Our rural community is so small, “you know everyone twice” says my wife. She means that the bank teller is also the den mother, and the garage mechanic also sings in our choir. We learned early on, too, that when tragedy strikes our community, we know that person, too. When a young man dies in an auto wreck on graduation weekend, we know his parents.

So too, in our fundraising community, we are touched by the murders at Virginia Tech. According to our local paper, Daniel O’Neil, 22, of Rhode Island, was the son of Connecticut College director of major gifts Bill O’Neil. And one of the victims who survived is the son of Christian Children’s Fund’s new President, Anne Goddard, according to our friends at CCF.

At NPA, we’re internet fundraisers, with a particular interest in how young people use the web for philanthropy and action, so we’ve studied and witnessed, and indeed participated in, the online outpouring of sorrow and solidarity. The first news I received came via text messages with my search and rescue colleagues, some of whom serve with the Blacksburg, VA Rescue Squad. A friend who is a Hokie alum shared her new MySpace picture, the VT symbol with a halo on top and last Monday’s date on the bottom.

Messages of support and prayer spread around MySpace and via email. I heard about “Maroon and Orange Effect Day” via email and passed it to my family and friends (including my 85 year old Mother, who complained that she has nothing with those two colors to wear).

Within hours, as friends around the country, including my three daughters, worried about their friends on campus, a special FaceBook page was created to let people know “I’m OK @ Virginia Tech”

“Maroon & Orange Effect Day” was Friday, April 20 – the day after the anniversaries of the Waco and Oklahoma City disasters, and the seventh anniversary of the Columbine massacre.

It’s scary that there are so many of these momentous tragedies in my children’s young lives. It also makes me proud that I’m working in an industry that reaches out to both the mentally ill and to the victims of their violence; to the supporters of higher education, of youth programs, and of every opinion’s right to free speech. I’m proud to be a fundraiser every day, but especially today.

Rick Christ, Partner, NPAdvisors.com