Let your group's friends fundraise for you.

Causes celebrated its first year of operation in late May, crossing the $2.5-million mark in online donations, benefiting almost 20,000 organizations and getting more than 12 million users of Facebook involved.

Most nonprofits have yet to realize how or if to use Facebook's Causes application to raise money or reach out to potential supporters, while some might be having trouble adapting to the previous technology fundraising/networking phenomenon. "Should we be on Second Life?" "Should I be Twittering?"

Causes has mainly been used as a mechanism for distributing information, said Randall Winston, director of nonprofit relations for Berkeley, Calif.-based Project Agape, which launched Causes. "We want to optimize the majority of nonprofits that use it and find it successful as a mechanism for building community for the long-term?

Some people are on Facebook anywhere from 12 to 20 times a day, and like email, have it open all the time, Winston said. "It's a way of getting philanthropy and doing good before them almost all the time," he said. Young people who donate smaller amounts might still be attached to that community as they grow older, and their donations might also grow.

If you look at the evolution of Causes, anyone is able to create and grow communities, said Winston, and "after those communities reached critical mass, we wanted to build strong bridges to nonprofits."

Joseph Green, who founded Causes with Sean Parker, hopes the application brings interaction back to the nonprofit sector, which is much more heavily focused on direct mail now. It creates an unequal playing field, locking out small donors, he said, because it's not worth mailing them if they're only giving $10 or $20.

The American Red Cross has raised less than $10,000 through Causes. "It's not a huge amount but I don't think anyone has really figured out how to raise huge amounts through Facebook. The entire sector is sort of figuring it out," said Wendy Harman, senior specialist for interactive media. "This kind of giving will probably increase over time," she said. "l don't know that it'll be on Facebook or Causes--maybe something else comes along that's a better program--but I think social networking is here to stay in one way or another."

"The bottom line here for charities and Causes is not so much how nonprofits are using it but this fascinating profound shift in how fundraising works online through social networks," said Katya Andresen, vice president of marketing at Network For Good, which processes the donations made through Causes for a fee of 4.75 percent. "The messengers for fundraising are changing," she said.

Someone who has experience with or an emotional tie to a cause will go to friends and family to support their cause. "That's always happened to some degree for years," Andresen said. "What's changing is the efficiencies of doing that kind of outreach online, and planting that outreach online in the context of a huge social network like Causes. It really transforms the balance of power in not only who's the most effective messenger but how amplified that message can be online very swiftly within these circles of influence," she said.

Andresen points to marketing guru Seth Godin's metaphor of "flipping the funnel." Fundraisers used to think of the world in terms of a sales funnel, seeking to qualify prospects until a few donors dribble out of the bottom. But online the funnel is flipped, taking the shape of a megaphone, which nonprofits can give to supports and have an amplified message.

"It's no longer just you and your funnel, it's a megaphone that's in the hands of millions of people. That's a very apt analogy to describe this fundamental shift. Causes is a great example of that," Andresen said. "There's a certain discomfort among nonprofits about losing control of the message, but the train's already left the station on that one. It's pretty clear you can't control it anymore.

"The good news is when you lose some control, you support the work of those who are fundraising for you online; they are experts on how they message their friends and family," Andresen said.

Within any group's supporters are a small but not insignificant subset of "real champions," she said. "What's amazing about them, they're small in number but they go out and recruit an incredibly large number of people," Andresen said. She estimates these evangelists might make up only 2 to 5 percent of a nonprofit's donor file but they can be incredibly active promoters, reaching many others.

Network For Good verifies the nonprofit is a legitimate 501(c)(3) in good standing with the Internal Revenue Service. When creating a Cause that will solicit donations, users can choose from a GuideStar database of tax-deductible organizations. Network For Good also registers with the 42 states that require it to accept or fundraising for donations.

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