HANOVER, Germany, February 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

How do potential donors become aware of the Kibera Film School for Kenyan slum dwellers, of app development courses for underprivileged young people in the UK, or of micro-credit opportunities for Sudanese entrepreneurs? The online marketplace GlobalGiving.org links donors with grassroots initiatives worldwide. This idea - a global market for ideas, information and money that democratizes aid and philanthropy - was particularly compelling to the Leader in the Digital Age (LIDA) jury. The jury, consisting of economic buffs and leadership experts and chaired by Niedersachsen's Minister of Economic Affairs, awarded GlobalGiving co-founder Mari Kuraishi the Leader in the Digital Age Award, in the "Newcomer" category for 2013.

"GlobalGiving has not only revolutionized the way in which people can become involved in various issues. Its founders have also managed to constantly expand an innovative idea to form a successful non-profit enterprise in the course of the rapid development of digitalization," Minister Jörg Bode explained.

In 2002, Mari Kuraishi and her former World Bank colleague Dennis Whittle founded GlobalGiving. Their vision was to give a face to small locally-based initiatives who might not have a promotional budget or media attention, but have ideas worthy of support. The online platform GlobalGiving.org catalogs a wide range of tested projects from all over the world, organizing them by regional and thematic criteria. The platform allows private and institutional sponsors as well as CSR executives from companies to find individual development projects, no matter whether these have social, economic or ecological goals. The result: over the past 11 years, GlobalGiving has helped more than 7,000 projects raise more than € 74 million in donations.

Setting new standards

"We're honoured to be recognized as a leader in the Digital Age Award - it is a vindication of the idea of crowdsourcing great ideas to help make the world a better place," Mari Kuraishi comments. "It's particularly gratifying to have this be recognized outside the US, which is of course where we are based - it validates the global reach and appeal of our enterprise."

With the prize in the "Non-profit" category, the jury of the LIDA Award also honours Mari Kuraishi for her innovative business model. Member of the jury and LIDA initiator Dr. Willms Buhse remarked: "Mari Kuraishi and her team have impressively translated the principles of digitalization into practice. GlobalGiving sets new standards for visibility and efficiency in the procurement of social projects."

The LIDA Award in the "Non-profit" category and the other prizes in the categories "Managers", "Pioneers" and "Entertainment" are to be presented at the award-giving ceremony at the CeBIT on March 6^th, 2013. For more details please go to: http://www.lidaaward.com

A picture of Mari is ready for download at http://lidaaward.com/pressebereich/

The Leader in the Digital Age Award (LIDA Award):

The LIDA Award is presented on behalf of the Ministry of Economics, Labour and Transport of Niedersachsen. The aim of the award is to draw attention to future-proof management models promoting the principles of the digital age - openness, transparency and agility - and the people who develop them. The prize, which has been awarded since 2011, developed from cooperation between the Ministry of Economics of Niedersachsen and more than 20 well-known German companies under the leadership of Dr. Willms Buhse, expert for networked cooperation and founder of the management consultancy doubleYUU. The 2013 jury chaired by Minister Bode included the following people: Dr. Wolfram von Fritsch, Chairman of the Board of Deutsche Messe AG, Prof. Dr. Carsten Winter, Department of Journalism and Communication Research (IJK) at Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media (HMTMH), Thomas Spreitzer, CMO T-Systems International, Maria Gomez, Director Collaboration Solutions, IBM Germany, Herbert K. Haas, CEO Talanx AG, Cordelia Krooß, Senior Community Manager BASF and LIDA award-winner in the "Newcomers" category 2012 and Dr. Willms Buhse.

http://www.lidaaward.com

Please contact:

Ministry of Economics, Labour and Transport of Niedersachsen
Anne Neumann
T: +49-511-120-5427

doubleYUU
Anja Hahn
T: +49-40-33429594
anja.hahn@doubleyuu.com

SOURCE doubleYUU