December 2, 1999 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Numerous on-line companies are offering holiday promotions to benefit charities — largely in the hopes that doing so will attract the attention of consumers and lead them to use Internet services to make financial transactions.
Among the seasonal opportunities for charities and donors:
* Yahoo, an Internet search service that also offers shopping services from more than 7,500 on-line merchants, is giving 12 charities that support children’s causes a chance to publicize their holiday wish lists.
From December 1 to December 12, the “12 Days of Giving” page will show consumers what kinds of gifts charities want — anything from phone cards and computers to teddy bears and warm coats. Visitors can then use a credit card to purchase the items that they want to donate. Shipping costs are included in the charge, and merchants are responsible for seeing that the items are delivered to the charities.
The service is free to non-profit groups. Among the beneficiaries of the Yahoo site: Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Children’s Defense Fund, and the U.S. Committee for Unicef.
To get there: Go to http://giftregistry.yahoo.com,then click on “Yahoo’s 12 Days of Giving Gift Registries.”
* The Macy’s department-store chain and FreeShop.com, an on-line shopping site, are encouraging people to make donations to benefit America’s Second Harvest, a national network of food banks and other charities that help the needy. For every $10 gift made with a credit card at the Hunger-Free Holiday site, donors receive a 10-per-cent discount on items they buy through Macy’s on-line shopping site. The site promises that the full amount of each donation will go to the charity; the companies running the promotion say they are not taking any of the money raised to pay for the costs of channeling the money to America’s Second Harvest. The promotion continues through December 31.
To get there: Go to http://www.hungerfreeholiday.com.
* Charitableway announced that through January 31 non-profit groups will get 101 per cent of every donation pledged through the California company’s Internet site. Normally the site charges a 10-per-cent handling fee on every transaction. But the charity says it has persuaded several donors to cover those fees — and add a 1-per-cent bonus for the charity. For instance, a charity will get $101 for every $100 gift made through the end of January; starting in February, charities will again get only $90 of that $100 donation.
To get there: Go to http://www.charitableway.com.
