Helping Others Online
A new site called charitywave.com is creating a network that will allow you to give money, for instance, to the Red Cross, through links on news stories about disasters and such. CharityWave does not take a percentage of what you give. All of it goes to the organization you're donating to. America Online is pitching as well with a site called helping.org. It connects web surfers to over 620 thousand charitable groups. If you plan to do your holiday shopping online, there are web sites that connect you to merchants that will pledge to give back a percentage of their profits to the charity of your choice. Katherine James Schuitemaker is executive VP at greatergood.com....
"We have over seventy different retailers available at the GreaterGood.com site. These include everything from Land's End, DrugStore.com to Amazon.com ...just about anything that you might want to give a gift from this holiday season."
The prices you pay are the same as if you went directly to the online retailer, but a percentage will go to the charity you designate. GreaterGood itself is not a non-profit, but it is filling a need. By the way, if you want to check on the background of a particular charity, you can find the National Charities Information Bureau at ncib.org