Ed Norton has co-founded a new social networking charity site, Crowdrise.com, that allows members to recruit friends to donate their money and time to worthy causes. It’s an easy to use and compelling site with a great purpose. I found myself fascinated while browsing the causes, which include Gulf Coast Oil Spill cleanup and raising money to buy a truck for Maasai villagers. Norton started the project for the website about nine months ago, explaining he wanted to create an easy tool for people to fundraise. Celebrities with memberships include Will Ferrell and Seth Rogan. Will Ferrell is helping cancer survivors afford college, and is even giving away novelty sun tan lotion featuring photos of himself “nude” for every $17 donation. Here’s more from USA Today:

Crowdrise.com is not your typical charity site.
Its slogan is “If you don’t give back, no one will like you.” Dollars raised earn donors such titles as Doctor, Tsar, Sir and Dame.

And donating $17 toward scholarships for cancer survivors earns you a bottle of Will Ferrell’s “Sexy Hot Tan” sunscreen, emblazoned with the likeness of his Speedo-clad body.

Created by actor and activist Edward Norton, producer Shauna Robertson (Superbad, Knocked Up) and Robert and Jeffrey Wolfe (founders of the quirky online retailer Moosejaw), Crowdrise is harnessing the appeal of social networking to make giving go viral.

It’s “about getting people who are not sure their little bit makes a difference to feel persuaded that they can make a difference,” Norton says, and this “micro-giving” is the backbone of Crowdrise. The charity, which has been operating unpublicized since February, officially launched in May.

Users build a profile (called a “Charitable Life”), create project pages linked to their favorite registered non-profit organizations, encourage their social networks to donate and get other users to join them and raise money of their own, amplifying small amounts into bigger checks that Crowdrise cuts to the charities each month.

The site also gives those with little money to donate the chance to get others to sponsor their volunteer work — much like marathon runners get family and friends to back them, Norton says.

“One of the things we’re suggesting is that people should totally think of the ways that volunteering can be productive,” Norton says. “You say to your friends and family: ‘I’m giving my time and my skills, and I want to raise this much for this organization. Will you sponsor my volunteering?’ ”

Meanwhile, non-profit groups can create their own pages, gain followers and then mobilize them to quickly make fundraising goals for specific projects.

“The way the site flows, it can go person, project, charity,” says Robert Wolfe. “Or it can also go the opposite way: charity, project, person.”

Wolfe and his “shorter, smarter” brother Jeffrey, began working on the concept for Crowdrise after being inspired by President Obama’s fundraising campaign. They took their ideas for a test run during the New York City Marathon in November, helping Norton and his team of runners build a website that raised $1.2 million for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust.

After the marathon, the Wolfe brothers, Norton and Robertson joined forces to create Crowdrise, which, instead of focusing on a single charity, embraces hundreds of them.

[From USA Today]

I’ve heard that Ed Norton was involved in charity, and I remember him testifying in front of congress a couple of years ago about the conservation charity his grandfather founded, Enterprise Community Partners. I never knew the extent of Norton’s commitment until I checked out his page on Crowdrise. This gives him a pass for dating Courtney Love and generally being difficult to work with.

It’s a great concept and a very well executed site and it will surely attract more celebrities and members as awareness grows. You can learn more and help do your part at Crowdrise.com.