Social Networks Meant for Social Good, but at a Price

There's been an explosion of online intermediaries promising to help nonprofits raise money and awareness. Crowdrise, Jumo, Causecast, Causes on Facebook and others try to use social networking and crowdsourcing to build interest in charities and causes, and help them attract donations.

But for many nonprofits, the value remains to be seen. For one thing, they hand partial control over charity brand names and trademarks to users who are often unknown to the nonprofits they support. And virtually all of them ask users to pay to donate.