Charitable Shopping Sites: a Sampler

Site History Eligible groups Amount raised for charity Distinguishing features Charitableway Started in November 1999 by Organizations must be Declined to make public, Also allows people to give http://www.charitableway.com Pete Mountanos, a former chief executive officer at VXtreme, a technology company that was sold to Microsoft in 1997. classified as charities by the Internal Revenue Service and sign contracts with the site to be listed. Nearly 3,000 groups are enrolled, with 7,000 more set to be added early next year. saying the site was too new for figures to be determined. Passes to charity at least 90 per cent of commissions paid by retailers for purchases. money to charities using credit cards and through employee-giving programs. CharityMall Founded in November 1998 by Organizations must be Declined to make public, Soon will be able to send http://www.charitymall.com Earl Thomas and Karl Thomas. Sold in July 1999 to Tim Kunin and Greg Hesterberg, who wanted to expand their publishing and advertising business through the Internet while finding a way to contribute to social causes. Newly developed site went on line November 1999. classified as charities by the Internal Revenue Service, “benefit the common good,” and enroll with the site to be listed. Shoppers can suggest other charities for the site to seek to sign up. Nearly 100 groups have enrolled. saying the site was too new for figures to be determined. Passes to charity 100 per cent of commissions paid by retailers for purchases. thank-you e-mail letters to shoppers on behalf of the charities people have designated. 4Charity Created in 1998 by Stanford Organizations are suggested by Declined to make public. Half of the co-founders’ stock http://www.4charity.com University students as part of a class project to help students buy textbooks on line while raising money for Special Olympics. Converted by Scott Dunlap and Tracey Pettengill, graduates of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, to a for-profit company in September 1999. shoppers and must be classified as charities by the Internal Revenue Service. Forty organizations are currently receiving money through the site. Passes to charity 100 per cent of commissions paid by retailers for purchases. is earmarked for charity and will be distributed through a new foundation to non-profit groups that are involved with the site. GreaterGood Started by Paul Goodrich, Organizations must be Declined to make public a Creates and runs additional http://www.greatergood.com chairman of Madrona Investment Group, in February 1999. classified as charities by the Internal Revenue Service and sign an agreement with the site to be listed. However, shoppers may designate other organizations to receive money. Nearly 500 charities are currently listed on the site. specific figure but says the total amounts to “tens of thousands of dollars.” Passes to charity 50 per cent of commissions paid by retailers for purchases. “customized shopping villages” for charities, on the organizations’ own Web sites, at no charge. iGive Started by Robert Grosshandler Any “worthy cause” or non- $525,000 for 6,400 different Tells shoppers they have a http://www.igive.com in November 1997. profit group specified by the shopper — not limited to organizations classified as charities by the Internal Revenue Service. causes and organizations to date. Much of that money comes from sign-up fees and other incentives paid to charities after new people shop rather than through commissions paid by retailers for purchases. Passes to charity up to 90 per cent of commissions paid by retailers for purchases. chance to claim a tax deduction for the retailer commissions that are directed to charities. Justifies the deduction by setting up its program so that shoppers have the choice of keeping the commissions for themselves or forwarding the money to charities. MyCause Started by Brendan Wyly, a More than 275,000 $260. Passes to charity 60 to Founders are unpaid and site http://mycause.com reference librarian at Cornell University, and Frank Adelstein, a computer-science researcher, in December 1998. organizations that are classified as charities by the Internal Revenue Service. Shoppers can suggest other organizations. 100 per cent of commissions paid by retailers for purchases. operates on a self-described “shoestring” budget, with projected sales in 1999 of $20,000 or less. Non-Profit Shopping Mall Started by Samson Marketing, Non-profit organizations that Declined to make public, Provides each non-profit client http://npsmall.com an Internet company, in March 1999. have signed contracts with the site to be listed. Shoppers can suggest other charities for the site to seek to sign up. Fifty-five groups have signed agreements to date. saying the site was too new for figures to be determined. Passes to charity 70 per cent of commissions paid by retailers for purchases. with its own shopping mall. To protect shoppers’ privacy, doesn’t require them to register. Shop2Give Started by Ami Kassar, a All organizations that are Declined to make public. Creates and runs additional http://www.shop2give.com former sales and marketing executive at a manufacturing firm, in December 1998. classified as charities with the Internal Revenue Service. Site signs contracts with charities, whose logos are featured. Passes to charity 50 to 100 per cent of commissions paid by retailers for purchases. “customized shopping malls” for charities on the organizations’ own Web sites. ShopForChange Started in June 1999 by Fifty non-profit organizations Declined to make public, Each year, shoppers help http://shopforchange.com Working Assets, the company that donates a portion of monthly charges from its long-distance telephone and other services to non-profit organizations and asks its consumers to help select the groups that get the money. that it calls “progressive” and that are “working for peace, human rights, equality, education, and the environment.” saying the site was too new for figures to be determined. Two-thirds of the retailer commissions are donated to non-profit organizations. nominate organizations to be included as eligible recipients. An independent foundation evaluates the hundreds of nominated groups, and the employees and the board of Working Assets select 50 groups for the final list. Shoppers then vote on how to distribute the money among the 50 organizations.

Charitable Shopping Sites: a Sampler