforts, this cover is only there to distract people from their real goals of making money on the back of the less fortunate. Thus, it is extremely important to watch out for all the tiny details when you decide to give – especially when you do it in the middle of a bigger movement of volunteer and charity efforts.

As the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon accident spread the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, many charities and fakes have spread the online world asking for help. So have people willing to grant money to mitigate the environmental and human disaster that is to follow the accident. While there are numerous organizations that are really efficient and transparent in their disaster relief efforts, others are not so much.

U2's Bono turns street musicion for charity on Christmas Eve in Dublin

U2 frontman Bono teamed up with Swell Season’s Glen Hansard to become street musicians and play for charity. Bono and Glen were also joined by highly popular Irish songwriters Damien Rice and Mundy in the fundraising action, that aimed to help Irish charity Simon Community, that supports homeless people in various communities throughout Ireland.

The busking-turned -superstar-jam-session took place on Dublin’s well known Grafton street, that, interestingly, was also a most important location of hit cult movie Once, in which Glen Hansard’s character was a busker playing on the very same spot.

“That was incredible,” Hot Press quoted an astonished onlooker. “I was out innocently doing my shopping when I saw a crowd gathered. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I had a closer look – you might expect to see someone like Mundy doing something like this for charity, but there were three huge stars there, giving it loads. It really added to the Christmas eve atmosphere. The only problem is I had one more present to get but the shop is closed now!”

Although there is no word on how much the bunch of superstar buskers managed to raise for the good cause, but they were reported to play for over an hour. The “show” included U2’s One, Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door and You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere, Ben King’s Stand By Me and a version of Mic Christopher’s Heyday, performed by Mic’s best friend, Glen Hansard. Obviously all of these songs were joined by the numerous audience singing along with the artists.

While Bono has been well known for his charity work (well, for other things, too), Glen Hansard is no different. A few days before Christmas, on Dec 21, 2009. Hansard was the special guest for the Dublin Simon Community’s ‘The Longest Night’ fundraising concert. The concert arranged on the longest night of the year (which is the worst night for the homelesses) aimed to raise EUR 100,000 ($144,000) to support homeless Dubliners. On the video above you can see a part of his show given at Dublin’s Button Factory.

The Dublin branch of Simon Community aids some 2,000 homeless people on a daily bases.

Some 600 people gathered in Coronation Park, Oakville, Canada at 2pm sharp, 01. 01. 10. to kick off the new year with a refreshing and memorable dip in Lake Ontario’s freezing water. The Polar Bear Dip boasts itself as Canada’s Largest Charitable Polar Bear Festival, and the 600 participants aside it drew in several thousand visitors, who watched the brave volunteers holding their breaths.

Some used their inner strengths, others screamed or prayed, and yet others jumped straight into the water leaving themselves no option to avoid getting all cold and wet to serve a noble purpose. The water for water Polar Bear Charity Dip has been organized since 1995 raising fund to third-world water projects. Over the years, the charity dip has raised over $410,000 for various projects. This year’s grantee was a Kahi Water Project in Rwanda and a second project in Tanzania. This year’s amount was not only a new record: the increase in both the amount of participants and the amount raised was more than significant. Compared to last year’s 60 dippers and $55,000, this year the event saw over 600 participants, who managed to raise almost five times as much: $230,000.

“It was very refreshing,” Hamilton resident Michelle Pollington, 39, was quoted as saying. “I’ve been doing it since 1990 because my dad and I have been doing it since then. It’s all about mind over matter.”

“I’m so happy, I could almost cry right now,” Polar Bear Dip co-founder Trent Courage said.

“After visiting Rwanda this past summer and observing the tremendous need for clean water, and then seeing the difference in communities where donations to World Vision are at work, I am beyond ecstatic at what $230,000 will do for our brothers, sisters and friends in Africa.”

Polar Bear Dip in Oakville, Canada

The Kahi Water Project aims to help provide a dependable source of clean water for the people of Kahi in the Umutara region of Rwanda. By drilling new wells and building reservoirs, the Kahi Water Project will bring safe water close to the people who live in the community. The new water system will reduce the suffering caused by drinking dirty water and save children hours of wasted time, which can now be spent at school. According to Courage Brothers (the founders and organizers of the Polar Bear Dip), the benefiting project will help 22,00 people get fresh water — that will help prevent disease, keep children in school longer and provide families a better life.