Philanthropy isn’t what it used to be.

Time was that charities relied on direct mail, cold calling and the United Way to meet their financial obligations. Today, though, more and more contributors are snubbing those traditional forms of fund-raising and turning to the Internet instead.

That’s according to this Wall Street Journal article. Author Rachel Emma Silverman says young adults are often using blogs and social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to give money to — and raise money for — their favorite charities. Likewise, the charities themselves “are launching profiles on popular social networking sites, hoping that young people will link up to the pages,” Silverman writes.

I wonder if this trend has any implications for CPAs who offer advice for their philanthropic clients. What do you think? What should CPAs be doing to keep pace with trends like this?