Global Technology helping tackle Poverty
22/07/2010 14:10:15
Increasingly we are becoming a cashless society. Our transactions, our purchases, our bills. We are paying them all digitally with online banking, direct debits and credit cards. Money flies around the world from account to account over digital channels, without ever becoming cash.
The internet is of course utterly global. Billions of people use mobile phones and access email and the internet each day. With social networking sites, chat, email, text and digital cameras we stay in touch with friends and family all over the world.
With these great tools and this digital age, we can now make great leaps in terms of our charity donations. We can solve the major problems of the planet by letting every single one of us play our part.
And thats where MyGoodPoints.org comes into it. We will harness the power of these technologies to let you capture all your donations digitally into the one account, not just your unused loyalty points but also your usual charity donations, your monthly direct debits and credit card donations and your text donations and tax back too (remember that camera you bought on holidays in America last summer - wouldn't it be great if you could donate the VAT you forgot to claim on it to help pay for an eye operation out in Ethiopia??). So with MyGoodPoints.org you you can gather your funds and donate them directly to the charity projects of your choice, no matter where that might be on the planet.
Working with the banks and financial organisations well make sure your funds are zapped digitally to where you want them to go - that the funds will be wired, commission free - to the local bank of your charity to be used as you see fit.
Then using these same tools - the internet, the mobile phone networks - well let the charity workers on the ground send you back photos, thankyou notes, video blogs and updates to let you see exactly how your money is helping those most in need to climb out of poverty through their own efforts.
And by the way, every charity worker I've ever met - in Ireland, in Africa, where ever - each has had a mobile phone and a laptop and internet access too and most even had a camera on their mobile phone just like you and me.
So using these tools, MyGoodPoints.org will make sure you can choose exactly where you want your donations to go and well make sure you know that your money got there and it was used properly.