Chase Community Giving Offers New Paradigm in Corporate Philanthropy

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Chase Community Giving, one of the forerunners in crowdsourced corporate philanthropy space,  is back for a fifth season.  Since the program’s inception, nearly 3.5 million Facebook users have “liked” Chase Community Giving. These fans have helped more than 500 charities receive a share of over $20 million in Chase grants.

According to Erich Timmerman, JPMorgan Chase Spokesman, Chase Community Giving “has pointed the way toward a new paradigm for corporate giving” across three areas:

1. Removing  logistical barriers that small nonprofits often encounter with traditional corporate grant processes
2. Providing small, local, and newly established charities a national platform for visibility (and pushing them to utilize social media)
3. Allowing motivated individuals and communities a voice in philanthropic decisions that traditionally occur behind closed doors 

For the Fall 2012 Chase Community Givingprogram, Chase is calling for charity nominations from customers and employees through July 9.  Customers can make nominations at their  local Chase branch or by visiting Chase.com/ChaseGiving.  The public voting period on Facebook will be September 6 - 19.  The top 196 charities will share in $5 million in grants.  Visit Facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving to learn more. 

Why this program works

• It translates a national brand to the local community level by inviting fans to participate across the country and giving visibility to local charities. 
• It rewards smaller nonprofits by restricting charity eligibility to organizations with annual operating expenses of less than $10 million.
• It is inherently social, leveraging the Facebook platform and networks of Chase fans and charity supporters to spread participation.
• It encourages competition and spurs activity via social proof elements like leaderboards, vote tickers, social status update feeds.
• It has a low barrier to participation, but still rewards loyal customers (anyone can become a fan and vote, but only customers can nominate charities).

Why this program is even better in 2012

Chase respects the time and resources, not to mention social capital,  it takes for smaller nonprofits to rally their networks to compete for a share of $5 million in grants.  Not every nonprofit will come away a winner with a portion of that $5 million.  But they could earn a reward just for being nominated.  This year, Chase as added an extra $2.5 million to the program budget to reward all eligible nonprofits who receive and confirm their nomination by August 30.  Those nonprofits will automatically receive an equal share in $2.5 million.  This approach ensures that all participating charities walk away with a reward (and helps Chase validate entries in a timely and efficient fashion).

There is also a cool new mobile app for the contest this year, so stay tuned!