Peer-to-peer charities

Peer-to-peer charities, also known as P2P charities, P2P philanthropy and crowdfunding are charities and nonprofit organizations that create direct connections between funders, donors, and recipients of donations, usually mediated through the internet.

Earlier models, such as child sponsorship programs from Save the Children and World Vision do not necessarily offer the same degree of direct connection of donations; in most cases, the children do not directly receive checks, an administrative fee is levied, and the money is often pooled and then used for programming in the child's village. source

Peer-to-peer charities are different because they guarantee that if you give $1 to a person, that person will receive exactly $1. Donations from many donors are pooled to build up a fund to purchase what the person needs.

See also: Person-to-person lending