They were all supposed to be technological middlemen, connecting Internet users with good causes. At its peak, Charitableway of San Carlos, Calif., had 120 employees and millions of dollars in start-up cash from hopeful investors. Most of the workers have been told their last day will be March 26. Adam Goozh, president of CreateHope, an online philanthropy service still in business in Bethesda, Md., said that many companies jumped into e-philanthropy too fast, too soon, without understanding traditional philanthropy. Sandy Schlesinger, a New York City attorney who advises charities, foundations and wealthy individuals, also tries to create hope.
Nobody likes to lose money.
But you have a lot of people now who are not used to losing at all, ever, because it's just been up, up, up. Research by the Independent Sector, a Washington-based coalition of more than 700 nonprofits, foundations and corporations, supports the idea that people give less when they have financial worries. Its latest in-depth national survey, in 1998, showed that only 55 percent of respondents who worried a lot about money made charitable contributions. We have had some layoffs, but there have also been new jobs created. So the effect is almost neutralized.