Chris Hughes, a Facebook founder, has launched Jumo, a social network that aims to connect donors and their charities, rather than facilitate donations. Jumo.com launched in beta on the 30th of November 2010, a Facebook-style site that allows users to “follow” charities and causes.
Not surprisingly, the site requires a user to login using his or her Facebook account, then select categories of causes that the user wishes to support. Spotlighted issues include climate change, clean drinking water and disaster relief, with partners such as Partners in Health and the Akshaya Patra Foundation.
News articles, Twitter posts and YouTube videos will be added to the pages, and users can add their own feedback and comments, just like Facebook. It appears that Jumo has created its own pages that aren’t necessarily in partnership with specific charities; the Akshaya Patra Foundation page, for example, asks “Is This Your Organization?” and seeks an administrator for the page.
Users can follow a specific cause or organization, but it wasn’t exactly clear how users could contribute to or interact with the charity of their choice. Jumo representatives could not be immediately reached for comment.
The site is certainly not the first to combine social networking and philanthropy. Causes, a Facebook application, also encourages donations from members, as does GlobalGiving.org. And a number of celebrities are “digitally dying” for World AIDS Day, pulling themselves off of Facebook and Twitter until a threshold of donations is met.