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NetSquared is an initiative ofTechSoup
NetSquared enables social benefit organizations to leverage the tools of the social web.
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- Cauzoo- Give. Together.
Cauzoo- Give. Together.
Voting Summary (Elevator Pitch):
Cauzoo is MySpace for charities and users, mixing viral and grassroots marketing to connect folks around common charitable interests. Uniquely, Cauzoo will give charities 100% of the money generated from user donations and affiliate shops.
Supporting organization:
Cauzoo and the Cauzoo Foundation
URL:
http://www.cauzoo.com
City:
Los Angeles
State/Region:
CA
Country:
USA
Project Vision Statement & Potential Social Impact:
Charity is social. That’s why we made Cauzoo- a place to give, together.
The short line on Cauzoo?
It’s MySpace for charities.
The truth? It’s where a cause and you meet. We are trying to make a site where people can connect with their friends and share a new part of themselves- the causes they are passionate about.
We won’t replace the networks people have already- we wouldn’t want to. But we will add a new way for you to show your friends what you care about. Cauzoo can expand virally through widgets, friend invites, and e-mails. We are organized around friendships, because we believe that charity is as social as people are.
Advocates and causes will both have Cauzoo profiles where they explain why they care. Advocates can connect with their friends to debate, network, and hang out, while causes can attract new fans, spread their message, and raise money. It will be easier than ever to donate through prominent direct links on the site. You will also earn commissions for your charity at the Cauzoo Shops, a network of top stores that pay a percentage of each sale.
The social impact is simple- we know that every person has a spot in their conscience for a charity. We think they should have a spot on the web as well. And we think they want their friends to know. That’s what Cauzoo is really about. But don’t take our word for it- check out our public preview, our blog, and the FAQs at Cauzoo.com to get a better idea of how we’ll give, together.
Sustainability (financial) model:
Cauzoo's financial model is especially important.
At this stage, Cauzoo is primarily concerned with building an exciting community and driving money to charities.
We will do this through direct donations through (change second through to from) a prominent link on each charity’s page. We’ll also raise money from Cauzoo Shops, a network of stores that pay commissions per sale (that pay us a commission from each sale).
Look at the competition- Cauzoo is unique.
We’re aware of the competitors in the market, but there’s one way we are totally unique- Cauzoo will never take money intended for a charity. Users will be able to donate to their charity with a click, and there will be no “service fee” skimmed off the top of donations. Equally unique, 100% of the money generated by donations and in Cauzoo Shops will go to the user’s intended charity.
That part of our business model is simple- any money intended for a charity will go to a charity. Cauzoo is a for-profit corporation. We are interested in making a great site- one that will draw users and causes in. Once we gain traction- with users and charities- we’ll sell Cauzoo profile pages and site tools to corporations.
However, there will be a requirement there too- every corporation will have to link to their Cauzoo profile, where they identify what they’ve given in the past year. It will help fund Cauzoo, help users learn more about companies’ non-profit initiatives, and encourage the growing idea that doing good business requires being in the business of doing good.
For a more complete explanation of our model, check out the Transparency page on our site.
Potential obstacles:
We are outsiders- we’re outside of the non-profit world and we’re underdogs on the web.
But in some ways, we think those are our biggest strengths.
Many non-profit sites focus on the administration of charities, ranging from payment disclosures to administrative hierarchies. And users will definitely be able to talk about those issues in our forum, Cauzoo Talk. But we believe that people are passionate about charities because, well, charities do good. So that’s the emphasis of our site. We won’t focus on inside baseball- we don’t think that’s why people come to play.
We’re underdogs in the web world too- but that means that we’re concerned with making a site that’s easy, fun, and exciting to use, not one over-powered by bells and whistles. Sometimes it’s tough to see the point of a site if the tag cloud’s too thick, or to get a grip on a site’s mission if it has slippery curves. We’ll make our site usable and state of the art, no doubt. But our focus will always be on our users, their friends, and the causes that they care about.
Cauzoo is still a labor of love- we don't have funding yet, and still have day jobs. But we know that we can grow through a powerful idea and passionate people.
Resource Needs:
The reason we joined NetSquared was to hear from you- we want to learn from the best people out there what they’d want from a site like ours, how we can make things as easy as possible, and what’s great (or horrible!) about our idea.
We think that having an in-person conversation about the site is an invaluable resource.
We also need help with the legal aspects of our site. To keep the branches of Cauzoo separate, we’ll be creating the Cauzoo Foundation, the non-profit arm that will pass through user donations and Cauzoo Shop contributions (more is on the Transparency page on our site). But we’d love to connect for advice on structuring this as efficiently as possible.
We’re the little guy in the web world, and definitely in the non-profit world. We’d love to make this site our day job, but we need to meet people who care about the non-profit world.
We’ve gotten this far- we’d love to build some of the bonds (old fashioned social networking) that can help us be a part of the two places we’re trying to bridge.
Are we looking for money? Sure. But we want to raise our money in the for-profit sector. Sure, we need money to fund legal fees, site administration, and other necessities. Right now Cauzoo is what we work on at night- it's a labor of love. But what we want most is a chance to meet you, learn about your groups, and get your advice on what matters. That's why we're applying to NetSquared.
Key Milestones:
November 2006- Cauzoo idea conceived, business plan formed.
Feburary 2007- Private beta launched to test social networking features.
April 2007- Conclusion of private beta, begin public outreach to charities, beta testing with those groups to fine tune the site to their needs.
June 2007- Create Cauzoo Foundation, launch site with at least 100 causes signed on (in a range of fields), allow press mentions to escalate to promote site.
July 2007- Begin first round of angel funding
September 2007- 150 causes and 15,000 advocates. If the site progresses well, both can increase exponentially.
Project Summary:
Cauzoo is a MySpace for Charities- it’s a place where friends can come to give, together.
It’s where a cause and you meet. We aren’t looking to replace MySpace or Facebook, but add a new layer through enjoyable profiles and the ability to integrate with other sites. We'll spread virally through widgets, e-mails, and friend connections.
Fortunately, it’s more unique than that.
We’ll leverage our for profit status (selling profile pages to companies) to give users better ways to show their friends what they care about, and to give to their causes. That includes direct donation opportunities through a link on every cause page, a shopping program where causes can earn 100% of commissions off of user purchases, and the ability to reach new donors and advocates through easily accessible profiles. Money intended for a charity will go to a charity, in full.
Using engaging forums, user ratings, network connections, and the best social networking ingredient- real world friends- we’ll fulfill a unique goal. We want to put the spotlight on causes more than any other site, because that’s what people care about. For more, check out our public preview at Cauzoo.com, to see where people can give, together. And leave us comments on N2 or send us an email- we’re here because we want to hear from you!
Comments
You got my vote and a place in my blog!
michael gibbons
buttons of hope
In Transparency is the new black, I wrote...
For name and logo alone these guys (Cauzoo) should get something! Maybe I should have used their pitch..."We are trying to make a site where people can connect with their friends and share a new part of themselves- the causes they are passionate about."
I know it's little cliche' to be the my "space of ___" but Cauzoo has a place -- I think people are hungry to share their "charity passion" and maybe find a new one! Cauzoo and buttons of hope are both on the road to cure apathy!
You have my support -- I hope you will consider a vote ofr buttons of hope!
Comparisons
First, I am curious about how this project compares to the numerous similar existing projects such as change.org, globalgiving.com, changingthepresent.org and (slightly different) kiva.org, as well as tools like ChipIn. (Also see Britt Bravo's review of change.org and founder Ben Rattray's comments at the bottom.)
Second, given the existence of these other arguably social-networking-based communities, I'm curious what makes you confident that your particular site will reach the critical mass necessary to become effective. There road to web 2.0 is littered with the carcasses of fabulous but deserted social networks...
Your for-profit focus reminds me of GoodStorm (whose slogan, "capitalism done right" does, I have to admit, creep me out to no end). I'm confused about how or why a corporation would seek to establish a profile on your site. Do you envision such a flood of users that the likes of Nike and Starbucks will simply be unable to resist the captive audience? Or are you giving the corporations something back? User demographics? Giving data? Targeted ads?
Finally, I have to say that given all of the many, many fine nonprofits looking for a spot at this conference, I think there needs to be a very high bar indeed for a for-profit corporation, even if part of its objective is to benefit other nonprofits. Based on the existence of similar websites -- which may have their own faults, but got off the ground without help from NetSquared -- I'm reluctant to redirect funds toward your corporation, however socially-conscious it might be. You may be "the little guy in the web world," but you have many more resources than most nonprofits. Your proposal seems nice, but I would be looking for a little more than nice given the background.
--ivan (quixotic1.com/Genocide Intervention Network)
Update
I just wanted to add that I read ChipIn's proposal and in comparing it to yours, thought they made a stronger case because they specifically talk about how the Net2 grant would fit in to their for-profit model and why it's important. If you choose to revise this proposal, that's what I think it would be useful to focus on.
--ivan (quixotic1.com/Genocide Intervention Network)
Thanks for your Comments
Ivan- thanks for your comments.
We're different than all the sites you mentioned- ours is organized around friends and specific charities. We want to create a user experience that is easier to access and directed toward concrete ideas- users and charities, not abstractions. We think no site out there has hit the mark, yet.
As far as our funding goes- that's a way down the line. I think you're overestimating corporate involvement. We're trying to build a great social network that will, eventually, be funded by advertising. But right now we're focused on making connections.
As far as what we want from NetSquared, we're looking to form real connections with people. Those are the things we don't have. Obviously, we'd love to meet people who are as passionate (and knowledgeable) as you. And as far as resources go, well, I think you might overestimate us. This is still a labor of love.
And that brings me to another key difference between the sites you mentioned. We think organization of our features will differentiate us. But there's something else different too- a good number of those sites take money intended for charities. Cauzoo will never do that- no one percent fee, no "service fee", or "contribution" will ever fund our site. That's something that's of note, no matter what happens to our site.
michael gibbons
michael gibbons buttons of hope
Welcome to N2 -- I like your project - - it is interesting because your vision parallels some of the opportunities I see in the fundraising arenas. I think grassroots is still the best way to approach causes --certainly a Bono or Oprah doesn't hurt but without star power you need to empower! Emotion still trumps and it lives closer to the roots!
Question I have (because I face the same challenge) is how do you make your site sticky enough to build a vigorous /engaged on line community -- people are so strapped for time -- if they visit my space etc. first will they have time for cauzoo, buttonsofhope? or are we talking supplanting my space? hmmmm I hope we both make it to San Jose -- I think there might be some interesting opportunities to team up.
Your proposal is well written and well thought out. good luck!
Stickiness
It's so tough to make a site sticky when so many are vying for your attention. Our approach is that Cauzoo can almost be like a "section" of a person's social network (which is why we'll be using "Social Me" to make it easy to find out more about a friend at another venue). Let's say you're on MySpace- occasionally, you'll look at a friend's favorite movies. Well, with Cauzoo, you'll be able to look at a friend's favorite cause. What people care about is part of what they are- so it should be part of their web identity to.
Thanks for checking us out!