Web wonders
web of hope
How can you use the internet to create a fairer world? Here are three inspiring examples
www.engodsag.dk
shopping for a better world
Founded by: jonathan løw, 29, and mads ellegaard, 37 århus, denmark
Engodsag.dk, launched in 2004, enables internet shoppers to donate to their favourite charity every time they shop online. Users decide where the donation goes, but the business they buy from makes the donation. Co-founder Jonathan Løw contacted Mads Ellegaard after reading his book E-kampagnen, about internet marketing, and Engodsag.dk was born.
Jonathan says: “I had this idea of combining charity and the internet and arranged a meeting with Mads to talk about it. We asked ourselves, ‘Can we do this together?’ That was five years ago.
“We wanted to see whether we could use the internet to collect money for charity, money these organisations would never receive otherwise. We developed a simple computer program that the shopper has to download. It’s as small as a Word document so it only takes ten seconds. Every time you buy a product online – like your next Sterling ticket, for example – Sterling makes a donation to the charity of your choice. Most donations are made as a percentage of the total order, ranging from 1% up to 30%, though mostly around 6% to 7%. We have 5,000 participant online shops worldwide, including Dell, eBay and Amazon.
“We wanted to make a difference, not only in Denmark, but in the whole world. It makes good business sense for the companies who take part too, as they attract more customers and it gives them a positive image.
“The first three years were very hard. We both had other jobs and there were never enough hours in the day. Today, the website has 150,000 users per week, we have twelve employees and we want to take on seven more. And we both now work on the site full time.
“In March this year we reached a total of DKK 3m (€402,000) raised for charity. That was a fantastic moment. We never dared to hope we could ever raise an amount like that! This autumn we’ll expand to seven other countries: the USA, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden.”
www.digidi.dk
fair trade music
founded by: henrik leschly, 44, and jens rud, 45 copenhagen, denmark
DiGiDi (for DiGital Distribution), founded in 2003, gives members the chance to distribute their music worldwide, through iTunes and 60 other online shops, without intervention by agents, record companies or middlemen. It was founded by internet consultant Henrik Leschly who runs the website as a sideline.
Henrik says: “It’s extremely exciting to experience the power of the internet, and to see how it can change the world. Musicians can distribute their music worldwide, without having to ask anyone first. And without any what I call ‘commercial censorship’. The music goes directly from the musician to the consumer. You could compare it to Fair Trade coffee: when you buy the music, you support the people who make it. The basic idea is that everyone should have equal access to free distribution of their work, now that the internet has provided the possibility for virtually free distribution.
“DiGiDi is a co-operative society, where the shareholders each own an equal share. All the profits are distributed among the shareholders. Our goal is to ensure maximum earnings for the musicians, with up to 80% of the turnover going directly to them.
“We don’t have names like Britney Spears, Michael Jackson or Madonna, but we do have a number of well-known bands like KNA Connected, as well as older bands like Laid Back, who still have a host of fans. DiGiDi provides great opportunities for upcoming bands, particularly. In 2007, we paid DKK 1m (€134,000) to our musicians.
“I really felt we’d made a breakthrough when we received a grant from Danida, the Danish humanitarian organisation in developing countries. It made me realise that there were others who could understand my dream. We then started working with Ghanaian artists and there are currently 20 musicians in Ghana who can make a living out of their music in this way. Now we are trying to spread the idea to other developing countries.”
www.refunite.org
helping refugees connect
founded by: david, 33, and christopher troensegaard mikkelsen, 29 copenhagen, denmark
Refugees United, founded in 2005, has created a global, online database providing refugees with an anonymous way to seek missing family and loved ones. Refugees can register under nicknames, identifying scars, their village name, birth year and so on. This way they can contact each other in a secure environment, in their own language.
David Troensegaard Mikkelsen and his brother Christopher were making a short documentary about integration in Denmark in 2005 when they met a young refugee from Afghanistan called Mansour.
David says: “Mansour was 17 and had fled from Afghanistan five years earlier with his parents and five siblings. But only Mansour ended up in Denmark. At the time he was searching for his younger brother, Ali. We wanted to help him, and contacted different refugee authorities, but got nowhere.
“Here in the West, everyone can find lots of information on the internet – where somebody lives, works, and much more. You can find all sorts of helpful facts on search engines. But if you’re a refugee and you need to find your relations without publishing information, such as your name and whereabouts, the internet is no use at all. There’s no search engine that can help. So we decided to create a global database that refugees would be able to use anonymously.
“We took out a bank loan and started this website. We thought we could do it in six months, but that’s three years ago now. Our challenge has been to build the search engine well right from the start, and to lay the right foundation for growth and impact. Finding sponsors hasn’t proven too difficult: everyone has family and can imagine how hard it must be to lose them. The new Refunite site was launched on 1 July this year, in many different languages. Our goal for 2009 is 50,000 database registrations.
“We finally did locate Mansour’s brother, Ali, in Russia, where he’d been sold as a slave. We organised a meeting between the brothers in Moscow, which was a very moving occasion. Now we’re helping Mansour find the rest of his family. But we have to emphasise that our goal is not to physically reunite refugees ourselves, but to give them the tools to find lost loved ones themselves.”
Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen (Le Ciffre in James Bond) is Goodwill Ambassador for the project. For the star, it wasn’t hard to see the benefit of Refunite: “What would you do if you were separated from your children, your spouse, siblings or parents while fleeing your country?,” he says. “Third world refugees don’t have the power or possibilities necessary. But now Refugees United offers that helping hand free of charge.”
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