Social networking application raises $10m

Celina Ribeiro, Professional Fundraising

A social networking application has raised US$10m for charity in two years, half of which was raised in the first six months of this year.

Causes, which runs on both MySpace and Facebook, was launched in May 2007 to a slow start, raising just $2.5m in the first year of its existence.

In the first half of 2009 alone, however, the application has raised more than $5m.

Nearly 200,000 donors have given via Causes. The 'Birthday Wish' facility, whereby a user asks friends to donate to a specific charity on their birthday, has raised $1.4m.

The Facebook user audience has grown significantly in the time since the application launched – currently standing at over 200 million active users, compared to 50 million in October 2007. The fastest-growing demographic on the social network is users aged over 35 years.

MySpace meanwhile has had a more steady growth, standing at around 125 million users as of the end of 2008.