Mission:
The Touch DC Coalition encourages citizens in the Washington, D.C. area to become regular donors to local nonprofit organizations providing critical services in the community. Its local Web portal, TouchDC.org, helps area residents find out about the great work of local nonprofits and provides a safe and convenient way for people to give and to volunteer.

Background:
The enormous philanthropic response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 revealed a previously untapped donor base in the Washington, D.C. area. To help potential donors and volunteers become more involved in the community, a group of community leaders from the nonprofit, foundation, and business sectors came together under the leadership of Washington Grantmakers to create Touch DC. The group launched the TouchDC.org Web site in late November 2002 with support from the AOL Time Warner Foundation in an effort to spur local support for nonprofits in the face of reduced foundation and corporate giving and looming government cutbacks. The site is powered by Network for Good, GuideStar, and VolunteerMatch.

Outstanding Feature:
D.C.-area Web users who spend a few minutes on the TouchDC.org Web site may find themselves pulling out credit cards to make a donation or checking their schedules to fit in some volunteer time. The home page allows visitors to find organizations simply by entering keywords and selecting a location for donations or choosing an interest area and typing in a zip code for volunteer opportunities. More advanced searches are also available. To browse charities featured by Touch DC, users can click on links to eleven issues from Animals to Youth Development. Each issue page offers brief descriptions of several local charities working in the field.