Footprints Network: funding global projects from tiny online donations
Location
We believe the internet provides vast opportunities to make a difference in the area of poverty alleviation. The Footprints Network - an alliance of e-commerce business that collect thousands of tiny donations collected through every online transaction - has been created as a vehicle to help achieve that vision.
How does it work? Simply! Online customers viewing their shopping cart at the checkout, tick a box to add their Footprints donation to their transaction. So, adding $2 to their $100 purchase will mean that $102 gets debited to their credit card. This innovative philanthropy program resonates strongly with travelers who often witness extreme poverty – it proves that you are never too small to make a difference.
Your idea
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Street Address
24 York St
City
Sydney
State/Province
NSW
Postal/Zip Code
2000
Country
Australia
Year innovation began
2005
Geotourism Challenge Addressed by Entrant
Quality of benefit to the people of the desitination
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Indicate sector in which you principally work
Destination-stewardship business
Geographic location
Multiple locations.
Plot your innovation within the Mosaic of Solutions
Main insight addressed
Incorporate sustainable practices
Name Your Project
Footprints Network: funding global projects from tiny online donations
Describe Your Idea
We believe the internet provides vast opportunities to make a difference in the area of poverty alleviation. The Footprints Network - an alliance of e-commerce business that collect thousands of tiny donations collected through every online transaction - has been created as a vehicle to help achieve that vision.
How does it work? Simply! Online customers viewing their shopping cart at the checkout, tick a box to add their Footprints donation to their transaction. So, adding $2 to their $100 purchase will mean that $102 gets debited to their credit card. This innovative philanthropy program resonates strongly with travelers who often witness extreme poverty – it proves that you are never too small to make a difference.
Innovation
What is the goal of your innovation?
To fund poverty alleviation projects through an alliance of e-commerce businesses that collects many tiny donations collected through online transactions.
How does your approach support or embody geotourism?
The Footprints network is an initiative that allows ALL travelers to make a difference - irrespective of where they are from or going to. As an online initiative, it operates in everyone’s home and office, on their PCs and Macs GLOBALLY.
Describe your approach in detail. How is it innovative?
Footprints is a new online philanthropy model that:
1. Harnesses the ‘collectively power of many’ to make a huge impact. Online customers are asked to tick a box to add a small donation onto the purchase price of their goods. If it sounds simple, that's because it is!
2. Helps individuals realize their own desire to ‘make a difference and give something back’ - irrespective of where they live, where they're traveling to or how much time they have. There is a choice of tangible projects in varying global locations that allows each individual to donate to something they really feel passionate about.
3. Utilizes the inherent efficiencies of the Internet to automate payments, reporting and information dissemination. Charities cannot manage thousands of small donations — the administration is just too difficult — but web technologies enable a business to collect and efficiently aggregate thousands of ‘micro donations’ on their behalf.
4. Is not constrained by time or borders – there is sustainable 24/7 fundraising, globally
5. Provides real benefits to the business partners in the Network; most significantly providing a connection with customers and a chance for conversation long after the initial transaction is long forgotten
What types of partnerships or professional development would be most beneficial in spreading your innovation?
The most beneficial partnerships will come through new business members’ joining the Network - with them comes an increase in funding and hence increases in impact and reach. If, for example, Apple iTunes had integrated Footprints when they launched and customers donated just 1c per download, we would have raised over 30 million dollars!
Additionally, the committee who review and approve project proposals would benefit from further expertise in best-practice international development - maybe through internships from graduates or suitable volunteers. This would help ensure the ongoing suitability and integrity of the beneficiary projects.
Impact
In one sentence describe what kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
To demonstrate that you are never too small to make a difference
Describe the degree of success of your approach to date. Clearly define how you measure quantitative and qualitative impact in terms of how your approach contributes to the sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How does your approach minimize negative impacts? 200 words or less
The single most significant achievement we’ve made in the last 3 years is to prove the viability of this unique online philanthropy model and it's appeal to travelers.
Statistically, we have funded 28 poverty-alleviation projects totaling $350,000 AUD in 18 different countries including * Providing 300 sight-saving surgeries * Building a primary school, repairing another & training over 200 teachers * Giving a whole village solar-lighting * Installing water & sanitation in 3 schools and 2 villages * Providing medicine to 3 communities and 4 orphanages.
Each project’s success and challenges are recorded online in reports, photos and case studies.
Regarding negative impacts, the Footprints *technology* does not have social, cultural or environmental impacts as such. As for the *projects*, we seek to partner with local charities, NGO's and communities who are experts in defining and delivering the solutions that best fit their needs
How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
Donors and volunteers often suffer from charity fatigue - where does the money go? Is it well spent? The Footprints program seeks to support traveler’s existing enthusiasm to 'make a difference' - simply, easily, with integrity and transparency. We ensure traveler satisfaction by reporting back on ALL projects. Additionally, some of the projects can be visited as part of a tour or by volunteering.
Describe how your innovation helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area’s cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues. How do you motivate them to act responsibly in their future travel decisions?
When customers make a donation as part of another online transaction, we are planting a small seed in their mind that encourages them to think about lives and issues outside of their own. Information about each project, the local need for it and the broader context of water, food, education, health issues is all detailed on the Footprints Website for people wanting to know more.
In what ways are local residents actively involved in your innovation, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
The Footprints Network partners with charities and NGO’s who specialize in working in and with local communities to ensure projects that have been initiated and implemented locally. As for the customers who provide the donations, the feedback via emails, surveys and on blogs is excellent – they now have a way to activate their Responsible Traveler values simply, easily and knowing that the projects will have a real impact.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? What is the potential demand for your innovation?
100% of donations go directly to project funding. The administration costs of staff wages, technology costs etc is underwritten by WorldNomads.com, the founding partner as it’s CSR contribution.
Organizationally, we are currently exploring the best structural option. This is undoubtedly a challenge for such a global innovation! However, we have the support of accounting and legal partners to guide us.
The demand for our innovation is already growing, especially amongst mid-sized e-businesses who could benefit from a ready-made CSR program that engages their customers and brand. Not to mention the real sales increases driven by smart, ethical customers.
How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
The Internet provides vast opportunities to make a difference in the area of poverty alleviation for relatively little administration cost. We have one part-time manager (30%), one part-time accounts (20%) and a volunteer steering committee. Accounting and legal services are provided pro-bono and ensure that Footprints undergoes an annual audit to maintain financial transparency.
The last financial year had a turnover of AUD$120K and this year we’re expecting approx. AUD$170K – 100% of which goes directly to the projects. The finance for this has come from many, many tiny online donations; over 120,000 of them to date. As they say, many hands make light work!
What is your plan to expand your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
There are two aspects to growth that represent both sides of the network:
Firstly, we'd like to expand the number of e-commerce business, in effect creating a larger funnel for donations, which will in turn fund larger, more integrated projects. This is where we are focusing our current efforts.
Secondly, we'd like to expand the number of project partners we work with - particularly those working in Central and South America to ensure we can offer travelers a wider variety of programs in all of the regions they travel to.
What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
The very nature of the Footprints technology (an API - application programming interface) allows multiple e-commerce websites to sign up to the program simultaneously. The inherent characteristics of this technology, allow for replication, scale and reporting. However, with growth in the network, there will be added impact on resources/time to manage the relationships with the project partners (charities/NGOs), coordinate project proposals and approvals and meeting report requirements.
A further potential barrier to growth is finding a suitable organizational structure - it seems that we are truly innovative in our approach of bringing not-for-profit intentions to the border-less market of global e-commerce.
The Story
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
Simon Monk, founder of WorldNomads.com is a passionate traveler who philosophically believes there is a moral obligation to give a little back to the communities to which any traveler visits. Simon combines a strong understanding of online business and e-commerce with a global strategic vision for the brands he has founded. Christy McCarthy, another avid traveler and web evangelist helped shape the evolution of Footprints into the current organization. Her broad experience developing intuitive, people focused & innovative Internet solutions delivers customer experiences that real people actually want to use.
What is the origin of your innovation? Tell your story.
The Footprints Network emerged from an inspirational concept following the devastating Asian Tsunami in 2004. The team behind WorldNomads.com, the founding partner of The Footprints Network, has all traveled widely and, philosophically, they have always believed there is a moral obligation to give a little back to the communities to which any traveler visits. It is, quite simply, the right thing to do. But the question was: just how do you ‘give back’ in a valuable way?
With a background in web technology, World Nomads' Managing Director Simon Monk had an idea about how to use his e-commerce skills to make a difference. If customers were already spending money online, why not ‘piggy-back’ on the same transaction and ask them to make a small donation to charity at the same? These people already had their credit cards on the table, so why not ask them to spend just a teeny bit more?
By the end of January 2005, the technical team had integrated the idea into World Nomads and were ready to start collecting thousands of micro donations from people in many countries and in many currencies. By the end of the first week, there were a few hundred dollars in the bank; by the end of the first month, a few thousand dollars, and by the end of the first year nearly $50,000. One hundred per cent of the funds raised were distributed amongst six registered Australian charities.
Over the initial trial period, an astonishing 70 per cent of World Nomads’ customers donated, but there was still room to improve the concept. They decided to offer customers the option to donate to tangible, location-specific projects, such as $2 to help fund the Children’s Safe Home Program in Rajbari, Bangladesh through Save the Children.
The result? The donation rate jumped from 70 to 90 per cent.
So how to really change the world?
With this success, the World Nomads team decided if they really wanted to make a BIG difference, they needed to share their technology with other e-businesses and build a fundraising network. The technical team went back to work for six months to re-engineer the technology into a stand-alone online application with a standard API. The technology is now available — for free — for e-businesses to integrate into their web sites. And so it was that The Footprints Network was founded.
Please write an overview of your project. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the Google map located on the competition homepage.
We believe the internet provides vast opportunities to make a difference in the area of poverty alleviation. The Footprints Network - an alliance of e-commerce business that collect thousands of tiny donations collected through every online transaction - has been created as a vehicle to help achieve that vision.
How does it work? Simply! Online customers viewing their shopping cart at the checkout, tick a box to add their Footprints donation to their transaction. So, adding $2 to their $100 purchase will mean that $102 gets debited to their credit card. This innovative philanthropy program resonates strongly with travelers who often witness extreme poverty – it proves that you are never too small to make a difference.
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