NetAid is an anti-poverty initiative. It started as a joint venture between the United Nations Development Programme

United Nations Development Programme

The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 177 countries, working with nations on their own solutions to...

 and Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...

. It became an independent nonprofit organization in 2001. In 2007, NetAid became a part of Mercy Corps. NetAid is focused on raising awareness of extreme poverty and raising money for anti-poverty projects.

Launch concerts

The organization began with a concert event on October 9, 1999 with simultaneous activities meant to harness the Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 to raise money and awareness for the Jubilee 2000

Jubilee 2000

Jubilee 2000 was an international coalition movement in over 40 countries that called for cancellation of third world debt by the year 2000. This movement coincided with the Great Jubilee, the celebration of the year 2000 in the Catholic Church...

 campaign. Concerts took place at Wembley Stadium in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Giants Stadium

Giants Stadium

Giants Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Maximum seating capacity was 80,242. The building itself was 230.5 m long, 180.5 m wide and 44 m high from service level to the top of the seating bowl and 54 m high to...

 in New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 and the Palais des Nations

Palais des Nations

The Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, was built between 1929 and 1936 to serve as the headquarters of the League of Nations. It has served as the home of the United Nations Office at Geneva since 1946 when the Secretary General of the UN signed a Headquarters Agreement with the Swiss...

 in Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

. The Wembley show was at capacity; the U.S. show suffered from very poor ticket sales.

Performers at Wembley Stadium included:
Eurythmics

Eurythmics

Eurythmics were a British pop rock duo, formed in 1980, currently disbanded, but known to reunite from time to time. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A...

 (who played first), The Corrs

The Corrs

The Corrs are an Irish band which combine pop rock with traditional Celtic folk music. The brother and sisters are from Dundalk, Ireland. The group consists of the Corr siblings: Andrea ; Sharon ; Caroline ; and Jim .The Corrs came to international prominence with their performance at the...

, Catatonia

Catatonia (band)

Catatonia were an alternative rock band from Wales who gained a national following in the United Kingdom in the mid to late 1990s. The band consisted of Cerys Matthews on vocals, Mark Roberts on guitar, Paul Jones on bass , Owen Powell on...

, Bush

Bush (band)

Bush are an alternative rock band formed in London in 1992 shortly after vocalist/guitarist Gavin Rossdale and guitarist Nigel Pulsford met in a London nightclub. Realising they shared a love for such diverse artists as the Pixies, Bob Marley, The Jesus Lizard, MC5, Nirvana, Hüsker Dü, and Big...

, Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams, is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, actor and photographer. Adams has won dozens of awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations. He has also received 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written...

, George Michael

George Michael

George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...

, David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

, Stereophonics

Stereophonics

The Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band now living in turners x that formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in Cynon Valley, Wales. The band currently comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Kelly Jones, bassist and backing vocalist Richard Jones, drummer Javier Weyler, guitarist and backing...

 and Robbie Williams

Robbie Williams

Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...

.

Performers at Giants Stadium included:
Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...

, Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page

James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...

, Busta Rhymes

Busta Rhymes

Trevor Tahiem Smith, Jr., better known by his stage name Busta Rhymes ,Smith is an American rapper, producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the alias Busta Rhymes after NFL wide receiver George "Buster" Rhymes...

, Counting Crows

Counting Crows

Counting Crows is an American rock band originating from Berkeley, California. Formed in 1991, the group gained popularity following the release of its debut album in 1993, August and Everything After, which featured the hit single "Mr. Jones"...

, Bono

Bono

Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...

, Puff Daddy, The Black Crowes

The Black Crowes

The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in 1989. Their discography includes nine studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer George Drakoulias and released their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, the...

, Wyclef Jean

Wyclef Jean

Wyclef Jean is a Haitian musician, record producer, and politician. At age nine, Jean moved to the United States with his family and has spent much of his life in the country...

, Jewel

Jewel (singer)

Jewel Kilcher , professionally known as Jewel, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actress and poet...

, Mary J. Blige

Mary J. Blige

Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...

, Cheb Mami

Cheb Mami

Ahmed Khelifati Mohamed better known by his stage name Cheb Mami , is an Algerian-born raï singer...

, Sting and Zucchero

Zucchero

Adelmo Fornaciari, Commander , more commonly known by his stage name Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero /ˈtsukkero/, is an Italian rock singer. His music is largely inspired by gospel, blues and rock music, and alternates between ballads and more rhythmic boogie-like pieces.Zucchero is the...

.

Performers in Geneva included: Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in...

, Texas

Texas (band)

Texas are a Scottish pop band from Bearsden, near Glasgow, Scotland. They were founded by Johnny McElhone in 1986 and feature Sharleen Spiteri on lead vocals. Texas made their performing debut in March 1988 at Scotland's University of Dundee...

, Des'ree

Des'ree

Des'ree is an English pop/soul singer who was popular during the 1990s. She is well known for her hits: "Feel So High", "You Gotta Be", "Life", and "Kissing You"...

 and Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a male choral group from South Africa that sings in the vocal styles of isicathamiya and mbube. They rose to worldwide prominence as a result of singing with Paul Simon on his album, Graceland and have won multiple awards, including three Grammy Awards...

.

The concert was considered a flop by many observers, failing to raise nearly as much cash as LiveAid. The website received over 2.4 million hits. Cisco's prominent sponsorship of the concerts and dominance of NetAid efforts were recognized as making the event a reality.

Wyclef Jean

Wyclef Jean

Wyclef Jean is a Haitian musician, record producer, and politician. At age nine, Jean moved to the United States with his family and has spent much of his life in the country...

 released a charity single featuring Bono

Bono

Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...

 entitled "New Day

New Day (1999 song)

"New Day" is a charity single released by Wyclef Jean and Bono, in aid of charity NetAid. The song appears on the international version of Jean's second album, The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book. Wyclef and Bono performed the song live at Giants Stadium, New Jersey, at the NetAid launch concert on...

" coinciding with NetAid. The song also has an accompanying music video that premiered on MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

's Total Request Live

Total Request Live

Total Request Live is a television series on MTV that featured popular music videos. TRL was MTV's prime outlet for music videos as the network continues to concentrate on reality-based programming. In addition to music videos, TRL featured daily guests...

 (USA) on September 21, 1999, although the video never charted.

Programs

Following the concerts, NetAid was spun out of Cisco as an independent entity and tried various approaches to raising awareness of extreme poverty and raising money for anti-poverty projects undertaken by other organizations, through a variety of different NetAid campaigns.

In 2000, NetAid launched an online volunteering matching service on its web site, in partnership with the United Nations Volunteers

United Nations Volunteers

The United Nations Volunteers program is a United Nations organization that advocates the role and benefits of volunteerism for development, integrates volunteers into development programmes, and mobilises volunteers for development projects. It was created to be a development partner for UN...

 programme. The web site allowed non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN-affiliated projects serving the developing world to recruit and involve online volunteers

Virtual volunteering

Virtual volunteering is a term describing a volunteer who completes tasks, in whole or in part, off-site from the organization being assisted, using the Internet and a home, school, telecenter or work computer or other Internet-connected device. Virtual volunteering is also known as online...

 in various projects. UNV took over the service in 2004; it can now be found at onlinevolunteering.org.

In February 2001, Time magazine and NetAid announced a pioneering initiative aimed at collecting donations through Palm VII handheld computers, allowing volunteers collect credit card data from friends and input the information into the NetAid web site via these newly-wireless devices. The experiment "pushes the envelope for Web-based charities, according to analysts, who said the bid to turn handhelds into virtual wallets faces some significant hurdles--for example, guaranteeing the privacy and security of contributors."

In response criticisms regarding its finances, NetAid published a web page in November 2001 citing its record of donations to anti-poverty initiatives to date, such as granting "$1.4 million to 16 poverty alleviation projects in Kosovo and Africa — well over the $1m that had been raised from the public to that point... the remaining $10.6 million was dedicated to creating an innovative institution that will generate new support for reducing global poverty over the long term. Since January 2000, NetAid has used approximately $2 million to catalyze new support and partnerships for fighting global poverty."

As an incubator for civic technology, NetAid explored the use of videogames for social change, co-founding the Games for Change

Games for Change

Games for Change is a movement and community of practice dedicated to using digital games for social change. An individual game may also be referred to as a "game for change" if it is produced by this community or shares its ideals...

movement in 2004. NetAid's work with games was initially offline, beginning with the "NetAid World Class" board game, which piloted in California, Massachusetts and New York in 2003. In 2004, NetAid co-produced a game with Cisco Systems called "Peter Packet," which addresses how the Internet can help fight poverty, focusing on issues of basic education, clean drinking water, and HIV-AIDS.

By 2006, NetAid had narrowed its focus to raising awareness among high school students in the USA regarding poverty in developing countries.

The different campaigns of NetAid are chronicled through archived versions of its web site, www.netaid.org, available at archive.org.