Turn a simple search into a nonprofit donation

I received an email today from GoodSearch.com reminding me that by using the Yahoo-powered service when I conduct my online research I could generate badly needed donations for charities of my choice.  Apparently the service was featured by a major news network but I must have missed the piece - a hazard sometimes of being a television by satellite customer!  Anyway, I checked it out and it seems to be highly recommended.  I'm not used to using Yahoo as my default search engine but I suppose it doesn't hurt to give it a try.  I installed the GoodSearch toolbar, available from their website, into my browser to make it easier to incorporate this new way of giving into my daily work tasks. 

Many non-profits are really hurting this year.  I read that even the uber-rich have cut back their giving by as much as 38% - a real tragedy considering so many agencies that help low income households are literally swamped with so many people unemployed right now. 

"GoodSearch.com is a Yahoo powered search engine which donates about a penny per search to the user’s favorite charity or school! You use it exactly as you would any other search engine, but it turns the simple act of doing an Internet search into an act of doing good.  And the pennies add up quickly.  Just 500 people searching four times a day will earn approximately $7,300 a year!  And, it doesn’t cost the users a thing!

In addition, the sister site GoodShop.com has partnered with more than 1,600 retailers including Target, Apple, Macy’s, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Gap, PETCO and others to donate a percentage of each purchase back to the charity or school of the shopper’s choice (as well as provide thousands of coupons and free shipping offers).

 

More than 95,000 nonprofits and schools are on-board and seeing the results! (We can give you a list of some in your area.)

GoodSearch and GoodShop have quickly spread via word-of-mouth, the blogger community, and a number of celebrities and their foundations including Jessica Biel, Montel Williams, Jeff Bridges, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw among others. 

• Supporters of the ASPCA have raised over $37,000 to help animals in need
• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has earned more than $13,000 to find cures and save children
• The National Inclusion Project, which helps children with disabilities, has used the money it earned to send more than 150 children to summer camp
• A single purchase at Gaiam.com resulted in a $284 donation to the Motion Mania Dance Theater in Maryland

Internet users have found GoodSearch and GoodShop to be a compelling idea.  Beth Elson, a lawyer in Chicago, uses GoodSearch and GoodShop to support the Best Friends Animal Society which runs the nation's largest sanctuary for abused and abandoned animals.  “This seems too good to be true but it’s not! I feel fantastic knowing that every time I search the Internet – which I do all the time – I’m helping a cause I care so much about.  It’s a no-brainer to use this site!”

The GoodSearch and GoodShop team is revolutionizing online philanthropy so that no one is denied the opportunity to support the causes most important to them.  “The response to this idea has been truly overwhelming,” said Ken Ramberg, Co-Founder of GoodSearch and former President of JOBTRAK, the largest online career site for college students (which was acquired by Monster.com). “More than 100 new nonprofits and schools nationwide register daily allowing GoodSearch and GoodShop to truly make a difference in communities across the country.  These sites make it possible for everyone, regardless of how much time or money they have, to give back.”

Related articles

• GoodSearch Announces Issuance of US Patent for Charitable Search Engine (eon.businesswire.com)
• How to research a charity before donating your money (usatoday.com)

Yahoo's new "Shine" site for women a yawner

As a 21st century woman I can't help but be frustrated by the media's continued stereotyping of women and Yahoo's announced "new" website for women is unfortunately no exception. Although I may have some unique interests, I can't believe I am that much different from other women around the world. I personally find such magazines as Redbook, Cosmopolitan, and Good Housekeeping a bore and having a website modeled after them has no appeal to me either. So you ask what kind of website would I find interesting? How about a website about less well-known travel sites and travel experiences, fun technology gadgets, cultural events like upcoming museum exhibits, learning opportunities like seminars and workshops or guided visits to historical houses and sites, interesting hobbies and profiles of people engaged in those hobbies, volunteering, profiles of women in other cultures, profiles of women in nontraditional careers and how they became involved in those careers (and I mean women employed in the entry to mid level positions - enough of the high-powered CEO profiles already!, medical breakthrough and health care product recalls - enough of the diet and exercise articles!, funding opportunities for business startups or educational or research activities, an interactive fashion activity that lets women drag and drop the latest fashion elements onto a model and email the results to friends as fashion suggestions or just an expression of their creativity, a recipe exchange feature where visitors can upload their favorite recipes with images and comment on recipes submitted, etc. I think you get the picture - information that promotes "doing".

"Yahoo Inc. on Monday launched a site for women between ages 25 and 54, calling it a key demographic underserved by current Yahoo properties.

With Shine, Yahoo plans to expand its offerings in parenting, sex and love, healthy living, food, career and money, entertainment, fashion, beauty, home life, and astrology.

Yahoo is working with media companies like Hearst Communications Inc. and Rodale Inc. to develop Shine-exclusive content. Hearst publishes Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and other magazines aimed at women, while Rodale publishes a range of magazines on sports and recreation, including Women's Health."

Content Makers Are Accused of Exaggerating Copyright

This is a definite switch in viewpoint. It's particularly ironic since I've had such a struggle getting Corbis (Microsoft) to recognize my right to sell images I have taken of public domain artwork!

"An association of computer and communication companies, including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, on Wednesday accused several professional sports leagues, book publishers and other media companies of misleading and threatening consumers with overstated copyright warnings.

In a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission, the group, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, said that the National Football League, Major League Baseball, NBC and Universal Studios, DreamWorks, Harcourt and Penguin Group display copyright warnings that are a “systematic misrepresentation of consumers’ rights to use legally acquired content.”

The complaint alleges that the warnings may intimidate consumers from making legal use of copyrighted material, like photocopying a page from a book to use in class.

“It is an attempt to convince Americans that they don’t have rights that they do in fact have,” said Ed Black, the association’s president and chief executive. “This is part of the larger context of what should be and what are proper rules for copyright in an Internet age.”

The complaint asks the Federal Trade Commission to take remedial actions against content owners, like ordering them to provide a more accurate copyright warning, and to assist with efforts to educate the public on their rights."