More consumer-directed community giving

The crowdsourced, corporate-sponsored community improvement projects are coming fast and furious. Last month we wrote about the USD 20 million Pepsi Refresh Project—which itself is reminiscent of Google’s Project 10 to the 100th—when one of our spotters alerted us to a like-minded effort from insurance provider Aviva Canada. The Aviva Community Fund competition was created to give Canadians a voice in bringing lasting change to their local communities. With a total of CDN 500,000 set aside, the company first invited Canadian consumers to submit their community improvement ideas to the effort’s website. There, ideas competed for a spot in the semifinals over three rounds of voting between mid-October and late November. Winners were announced yesterday, and include a lodge for a P.E.I. residential camp for families of the chronically ill, and a new playground for a school in Brantford, Ontario. As the world suffers through the results of the corporate excesses that helped bring this recession on, there’s nothing like some well-placed corporate generosity to help win back the disgusted masses. Add to that a way for consumers to direct the giving, and you just may have the beginnings of a confidence recovery plan. (Related: Canadian credit union gives people ten-dollar bills to give away — Crowdsourcing economic solutions for Ireland — Waitrose lets customers direct its community giving.) Spotted by: Patrick Glinski