Social network site for charities launched

WORLD REFUGEE DAY on June 21st will see an ambitious start-up Irish web company breaking cover.

Ammado, which has been in development for the past two years, is a social network for non-profit organisations and their supporters. It has already signed up more than 1,700 non-profits from 60 countries including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Amnesty International, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam and the Worldwide Fund for Nature.

The UN HCR is using Ammado to raise awareness of the plight of refugees with the online community. People are being encouraged to send in a photo of themselves making the universal symbol of a tent - both hands held over their head joined at the fingertips. The photos will be collected and displayed on UNHCR's dedicated page on Ammado at www.ammado.com/worldrefugeeday2008.

Founded in 2005, Ammado has actively tried to maintain a low profile as it built its platform - even asking bloggers to remove posts referring to it.

"We wanted to build it and get the non-profits engaged rather than tell everyone what we were doing," says chief executive and co-founder Peter Conlon.

Conlon is the serial technology entrepreneur who sold MV Technology, a maker of tools for electronics manufacturers, for more than €100 million in 2001. He subsequently founded Xsil which sells laser technology to the semi-conductor industry. The company was twice recognised as Ireland's fastest growing technology company, achieving 17,333 per cent growth in the five years to 2006, the last time it topped Deloitte's Fast 50. Conlon's co-founder is Anna Kupka, who was Xsil's legal counsel.

While a move into charity and Web 2.0 technologies might seem like a big change, Conlon doesn't see it like that. "It's very similar to the other companies because it's about scale, talent and intellectual property," he says matter of factly.

Ammado provides services free to non-profit organisations but charges corporate entities who can use it to promote their corporate social repsonsibility (CSR) initiatives. It also places "context sensitive" advertisements on the profile pages of non-profits which Conlon says will be more like sponsorships than the traditional banner ads seen on the web.

The company engaged in an extensive consultation process with charitable organisations around the world before launching.

"They are behind the curve in marketing and technology and this is a great tool to help them engage with social media," says Conlon.

The ambition, however, is to be much more than just a Facebook for charities. Ammado is currently adding features which will enable them to communicate with their supporters not only through its website but on services like Facebook, MySpace and blogs. The platform also allows non-profits, which can be anything from NGOs to university alumni organisations, to create their own private groups for internal communications.

"It's not just a social network but also a tool for corporates and charities to manage their social media," says Conlon. "We've made it easy to use so someone in the marketing department can change content without needing the help of a web developer."

Next month it will debut its most ambitous feature to date - a payment engine which will enable charities to accept donations through the site in 33 different currencies.

"It has taken us 18 months to negotiate and put this in place but it is a unique feature," says Conlon. "We want to make it easy for people to contribute but also to change where their money is going, e.g. in response to a disaster."

While Ammado occupies Conlon full-time, Xsil recently scaled back operations in Ireland in order to move closer to its customers in Asia but also due to his concerns over the cost of doing business here. Xsil retains an RD function in Ireland while Ammado's developers are split between Ireland, the Czech Republic and Serbia.

"I can go anywhere with this company - I'm not saying the HQ will stay here," says Conlon. "The organisations meant to be developing Irish industry really urgently need to address competitiveness."