YourCause is a network for connecting users with non-profit organizations and others looking to make a positive difference. It does so by creating a community where users can choose a cause and promote it by creating their own dedicated Web page for it. It's up to the individual users to help promote their personal dedication to a particular cause, which is connected to the charity itself via YourCause.
In order to make this connection, YourCause has partnered with Network for Good (sponsored by its founding partners AOL, Yahoo, and Cisco), in order to make sure that donations are securely processed. So when a user joins YourCause, they can create a cause, describe why they're passionate about this cause, and then choose from YourCause's list of related charities that are currently accepting donations.
In some ways YourCause becomes a marketing platform for non-profits that would like to look to social media for more personal ways in which to get their message across--through another individual's support. When you create a cause, you're creating a Web page that contains information about yourself and the charity you support. It's through this Web page that your cause is promoted to your own social graph, and other users on YourCause.
There are two plan levels for YourCause that you can use for this promotion: the free plan lets you have a basic page within the YourCause network while the premium plan (about $10 per month) gives you a publishing platform to share blog entries, photos and videos, while also tracking donations, offering an email marketing system and an e-commerce store. Some of these features aren't yet live, but will all be part of the premium package offering.