Today I bought a subscription to a bunch of coupon magazines and newspaper that I don’t need. I am not exactly in a state where I can afford to really do that, but the main reason for my ‘civil’ act is behind the scene. This random guy knocked on my main door and my roommates (who were playing pool in the game floor) opened up. Standing before them, eyes wavering, skinny frame shivering (it’s freezing here in Baltimore), was this guy who wanted to sell us stuff we won’t buy normally.

My one roommate made his way 3 floors up, “Tolu, do you have some money for this guy?” he started, “he said he’s selling coupon magazines and newspaper subscriptions to pay his way through college”. Ofcourse I said no, he’s probably just another guy looking for a quick buck. “No, seriously man, he looks needy, come see him.”

I ended up parting with the money, but I asked myself what made me change my mind with 2 seconds of laying my eyes on the guy? Is it because he looked really needy? or because It’s my duty to give to the less fortunate, according to my mom?

Fact: This guy is about my age (24), should be out of college and could be holding a Master’s degree by now, but he’s just about to start college. That could be me! That could be anyone! It’s really been down to the kindness of my parents and grace of God that I am here today. I wonder though, what inspires/motivates people to give?

We have recently revamped the "donate time" feature on causerific and made it easier to not only pick when works best for you as a donor, but also makes it easier for cause creators to track who and what was donated. We have made it into a calendar-like app, that lets you select a date, and then a duration of time.

Check out this new feature and many other changes we've made, and send us your feedback! Thanks a bunch.

-Tolu.

As things pick up with Causerific, it is my goal to help out a select cause/charity listed on the site once every month. The plan is to randomly pick one cause on the website (http://www.causerific.com) and donate money to that cause. At some point along the line, I will like to donate to more than one cause every month, but that 'point' is not now unfortunately :(

This month, I have personally decided to donate $500 to a select cause/charity on September 25, 2010. Only causes listed on the website between yesterday 8th September and 15th september are eligible. Goodluck!

p.s. If you or your brand would like to sponsor one of these monthly donations (doesn't have to be $500), feel free to reach out to us via email. info(at)causerific.com

Tolu.

Thanks to everyone who has sent us suggestions, questions and feedbacks! We appreciate all of your efforts and I am constantly working to improve the quality of the service. In response to a few questions I got earlier this week, I wanted to go through how to make the most of Causerific. You will always notice changes to the website as I intend to keep adding new features, so nothing is granted to remain the same over time. As far as what we have for now:

Causerific is an online platform for anyone to raise money, awareness and man-power for anything they want to do. If you are looking to move apartments and need a helping hand, post the cause, you never know who is around you that will offer to help you out for a few hours. If you are keen to help the local orphanage in your neighborhood build a playground for the kids, why not post it on Causerific, to recruit a few hand, raise some money and even press coverage! That's the point of Causerific. Nothing is too serious to be listed as a cause and nothing is too ordinary either.

To post a cause on Causerific:

1.) Click on the "CREATE A CAUSE & RAISE FUNDS NOW!" tab or sign-up for an account.

2.) Sign into your new account

3.) Click on "Add Cause" at the top of the page

4.) Provide the cause information including how much you want to raise, how many hours of labor you seek and duration of the cause. Also include you Paypal acct. and/or Venmo phone number if you intend to raise funds.

5.) Upload videos and pictures to help validate your cause

6) Share it with the world and start raising funds!

To donate to a cause:

1.) If you wish to donate money, enter how much you wish to donate in dollars and hit submit

2.) If you wish to donate time, enter how many hours you wish to donate and on what day, then hit submit

If there's a cause you really like, don't forget to share it with your friends and the rest of the Causerific community by giving it a positive rating and posting either via e-mail or twitter and/or Facebook.

We are always looking to hear from you, so feel free to drop us a message at info(at)causerific.com

After 4 weeks of work and planning, I finally released my latest project today, 15th August to the public. As expected, it is only a partial beta release. I say ‘partial beta release’ because there’s a lot of growth space for the project and many things I plan to add. Ok back to the basics, I hadn’t made much noise about Causerific prior to today, not because I wanted to keep it from people but primarily because I needed to focus on making it simple, building it right and getting it to the point where I thought it was worth sharing.

My idea for Causerific is simple: A platform for anyone who needs help, to come share this need with the world and find people who are willing/able to help. With Causerific, I want people to be able to post any “need” whatsoever and get it out there to the world. With that in mind, I made it possible for people to come in and donate money to a good cause or donate their time (by physically offering hep). Over time, there will be other ways people will be looking to offer help and ways to track these offerings. That’s the focus of the next update.

To create a cause you must sign up/in. I have tried to make the process as simple as possible and feedback/suggestion is very welcome. A key component of the site is the location and maps feature. With this feature, you can check in at your current location and find causes close to where you are. Some causes are listed as ‘global’ and others as ‘local’.

In conclusion, Causerific is simply a platform to connect people and so it is your important responsibility to verify the validity of causes before you donate time, donate money or even recommend it to people. Read the reviews, call the phone number listed or email the cause creator to find out how valid this cause is. At the moment, Causerific doesn’t verify, it is something we have in the works though. I certainly hope you enjoy using Causerific and find a way of making a difference in the world.

Causerific is on Twitter and Facebook.