Hey, the idea behind craigconnects is giving the voiceless a real voice, and the powerless real power. I see it as everyone doing some small, or big, part.
One way to do this is by giving back via purchases and a few key initiatives. Organizations like We-Care.com team up with merchants and give a percentage of the proceeds to charity. We-Care works with more than 2500 online merchants, and it’s the merchants who choose what percentage of proceeds to donate (ranging from 1.5% to 15% of transactions). Participation doesn’t cost anything for the organizations, and there is no extra charge for the person who is shopping. Something that’s really useful on We-Care is their toolbar plugin. You can download a reminder that will pop up each time you’re shopping on a site that will give some money to your cause.
Amazon just started doing something similar to We-Care, but aren’t giving as much (just 0.5%). They’re calling it AmazonSmile.
Perla Ni, CEO of Great Nonprofits commented on Amazon’s new giving program, and what she calls “interesting benchmarks” –
“0.5% is an interesting percentage. Amazon’s revenue was $17B last quarter. It would be $80M/quarter if everybody who purchased something took it up. Even though it doesn’t cost anyone to do it, say 20% of users sign up, so that would be $20M/quarter. That would be about $80M/year donated to nonprofits. Google gives about $100M/year and Wells Fargo gives about $300M/year.”
Efforts like these are making donations an every day thing, and this way, according to Perla, “nonprofits may see donations through-out the year, rather than just at the end of the year for tax-deductions.” Perla does voice a concern though. She says: “the biggest potential downside I see is that it may cannibalize individual giving – ‘oh, I don’t need to give on my own, because I’ve already done it just by shopping.’ It may make shopping replace giving.”
We also contacted Ken Berger, President and CEO of Charity Navigator, about AmazonSmile to get his opinion. He said that Charity Navigator will be looking into the project to see if Amazon will use their API to display the Charity Navigator ratings.
Ken also shared with us that “shopping portals that give money to charity usually don’t generate enough revenue to make a big impact on an individual charity’s bottom line. One of the problems is the change of behavior required – same as with Amazon since customers will have to start their purchase process on a different website than the regular Amazon site. However, the scale of Amazon makes this a unique proposition with the potential to make a big impact on a charity’s bottom line.”
I think the most helpful thing you can do to make sure you’re giving to the good guys is to check out Guidestar, Charity Navigator, and Great Nonprofits (like Yelp for nonprofits, with user reviews). These will help you select good, effective nonprofits.
I support some nonprofits, and some not (more on that here). I make sure to look into a charity before I donate to avoid giving to one of America’s 50 worst charities. It’s useful to be able to give back to orgs that I support via purchases that I’m already making. Although, I don’t think that shopping should replace giving to an org when you believe in their cause.
How are you giving back, if you’re able?
Craig Connects 
I’d just as soon keep my purchasing choices and charity giving separate. I buy things, and I am a significant charitable donor (considering my low income).
One case is that of a cell phone system that donates part of its income to liberal political action. I evaluated their service and prices, and decided that I was better off getting my cell phone service from a provider that met my particular needs better and donating the difference in price to various charities similar to the ones the activist phone system supported.
Nothing wrong with the activist system…. and I’m sure most of these “we give a small portion of our sales to _____” pitches are legit and might even do some good. I just have other way to give.
LikeLike
We-Care tries really hard to incorporate giving into each person’s own shopping style. So if you prefer T-Mobile’s services, you can go with them and a donation will be made. On the other hand, if Verizon or AT&T are more your thing, you can go either of those routes while still earning your donation. The variety of stores allows you to have a little more control, and the freedom to choose the cause you’d like to support also helps to customize the experience.
LikeLike
Hi we appreciate your efforts to make giving a culture. Our great cancer now is how do we get this giving to get where it is the most needed. Our ministry is the doing it best to held the people build themselves up mentally spiritually and socially. We would do more if only some giving could be channeled to us. How we go about that? Rewards
LikeLike
It’s a great job. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.Matt.5:14. We are running INFANT MATRICULATION SCHOOL in thoothukudi tamilnadu INDIA.We are running this school for the low income people.If you have a chance to help us our children will be more thankful to you.THANK YOU.
LikeLike
I volunteer with a small non profit that rehabs orphaned and injured squirrels. We take in two to four hundred squirrels each year so that’s a lot of mouths to feed, caging to maintain and medical needs to meet. We are always interested in learning what opportunities we can offer our supporters to help us provide all that we must. Thank you for this information!
LikeLike