While 2004 ended with one of the planet's worst-ever natural disasters, 2005 seems to be opening with the promise of hope -- even in the online world:
- Google announced that it's starting its own charitable foundation. The organization will share 1% of Google's equity and profits. And considering that their stock was over $196 this morning, that promises to be fair contribution.
- Yahoo donated a storefront which has collected over $5 million for the American Red Cross as of this morning.
- Amazingly, Amazon has collected over $14 million for the ARC on their site. They've posted a prominent button on their homepage which leads right to a disaster relief page.
- AOL is featuring a link to Network for Good for tsunami aid and MSN has a bold red link on its homepage, which leads to an MSNBC page collecting for CARE and the Red Cross. eBay is also pitching in.
- Other online sites are collecting much needed funds as well. Sites for the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders are receiving a good deal of publicity both online and off.
- The US government has posted a list of reputable charities accepting online donations.
It's inspiring to see the World Wide Web (literally) pulling together to aid those affected by the disaster in South Asia. In an industry associated more with excess than charity, this amazing effort is especially resonant.
....but then, of course, you've got stories like this one, about the kid in Toronto trying to sell the domain name "tsunamirelief.com" for $50,000 on eBay. It sullies the good name of netizens everywhere. Unless, of course, he really is trying to raise the money for charity, as his mother contends.
Even so, I remain optimistic about 2005. With the industry leaders paving the way, this could be a very different -- and very exciting -- year.
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