MANILA, Philippines -- A Facebook-like service for non-profit and non-government organizations (NGOs) showed local organizations how social networks can be used as effective means to raise funds and attract potential donors worldwide, an executive said.

“Social network services are social engagement tools,” said Joeri Gianotten, Ammado.com director for Asia Pacific who was in Manila to discuss about his company during Microsoft NGO Day, where hundreds of local NGOs were invited.

Social networks like Change.org or Ammado.com are now providing non-profit and NGOs a virtual platform to connect to a bigger community of donors, Gianotten said.

Similar to how social network Facebook has allowed people to connect to other people, social networks like Ammado are even becoming effective tools for smaller NGOs to manage volunteers,” added Gianotten.

He cited the story of an Indian non-government organization that was able to connect to a United States-based non-profit organization that was donating toys to children through Ammado. Since the Indian organization could not afford such a large shipment, the US organization eventually led a campaign to get donors to finance the shipment of the toys to the Indian organization.

Gianotten also shared the story of a small Filipino organization based in Ormoc that used social networking to get donations from people worldwide to fund livelihood projects for locals.

Ammado.com was founded by serial entrepreneur Peter Conlon and Anna Kupka to connect NGOs to global private or institutional donors, according to the executive. While the concept was born in 2005, Ammado.com only came out of a closed beta in June this year.

“Now small organizations can easily reach out to the world,” Gianotten said.

Ammado.com currently provides free services to NGOs and non-profit organizations. They only need to sign up and create their unique profile, similar to creating a profile in Facebook or other social networking sites. There are over 2,000 NGOs and non-profit organization members from over 100 countries, Gianotten said.

Gianotten said that corporations, however, have to register and pay to join the social network. Essentially, fees collected from corporations go to the maintenance and operations of the social network, he added.

Turner Broadcasting was among its first corporate client, he said.

Ammado.com will soon launch a so-called “donation circle,” which is a “giving platform” for members of the social network. Donations from this giving platform will go to the Ammado Foundation.