Making A Difference While Using The Internet
January 1, 2008 | In Easy Ways To Help |
Way back in September, I wrote a post on The Animal Rescue Site entitled How to Save The World - Without Leaving Your Chair. Liz Smith left a comment on this post about a search service that donates to charity when you use it. This got me thinking - are there other ways we can give back simply by using our computer?
Photo by Delgoff [VOSTFR]
Turns out, there are lots of ways: searching, shopping, chatting, playing, and even a few more click to give sites. I’ve rounded up all the ones I could find. If I missed any, please let me know in the comments and we can build up a comprehensive list.
More Click To Give Sites
This site is primarily dedicated to saving land: South American Rain Forest, Nature Preserves, Wilderness, and Coastal Habitats. However, they also have buttons to click to offset CO2 and plant trees. Register with the site and “…donate 500 sq. ft. of land! By registering, you will be able to view your personal donation totals, receive weekly updates with news about changes to the EcologyFund.com web site and get a daily E-News summary with environmental news from around the world.” In addition to daily clicks, the site has information about how you can help more, resources on various environmental topics and travel information (to endangered areas like the Amazon Basin.)
Clicking helps numerous causes from Global Warming to Breast Cancer Research. Very similar to the set up at The Animal Rescue Site; however, at Care2, you can register and keep track of your personal donations. This section is part of a larger website: “Care2 provides powerful tools to make a difference in your life, community, country and world. It’s driven by passionate people (just like you) who want to restore the world’s balance.” They have e-cards, news, green living tips and more.
This site has two causes you can help by clicking: The Rainforest, and Baby Chimps. In addition to clicking this site features Nature Posters, e-cards, a natural living center with resources on natural products, organic foods, etc., an environmental section with lots of information, and a “fun stuff online” section with quizzes, a screen saver and more.
Designed as a one stop shop for all the click to donate sites around the web. Although the sites mentioned above have a showing on One Click At A Time, there were a few areas of the sites above that don’t have a link. Also, don’t forget that by going directly to the sites above you can register for keeping track of your personal donations. However, give One Click At A Time a try since it links to lots of other sites I didn’t list above.
Searching
When I began researching sites that donate to charity as you search, I found several. I had compiled a list of four or five when I stumbled across Maki at DoshDosh (usually a make money online site) who did a comprehensive post on charity donations through searching. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I direct you to that post:
15 Charity Search Engines that help you give money to charity for free.
Scattered Roundup of Sites
Games - Free Rice donates 20 grains of rice for each word you get correct in a definition game. This game is so addictive I got to 240 grains of rice donated before I remembered I was working on a blog post!
Chat - Windows Live Messenger has a feature where you can pick your charity that will be donated to as you use the program. I haven’t used instant messenger since 2001 (before Google Talk and Skype) so I can’t report back on how it work. However, if I start using IM again, I’ll try this service out first.
Shopping
I found eight online shopping sites that donate to charity when you shop. Since they access several well known retailers (see individual listings for details), the prices are what you would pay direct. So, why not give back at the same time?
This site has a partnership with Amazon.com, and a twist. As they explain: “Think of the power of a large database that collects information about how corporations behave and then integrates that data directly into the shopping experience. When you are about to purchase a TV, shoes, socks or an IPOD you can not only consider the price and the quality of the product, but can easily see what kind of behavior we are “buying into”.”
This site allows you to pick your charity and then shop to donate. Some of the stores available for shopping are iTunes, eBay, and Gap. The site also has widgets that can be placed on blogs, MySpace, and Facebook to promote shopping on Giveness.
Another shopping site where you choose your charity and then shop at numerous stores including Home Depot, QVC, and Staples. The site is also running a contest where they are giving away 5 $1,000 awards to charities each month through June 2008. Awards are based on the number of times a charity is shopped for, each store visited per month counts as one entry. Neat incentive to use this site for multiple shopping trips.
100% of proceeds fund the Cancer Research Foundation. This site also has resources for businesses who want to hold their own fundraising events and resources for individuals to donate more than just through shopping.
2-12% of purchase price goes to your cause of choice. With over 275,000 organizations to choose from, this one is pretty comprehensive. A neat feature of this site is the “Random Kindness” button which randomly chooses a cause if you don’t want to search for a specific cause. Shops include Barnes & Noble, eToys, and Travelocity.
This one is close to my heart personally. A portion of the proceeds go to animal shelters. Choose a specific shelter or let all your proceeds be distributed across shelters by the Bring Pets Home organization. Shops include Sierra Trading Post, Gaiam, WalMart, Macy’s, and Overstock.
Allows you to choose your cause and add to the list if not found. Although GiveandShop doesn’t have a huge list of stores, they have an easy to use store registration form to add stores. In addition, they personally review all charities to make sure that they are legitimate and meet high ethical standards.
Again, you can choose the cause you support. The twist added by this organization: “Whatever you want to buy, GOOSHING takes you to the most ethical brand choices – and then our Price Search function takes you to the very cheapest place to buy that product from our 350 participant retailers.”
And there you have it - several more ways to make a difference as you use your computer. You were surfing, chatting, playing, searching, and clicking anyway, right?
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Thanks for the addition!