I think of ModestNeeds.Org as the philanthropic equivalent of distributed computing.

Many of us know firsthand the ways in which a relatively small amount of money at the right moment can make a big difference in someone's life.  Perhaps the electricity would otherwise be shut off; perhaps a parent would have to choose between buying groceries and taking a child to see a doctor; perhaps a worker would not be able to make a payment on a car that is badly needed for commuting to work.

If we are lucky, then we've had opportunities to experience these positive differences  as givers as well as receivers. 

The internet excels at connecting people who are geographically dispersed and need a  fast  and simple way to bring  resources and needs together. What I like about ModestNeeds.Org is that its founder, Keith Taylor, has invented a way use the internet to extend small but powerful acts of kindness far beyond the local community, by offering itself as an online clearinghouse for giving and receiving:
Modest Needs is a non-profit organization reaching out to the people conventional philanthropy has forgotten: hard-working individuals and families who suddenly find themselves faced with small, emergency expenses that they have no way to afford on their own....

To keep the giving process safe, the work we do Modest Needs takes place in a completely secure environment. The most sensitive areas of our website are encrypted by state-of-the-art secure digital certificates, and our online payment form is powered by Bank of America and Authorize.net, the leaders in secure online giving.

For a few years now, I've been intrigued by the research of Paul Schervish  and John Havens of the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy.  Their Boston Area Diary Study suggests that that volunteerism and charitable giving in our culture are seriously under-reported, and that
...when civic engagement is properly defined and measured there may in fact be no deterioration in the physical or moral density of associational life as is suggested by many contemporary commentators.

In other words, although philanthropy no longer looks like it did in the time when most people lived in small towns and interacted on a face-to-face basis, it is an activity and a spirit that is alive and well. I would love to see John and Paul deploying their skills as researchers to document the ModestNeeds phenomenon and its implications.