The reasoning is sound enough, people would do more charitable work if: they knew who they were helping, how they can help and that their effort does indeed make a difference and most importantly, it's easy to do so.

Enter ruumz, Malaysia's local online social networking portal with over 26,000 members, which has taken a leap of faith by introducing ruumzcauses, a one-stop portal to create, share, highlight, support and contribute to charities and worthy causes.

Speaking to members of the media during the official launch last week, chief executive of ruumzNation James Chong said, "ruumzcauses was developed as a platform to connect individuals, charities and NGOs that need assistance to the public in an entirely new way using the power of the internet and social media.

"This allows each and every one of us to contribute to the causes we believe in variety of ways, from highlighting and sharing the causes with our friends and families and volunteering. The portal also offers a micro-donation feature that aims to complement existing donation channels which will allow the public to make small monetary contributions indirectly through the purchase of Virtual Hearts."

Virtual Hearts may be purchased for as low as RM1 and 100 per cent of the value of a virtual heart goes to the intended organisation.

They can also be purchased with Blings!, the social network’s virtual currency.

Users can earn Blings! by being active with their ruumz profile, creating and sharing their content and getting as many hits as possible on their profile.

To ensure that ruumzcauses maintains a high standard of transparency, an international audit firm will be engaged to supervise the management, flow and usage of the funds contributed. So by making things easier, will Malaysians now do more?

A pragmatic Chong replied: "There are no guarantees for success in such endeavours; it is essentially in your hands."

To find out more, visit www.ruumz. com/Causes/.