I got a good number of requests to vote for charities in the Chase Community Giving runoff on Facebook.  This is the latest of many such challenges by companies to give money to nonprofits that get the most votes.

Ignoring the corporate promotional fanfare, I fear that voting for corporate charity supplants giving by well-intentioned supporters who feel they did their duty by merely casting a vote on a Facebook page.  So that, when it comes time to make a cash donation, they’ll feel they’ve already contributed.

Plus, how many of these elections can a charity seek support for, before it becomes too many?  Even presidents are elected only every four years.  That’s a question for the social media scientists.  I suspect it depends on how you ask, who you ask and how well your constituents are engaged with you.

Is your organization participating in the corporate giving votes? Have you measured whether there’s an effect on cash donations?