I’ve been following the American Express Members project for a few years now, and they’ve put the website up again this year. The project itself is a website in which American Express Card members can peruse a number of submitted social projects and select a number of them for inclusion in the final round of voting. The winners receive a dollar sum in support of their projects. Past winners have included projects such as KIVA, an organization that supports the creation and growth of businesses and enterprises in Africa, as well as Childrens Safe Drinking Water, an organization which provides PUR packets to underdeveloped nation to assist in drinking water cleanup. You’ll want to check out the video for that second one, it’s pretty cool.

The American Express Members Project, as I’ve mentioned in previous years, is part of a growing trend in which companies are making in roads to becoming socially and environmentally responsible within their community.

In fact, the Members Project is a unique initiative in that maintaining membership with American Express in the form of having a card is much like being part of a club in which anyone can join…assuming of course your credit scores check out.

The project allows its membership to have a say in how American Express does business in some respects, allowing a way for customers to pose feedback on how the company spends its money, and invites them to witness the results of their choices at least through the confines of the website.

The one thing I think would be really neat is if American Express took the program one step further and showed members the results of their choices first hand through a video or some other sort of follow up presentation. Still, it’s a good example of social marketing in a positive light, and you have to applaud the effort as well as the outcome.

To join the cause visit: http://www.takepart.com/membersproject

To participate in a similar project, visit the Pepsi Refresh Project, at: http://www.refresheverything.com/