Citizens around the world are starting to take more control of their giving at home and abroad. They want to dictate who they give to, what they give and want more direct contact with the individuals that they help to maximise the effectiveness of their assistance. This has led to an increase in what is now coined ‘Citizen Philanthropy’, and such activity is being driven in part due to frustration caused by CSO and government failure to respond quickly and transparently, but also because of new and accessible ICT resources. These citizens aim for tangible results from their actions and do not solely rely on CSOs and governments to decide how donations should be used. However, one study by the Wolfensohn Centre for Development entitled Do Philanthropic Citizens Behave Like Governments? Internet-Based Platforms and the Diffusion of International Private Aid compared KIVA and Global Giving (two citizen philanthropic websites) and found that ‘private aid and official aid are complementary: official aid supports countries, private aid supports people’. Therefore, as development assistance becomes even more fragmented there should be a better way for the citizen philanthropist, the CSO and governments to understand each other’s role and partner where necessary. As individuals take control of their philanthropy (See Volunteers fed up with slow pace of multinational relief effort in Haiti choose to go it alone as an example of this) and use intermediaries like Citizen Effect and various social networking sites to correspond directly with recipients, conversations about philanthropy will increasingly be not only about and among governments and registered CSOs but about and among the people who have benefited, those citizens who have individually and collectively helped and their related networks. Accessible technology and increased access to information from governments and CSOs should also enable everyone to understand how the work of one citizen has helped someone in need as well as supported the work of CSOs or/and governments.
