March 25, 1999 | Read Time: 1 minute
Non-profit organizations can sign up to add “shopping malls” to their Web sites through Shop2Give, a company that allows on-line shoppers to designate a portion of their purchases to charity.
Since December, shoppers at the Shop2Give Web site — which includes more than 30 on-line retailers, such as Barnes and Noble, GreatFlowers.com, FragranceNet, and Omaha Steaks — have directed several thousand dollars to more than 1,000 non-profit organizations.
The Los Angeles company is now creating the same kind of shopping areas free for charities to add to their own Web sites. The shopping pages will also be accessible from the main Shop2Give Web site.
Shop2Give started the service by designing shopping pages for Heaven (http://www.heavens.org), a non-profit group that helps inner-city high-school students learn about careers and computers.
Most participating companies have agreed to donate a percentage of sales to the non-profit group from whose site a purchase was made. The percentages range from 2 per cent from Outpost.com, a company that sells computer equipment and software, to 10 per cent from OpticalSite, a company that sells eye glasses and contact lenses. A few companies donate a set amount per transaction. For example, LendingTree, an on-line loan service, donates $5 per loan application completed. Each company’s donation policy is listed on the Shop2Give Web site.
The Shop2Give company makes money by charging advertising fees to some retailers and taking a percentage of the sales from others.
The company was founded by Ami Kassar, a former director of sales and marketing at a manufacturing company.
To get there: Go to http://www.shop2give.com.
