It’s the season for giving, and these sites can help
In this season of giving, here are some things you can do online to help others. It can be as simple as changing the way you search the Web or as involved as finding out how to share your time with others in your community.
GoodSearch is a search engine that directs 50 percent of its revenues to charity. You’re able to choose the charity you want to benefit, and it will receive money each time you use GoodSearch to find things on the Web. We’re talking pennies-a-click here, but it’s still something for little work on your part, and the cumulative effects can be substantial. There’s little to lose. GoodSearch actually is powered by popular search engine Yahoo! so your results won’t suffer.
VolunteerMatch helps those who want to volunteer in their communities. Simply enter your ZIP code, how far you’re willing to travel and what interests you, and the site will give you information and contacts for matching opportunities. An advanced-search option allows you to look for volunteer activities for groups or kids and by keyword. Corporations even can use the site to track employees’ volunteer hours.
Cheer Pass is run by Starbucks, but it has little to do with selling coffee. It’s founded on the idea that you can do something nice for someone this holiday season simply by, well, doing something nice. Open a door for a woman laden with bags at a store. Pick up a kid’s dropped glove. Let that young man go ahead of you in line. Such acts of kindness make the world a better place. When someone does something nice for you, hand the good Samaritan a Cheer Pass, which you can print out from the official site. That person can pass it on when a stranger treats him or her kindly – and so on. Share a tale of how the kindness or generosity of another person made your day on the Web site. Then people who receive a Cheer Pass can enter its ID number to see the stories of kindness it has generated. The site explains it all.