How to Integrate Cause Into Your Holiday Spending


Tis the season of holiday giving not just to friends and family, but others in need as well.

If you plan to do some or all of your shopping online, here are two companies that let you support a cause while you shop.

iGive Help Automatically When You Shop

iGive showcases 900 participating stores that will donate a percentage of what you spend on goods or services purchased through its iGive portal. You can help your favorite cause when you shop for everything from electronic equipment, books and airline tickets. The percentage donated varies depending on the store. Since 1997, iGive users have raised a total of $5,788,042 for their causes and last years total alone amounted to more than $384,000.

iGive is user-friendly simply sign up on the we! bsite, d esignate a cause to receive donations, and install its iGive Button. The button will be added to your browser and will ensure that when you shop online at participating stores, donations will be made automatically. If you dont know whether a specific store participates in the iGive program, visit its website and the installed button will do the rest. If the store does participate, a small window will automatically pop up that will give you information about what percentage of your purchase the store will donate, as well as any exceptions. The button can also be useful when you use a search engine to find stores or products. Type your search term into Google, Yahoo, or Bing, and you will see the iGive logo next to the search results that would lead to a donation.

When you sign up for iGive, your chosen cause will automatically get $5, even if you do not shop, and another $5 when you make your first purchase. The registration process is simple, and the site makes it easy to search for your cause. If your cause is not already registered with iGive, not to worry you can easily list your own. Causes are not required to have 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, so any cause that you care about in the United States or Canada is eligible to reap the rewards of your online shopping.

GoodShop You Shop, We Give

Another site that works similarly to iGive is GoodShop. GoodShop is a product of GoodSearch, a search engine powered by Yahoo that donates about a penny per search to a cause you designate. The GoodSearch family of products also includes GoodDining, which provides donations to your cause when you eat at participating restaurants.

Like iGive, GoodShop offers an add-on to your browser that will ensure donations are made automatically when you shop,! as well as, in this case, when you search. The add-on is called the GoodToolbar and can be downloaded from the GoodShop website.

Unlike iGive, causes have to be registered either as a nonprofit organization or as a school in order to benefit from donations through GoodShop. When you sign up, you can search for your cause in the existing database of participating non-profits. Only U.S. organizations are eligible, but the company has plans to include international organizations in the future.

Both iGive and GoodShop are easy to use and free for users. Even better, sometimes these sites help users get better deals, because some businesses run specials for iGive or GoodShop. Although individual donations tend to be small, these drops in the bucket add up over time, especially if others are supporting the same cause.

If you tell friends about iGive and GoodShop and encourage them to join in supporting your cause, or their own, the more revenue will be generated for causes and the more social good will be done. The simplicity of both portals and the prospect of making something you are going to do anyway, like shopping during the holiday season, benefit a cause meaningful to you makes it a win-win situation.

More About: Christmas, Hannukah, Holidays 2011, Kwanzaa, online shopping

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