This trendy new shopping thingy I’m doing is called “passive fundraising.” Essentially, the idea is that you sign up to participate and everything after that is done for you. By simply acknowledging you are a participant, someone else (i.e. a grocery store) contributes to your designated cause (or causes).
There are many ways to participate passively. You can register the loyalty card at your grocery store, sign up your credit cards, and even download a search engine or tool bar on your computer. Each will donate money just for using them.
The list of causes you can support varies depending upon the program. For instance, my grocery store almost exclusively supports local charities. The search engines, on the other hand, cover everything from starving children across the world to your child’s elementary school.
I have done all three; but, by far, my favorite is the search engine option. I surf the web fanatically and, well, you already know I like to shop. With each search, a couple of cents are donated to my favorite charity. And almost every time I make a purchase online, a percentage is donated as well.
I have come by two great sites that allow you to pick just about any cause you like to support: OneCause.com and Freelanthropy.com. I'm sure there are more out there, but I have tried each of these and they actually work.
As an added bonus, you get discount offers for joining! Sign up (for free) and support your favorite charity while you shop.
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