Have you noticed how “donations” and “charitable giving” has changed as a result of the digital age? Usually when we see those words, we think about physical donations like money, gifts, clothes, furniture, etc. Obviously this type of giving is still true these days (and may be even more true than a hundred years ago), but the digital age brought us virtual donations.

Things like Wikipedia, open source software development, and Folding@Home are all great examples of the new form of charitable giving people are taking part in these days. Each of these projects helps everyone throughout the world and only happen because there are people willing to donate their time and resources. It’s important that we appreciate these volunteers in the same way we appreciate volunteers building a home for Habitat for Humanity.