During this month's Net Tuesday in San Francisco, Matt Flannery and Pim Techamuanvivit talked about how web-based fundraising works because of community and trust.  Why does that community and trust work?  Because we are a small world.  

Today Randal Moss of FI Space posted about an ABC Primetime report called the "Human Chain":

The social experiment was conducted in New York and followed two Manhattanintes as they tried to leverage their social circles to create a direct consistent human chain to a boxer in Brooklyn. The experiment was a real life examination of the Karinthy Frigyes and then Stanley Milgram's Small World theory. As it turns out it took one participant 5 steps to reach his goal and it took the second participant 6 steps to reach her goal. Duncan Watts was interviewed as well adding an academic perspective amongst the limos and frantic cell phone calls.

More interesting was that ABC then turned the tables and gave the Brooklyn boxer, Petey Pierre, the opportunity to try and create his own chain to Broadway Dancer Heather Parcells. The friends who were over watching last night thought it impossible. Petey Pierre himself thought it impossible. But Petey Pierre created a direct human chain in just 5 steps.

Part of the popular Raising More Money model involves nonprofits hosting events with table captains who invite friends and family to join their table.  The next year, the participants of that table are asked if they would like to host a table and invite their friends. Each year the event grows bigger and bigger with the circles of community expanding until you have a base of constituents who share common interests, values and ultimately know each other through a certain number of degrees of separation.

What web-based fundraising tools do you know of that leverage the human chain?

Photo credit: Chain of Time by Tomas Hellberg.