December 16, 1999 | Read Time: 2 minutes
A new Web site designed to let donors make on-line charitable contributions to honor friends, relatives, and business clients is quickly becoming a big hit.
Since Charitygift started operating November 17, it has sold 10,000 cards to people making donations in honor of others. The company began to promote the site in mid-October. So far, the average designated gift is $20.
Visitors to the site are asked how much they want to give and then given the option of buying a greeting card for $3.95 to $6.95. Charitygift sends the greeting card, either electronically or through the mail, to the person being honored. Memorial contributions are sent to family members.
In addition to the cost of the card, donors pay a handling fee for the transaction — 3 per cent of the sum donated.
The donor may choose which charity will benefit or leave that choice up to the recipient, who has 60 days to decide. Any organization that has received charity status from the Internal Revenue Service is eligible.
Randi Shade, a former director of national development at City Year, a community-service organization in Boston, came up with the idea after a friend’s funeral. The friend had wanted donations to be made in his name to a small Austin charity — an organization that most of his friends and family had trouble tracking down.
Ms. Shade decided that a Web site serving all non-profit organizations would make such donations much easier, she says.
But Charitygift is turning out to have much broader appeal than she first imagined. Eighty per cent of gifts have been made by law offices, accounting firms, public-relations companies, and other businesses that want to buy gifts for clients or employees.
To get there: Go to http://www.charitygift.com.
