<UPDATE>Jen sent me her comment and I'm posting it above my advertising below.
</UPDATE>
I received a request to help Unicef raise some US$20,000 a while back. The fellow who sent me the request pinged some 1,000 people. I think I passed it on to probably another 250. Others on his list may have done the same.
Let's say conservatively that maybe 1,500 people got pinged. The fellow who pinged me included in his ping that if everybody he knew donated just US$20, Unicef's goal -- bringing fresh water to an African village -- would be met.
The end result?
US$2,591
US$2,591???
I looked at the donation list. Most of the people donating were donating upwards of US$25.
And still, the US$25,000 goal wasn't met???
Just so everybody's clear on the concept, I'm upset by this poor showing.
I consider myself fairly fluent in the psychologies and sociologies of altruism, of social networks, group dynamics, ..., so this poor showing isn't surprising, merely upsetting.
Fortunately, you still have a chance to take part.
'Nuff said?
<JEN'S COMMENT>
Just can't stay away from this site, eh? :)
I participated without publicizing and also posted the link to my 200 Facebook friends, and I was also shocked/disappointed by the result of the fundraising.
I am commenting though because you didn't explain the formula in the title - are you teasing your loyal readers?!
Sorry about that, Jen. I wasn't teasing, I've just been busy the past few weeks putting the finishing touches on NextStage's Level 1 Sentiment Analysis tool and have been thinking in neuromathematics equations for a while. The equation translates to "Charity is a function of personal and/or group altruism (± 2db of variance)".
Thanks for the catch and thanks for reading and commenting. - Joseph
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