First, Get a Worthwhile Cause; Then Get Wired

In just the last few years, we've moved to a far more connected Internet. On any given day, I stay in touch with hundreds of people — real friends and Facebook "friends" — and they keep track of me through Facebook, via Twitter, by subscribing to blog feeds or Flickr feeds, or YouTube accounts.

That infrastructure of personal interaction allows for a kind of charitable involvement that is both personal and open to the world, what the microfinance pioneer Susan Davis terms "the philanthropy of you."