What is JUMO and why should you care?
Jumo, launched on November 30th by one of the founders of Facebook, purports to be a “Yelp for Charities”
Here are some screenshots. You “Create Your Account,” then “Select your Interests”
How JUMO Works-Add your interests!
And then Select “Charities to Follow”
I was pleased to see Planned Parenthood and the 826 center in there, less pleased to see the Austin Urban League, which still has a “malware, infected site” error when I go to “http://aaul.org” versus “http://www.aaul.org.” I mean really, COME ON. There’s NO PROCESS for a charity to deserve to be on this site.
Once you’ve selected various charities to follow, the charities’ news feed shows up on your page, just like on Facebook. In fact, the whole thing looks and feels exactly like Facebook. You can even “like” charities there.
What JUMO looks like, on the inside
The difference is that you can get a sense of similar charities on the side, like stumbling upon them in a dictionary. For example:
“Synonyms for JUMO: A facebook tool, yet another platform for charities”
Antonyms for JUMO: Yelp for Charities, a place to actually find out what charities are really doing”
I didn’t see ANYWHERE to rate charities. All you could do is “like” things, and as usual, because it’s facebook, there’s no “dislike” button.
You can add your charity, as long as you’ve got the EIN number. Here’s a screenshot.
Jumo Adding An Organization Screenshot
There doesn’t seem to be any criteria for adding a charity. It’s not like they vet charities and then add them. It’s like anyone can sign up.
As far as I’m concerned, the fact that you’ve got to have a facebook login is a BIG MINUS.
Think about what Facebook stands for: Breaches of your privacy. Invasive Ads. Selling Your Information to the Highest Bidder. And anything you post on there is theirs, in perpetuity. I could go on.
Aside: So I got off of Facebook last year, because it wasn’t adding value to my life. You can bet that I created a spam email account and then a facebook account without my real name, just to log in and see what this was about.
It may still be in beta, but if it wants to be a place where people can, you know, rate charities, you’d think that they would have a more comprehensive rating system in place aside from “Liking” something.
For example, oh, I don’t know, like a, “On a scale of 1-10, do you think this nonprofit is accomplishing its mission? Have you visited their program site? Have you volunteered there? Been helped by its programs? Seen the good work first hand?”
It’s not difficult to rate charities in an even marginally meaningful way. Look at CharityNavigator.org.
It IS more difficult to rate charities in a comprehensive and meaningful way. But that is precisely what Givewell.org is trying to do. They’ve even created a DIY charity evaluation section of their website, of key questions to ask nonprofits to vet them. And they’ve categorized them by type of nonprofit.
If all JUMO is going to do is rate charities based on the Like button, (a meaningless distinction which will probably tell you which charities have spent the most on marketing), they really have no reason to exist at all.
So, until JUMO gets some more meaningful way to rate charities, don’t bother signing up.
