Getting Better at Charity

While I know it's strange to blog about obituaries twice in one week (unless you're this blog), I do want to comment on the NJ Herald. They took an interesting step this past week when they updated their website. If you look at this obit, you'll see that they give you a link at the bottom to donate to the charity mentioned in the obituary. I think this is a logical thing to do, and I am surprised this is the first time I'm seeing it. It puts the charity request in a convenient spot to benefit from the emotions of the reader. There's an immediate "ask".

However, it still requires you to click and go to a different website (and enter payment info). Once websites get a little better at talking with each other, we'll see Paypal and Google Checkout integrated right there on the NJ Herald site. By linking the payment process with the emotional experience, and not the experience of filling out a check or trying to find your credit card number, it will make it more enjoyable for the person donating and boost funds for the charity. The dead person will probably remain indifferent.

Also, my condolences.

Also, can you believe the NJ Herald updated their website? As a result, I recommend avoiding air travel this week. There's bound to be some flying pigs sucked into jet engines.

[update: After more thorough investigation, it turns out the Herald is still a bit lazy. If the charity suggested by the family is not a major one, they don't make any effort to direct readers to the proper site; instead they keep recommending the same 3 or 4 charities regardless of what the person actually died of. C'mon, Herald.]