Earlier this summer Oklahoma was hit by devastating tornadoes. I was on Facebook at the time looking through my friends passionate posts that ultimately did nothing to help the victims. I thought it would be cool if Facebook could turn the chatter into action, and came up with an idea to fund disaster relief efforts. I sent a pitch to Facebook, but never got a response. So I posted part of my email to Facebook here.

Updated: I sent this in over the summer, and though I never got a response, Facebook announced a “Donate Button” earlier this Fall: Facebook announces a launch button.

Facebook is in a unique position to do social good because its number of active users is unparalleled. It’s simple, really. A Facebook-sponsored ad that invites users to contribute to charitable causes. With this service, Facebook has the potential to be the ultimate crowd funder while changing the world in a positive way, improving the network’s public image, and, yes, making money.

I’ll walk through how this would be an effective Facebook feature. Let’s say that it is January 12th 2010, and a 7.0m earthquake has just devastated Haiti. It is the only story on the morning news, and friends from all over your Facebook feed are posting statuses about it: “praying for Haiti;” “My heart goes out to all the victims;” “Stay strong Haiti, help is on the way.” Fewer people on your feed are posting links to organizations such as the Red Cross, rallying their friends to contribute to the Hurricane relief effort. Still others are telling friends to text numbers to donate to the effort.

The point is Facebook, as evidenced by its reaction to the Haiti Earthquake and other tragedies, is already being used as a portal for philanthropic dollars.

But it is being used inefficiently.

Imagine if directly after an incident like the earthquake in Haiti, Facebook itself took the lead on the fundraising effort. Consider what Facebook has the potential to do, in case of an event as dramatic as the catastrophe in Haiti. A notification that resembled a Facebook sponsored ad would show up in users newsfeed, simultaneously informing them of the incident and soliciting a small amount of money. Within hours Facebook could raise millions of dollars by asking for as little as $.50 per user. Of course many would not donate, but a combination of tracking a stated goal (i.e. 3 million dollars) and the friendly peer pressure of seeing friends who have contributed would almost insure funds were raised—and raised quickly.

Beyond large incidents like hurricanes and earthquakes, Facebook would be able to act as an effective vehicle for local campaigns. Whether this be fundraising for a local Boys & Girls club, or national political campaigns; for ubiquitous NGOs, or fledgling start-ups. Facebook is already a medium for philanthropy and crowd funding. Capitalizing on this fact is a natural next step.

On a closely related tangent, this initiative could help bolster another underutilized Facebook feature that has not yet reached its potential: Facebook Stories could be an ideal benficiary. Imagine after the hypothetical philanthropic goal of 3 million dollars for Haiti relief was reached, Facebook ran a story highlighting how the money was spent and the positive impact that the world had come together to create. These stories would extend to a crowd funded school in Guatemala, a new village water pump in Nepal, a long awaited computer lab in Fayetteville, North Carolina — the possibilities for inspirational stories are limitless.

Facebook could monetize on this initiative in the same way Apple monetizes from its App store. Users will willingly submit their credit card information to donate small amounts to charitable causes. This will make it easier for other Facebook features to sell products. For example, I have yet to send a Starbucks gift card to a friend on their birthday but I would be much more inclined if all I were required to do was click a button and put in my password. This same idea goes for in-game purchases that I have never made while playing Mafia Wars, but would consistently make while playing Angry Birds on my iPhone.

Monetizing through crowd funding would be more standard. I’ll stick with the political campaign example and suggest that a political campaign would pay Facebook for the opportunity to allow their supporters to raise money for them on Facebook. This idea extends to movies and other startups once the DREAM act goes into effect.

In Facebook’s short time it has done a marvelous job of connecting the globe. But I believe that it is time to solidify those bonds of mutual friendships and checked-in locations with the tangible assembly of improving our world together. Facebook has positioned itself as the only company capable of carrying this out successfully.