SOURCE: Change.org

July 03, 2007 11:19 ET

Change.org Launches Political Donations for Facebook.com

Aims to Turn Facebook Into a Vehicle for Political Change

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - July 3, 2007) - Change.org, a leading social network for political and social activism, launched an integration of its service with Facebook.com this morning. The integrated service allows Facebook's 27 million members to create grassroots political action groups and raise money for all 2008 presidential campaigns.

"Facebook is the fastest growing social network on the web and has the potential to become a true political force," said Change.org founder and CEO, Ben Rattray.

Rattray cited how a recent user-driven group titled "One Million Strong for Obama" spread to over 250,000 members in its first month.

"The explosion of grassroots political groups like 'One Million Strong' demonstrates the enormous potential of peer-to-peer distribution within Facebook and the interest young people have in political involvement -- particularly when it includes friends. But it has also exposed the limitation of Facebook's current features for political action. Although Facebook is great for viral communication, it doesn't offer users the tools to translate their collective energy into real political power. We've added the last piece to this puzzle by building a political action portal directly into Facebook to give users the ability to raise money, start grassroots lobbying campaigns, and organize political action -- in other words, to turn Facebook into a vehicle for political change."

Change.org's portal on Facebook allows users to raise money for any of the presidential campaigns as well as for "Draft Funds" that allow supporters to donate to potential candidates such as Al Gore, Fred Thompson, and Michael Bloomberg. Users can also create their own political action groups, organize rallies and get-out-the-vote drives, and form candidate slates to support upcoming congressional elections.

"The story of the 2008 campaign thus far is twofold: the emerging influence of small donors and the radical democratization of political participation the web is bringing to politics. We're working to advance these two trends by bringing tools for small donor fundraising and political participation to the biggest untapped community on the web," said Rattray. "There are nearly 20 million potential young voters on Facebook, and with the power of peer-to-peer distribution, the thirst among young people for a new age in politics, and our tools for social action, I think this community can have significant impact on the upcoming elections."

In addition to Change.org's political tools, Facebook members can use Change.org's portal to raise money for over 1 million nonprofit organizations, organize volunteer events with friends, and raise awareness about social causes through their personal networks.

In both politics and philanthropy, Rattray asserts, social networking technology is able to leverage the power of personal connections to dramatically deepen social engagement.

"The most common way people become engaged with political or social issues is through a personal connection. When someone from an immediate network of friends appeals to you directly or is personally affected by an issue, you are much more likely to be compelled to action. Online social networks amplify those direct appeals and personal messages by making them much easier to deliver, thereby getting more people engaged in social issues and involved in helping to advance positive change together."

Change.org's integration with Facebook follows the company's announcement in May opening its site to third party developers. Change.org is one of the first companies to integrate its entire service within Facebook's platform, which is available at http://apps.facebook.com/changes.

About

Change.org is a social network that empowers people to transform their passion for an issue into real social and political change. Change.org is a privately held social entrepreneurship venture based in San Francisco, CA. For more information go to: www.change.org.