Charities tap into online shopping

Imagine a shopping mall contributing a portion of every sale to a charitable cause. When it comes to shopping online, it’s not as far-fetched as you might think.

Charitable shopping-mall sites are cropping up all over the Internet, bringing nonprofit organizations and philanthropic supporters together through Web consumerism.

Charity shopping malls encourage buyers to purchase items from selected retailers through their sites, reserving a percentage of the item’s cost for the mall site while passing on a portion of that percentage to a charity of the shopper’s choice.

Shoppers don’t incur any additional costs, the charitable organization doesn’t pay any fees, and merchant networks get yet another service touting their products and generating more sales.

Although online donations account for only a small percentage of individual U.S. charitable contributions (a figure that broke $300 billion in 2007), the Web is quickly changing the way people give. In 2006, online donations accounted for close to $7 billion of the U.S. total, according to the ePhilanthropy Foundation, a nonprofit that helps charities raise money online.

Even social networking behemoths like MySpace and Facebook are jumping on the philanthropic bandwagon, becoming hotbeds of charitable giving, along with lesser-known nonprofit sites like Change.org, DoSomething.org, Kiva.org and SixDegrees.org.

One site, GoodShop.com, helps shoppers give to their favorite organizations without spending a dime. GoodShop donates a percentage of every purchase to the shopper’s favorite charity. Users can choose from among some 700 retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, Apple, Expedia, Target and Macy’s.

Another site, Giveness.com, also lets users support the charity of their choice through predetermined commissions applied to different retailers. Currently, Giveness’s revenue comes from advertising, sponsorships and premium services, allowing 100 percent of the commission to be redirected to charitable groups. Listed philanthropies range from civic and educational organizations to political causes and health-related nonprofits.

Other online charity malls include:

•GreaterGood.com, which includes Barnes and Noble, Nordstrom, Dell, Office Max and others. The site gives 100 percent of its commissions to charities on the site.

•eBay Giving Works, which lets you buy items being auctioned and support nonprofits, too.

•MyCause.com, which sells products from a variety of retailers, including Kmart, L.L. Bean, Travelocity, Sephora and Amazon. The commission percentage varies.

•iGive.com, which donates up to 40 percent commission from every purchase made in one of its 680 stores.