Feel good, raise funds - donate a doggysnap

It can be difficult explaining the social benefits of social media ... particularly how the world of blogs, tagging, photosharing and so on translates into the more traditional world of charities.
You can almost see the thought bubbles above those not too familiar with either: scary places meets tin-rattling.
So I'm hugely grateful to Steve Bridger for finding stories about nonprofit organisations using social media creatively - and then telling us about it in ways anyone can follow. (It's easy at this point for an underlying tone of helping people who "don't get it" to creep in, which Steve certainly doesn't adopt, and I'm trying to avoid, for reasons observed here.)
Anyway, Steve's latest delight is about Doggysnaps.com: the tail 'tagging' the dog, where dog owners upload pictures of their loved (or difficult) ones, and talk about them. It is terrific for raising awareness of the charity and engaging dog owners, and there are ideas about how to raise money beyond donations - including allowing the Trust to sell the images. The terms of use seem drafted with this in mind.
Then there is Children’s charity checks into virtual hotel, about the Childline Zen Garden room in Habbo Hotel. This is a virtual community for teenagers, where they create Habbo characters and have the opportunity to talk about bullying - in a safe environment.
Steve also has an Interview with the Widget King, explaining why 2007 will be the year of the Widget, with lots of scope for fundraising. There's Bertie, Blogs and Breast Cancer Care in which the Head of New Media Bertie Bosrédon shows, among other things, why that job title is becoming more common. His department has grown from two to fourteen in under a year.
Steve coined the title "Buzz director" last year for people like Bertie, who inside nonprofits act as the champions for the use of social and other media to gain attention and promote the cause, and expanded this in Not-for-profit's have the gift of stories.
It's wonderful stuff, with loads more links, but I won't spoil the stories. Drop in to Steve's place and enjoy it all there. No offence to our friends across the pond, who are a bit more advanced in these matters, but it's good to have some UK stories to read too.

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