Ben Rattray — American Businessman born on June 16, 1980,

Benjamin Michael "Ben" Rattray is the founder and CEO of the online petition website Change.org, which he founded in 2007. Rattray was included in the 2012 Time 100 list of the world's most influential people, listed as one of Fortune's 40 Under 40 rising young business leaders of 2012, and given the Commonwealth Club of California's 21st Century Visionary Award in 2014... (wikipedia)

In college, I was always disappointed by lectures that covered social problems but failed to identify what I could do to change them. Part of the problem was that many professors simply didn't believe they had a role in converting awareness to action.
I was always interested in social change but never actually did anything about it.
There are a lot of complaints by the older generation about the lack of action in this generation. My retort: give these people something to be engaged in. Cutting a check is not engaging.
Social networking technology didn't really exist until 2004-2005. I had the idea to use this technology to bridge this gap between a general interest in addressing social issues and the practical action.
Some charities treat donors like cash machines. Until now there hasn't been any effective way for them to provide a more personal or interactive giving experience.