GoodSearch

GoodSearch is a Yahoo-powered[1] search engine that donates 50% of its revenue, about a penny per search, to listed American charities and schools designated by its users.[2] The money donated comes from the site's advertisers.[3] According to the company's website, as of January 2011, more than 96,000 non-profits are participating in the program and 100 new organizations register daily.

GoodSearch was founded in November 2005 by siblings Ken Ramberg (Co-Founder of JOBTRAK, purchased by Monster.com and operating today as MonsterTRAK) and JJ Ramberg.[4]

Contents

Description

Users can designate which of the selected charities their searches benefit and also see how much money and how many searches have been performed on behalf of each charity.

As an example, as of April 2010 the ASPCA has earned over $40,000, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has earned more than $16,000 and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has earned nearly $15,000.[5]

Features of the site that change several times per week include the "Charity of the Day" which highlights a particular charity's logo with a click through to their website and "Success Stories" which highlight the amount of money donated to particular charities. In the Who's Doing Good section of the site, a number of celebrities including Jessica Biel, Montel Williams, Jeff Bridges and Emily Deschanel have created videos promoting GoodSearch and the cause they care about.

Goodshop

In September 2007, GoodSearch launched an online shopping mall called GoodShop. The company has affiliations with more than 1,300 online retailers including Amazon, Target, Staples, eBay, Best Buy and Apple. A percentage of each purchase, as indicated on the GoodShop site, is donated to the user's designated charity or school.

Browser integration

GoodSearch has created a toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox. It allows users to search without visiting the main Goodsearch page and has a link to GoodShop.[6] Firefox can also be configured to search GoodSearch from the search bar with the help of an add-on[7] or from the address bar by modifying search preferences on the page "about:config".

References

  1. ^ Janes, E.R. (March 22, 2006). "Give to charity just by searching the Web". CNN. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2006/03/01/8370310/index.htm. Retrieved May 3, 2010. 
  2. ^ Hobson, M.. "Giving Back for the Holidays". http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/MellodyHobson/Story?id=2724129&page=1. Retrieved November 4, 2007. 
  3. ^ Willis, G. (December 18, 2006). "Charitable gift giving". CNN. http://money.cnn.com/2006/12/18/pf/saving/toptips/index.htm?section=money_latest. Retrieved May 3, 2010. 
  4. ^ Strauss, S. (November 20, 2006). "For some entrepreneurs, giving is the new taking". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/columnist/strauss/2006-11-19-giving_x.htm. Retrieved May 3, 2010. 
  5. ^ http://www.goodsearch.com/successstory.aspx
  6. ^ "Add GoodSearch to your browser". GoodSearch. http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbars.aspx. Retrieved Oct 25, 2009. 
  7. ^ "Add-ons for Firefox". Mozilla. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9674. Retrieved Oct 25, 2009. 

External links