A site to get discounts and help charities 

Posted: 7:03 pm Sun, December 13, 2009
By Larry Fiorino
Special to The Daily Record

It is the season of giving, and you can do it in a double dose over the holidays.

Everyone knows that the economy is bad and donations to non-profits/charities are way down. The good news is that the next time you’re shopping online for that special someone, you can get a great deal for you, a great gift for them and have a percentage of your purchase donated to your favorite charity. Sounds like a lot of work, but goodshop.com makes it very easy.

There is a growing and innovative trend where online shoppers are receiving discounts at their favorite stores and simultaneously helping their favorite charities. What makes this concept so compelling is that it doesn’t cost you anything. It’s a form of philanthropy that works for everyone during difficult times where giving is harder than it was before.

GoodShop.com is an online shopping mall that donates a percentage of each purchase from more than 1,400 stores (such as Target, Apple, Best Buy, Macy’s, Gap, Petco, Amazon) to the charity of your choice. It also provides hundreds of coupons and deals so you can save money.

It’s not hard to use. Just go to goodshop.com and start searching/buying. Multiple search strategies are available. You can search by store (just type in Nordstrom or Target or your favorite store name). Once you type in your search criteria, you will see the store name and the amount they will contribute from the purchase. You can even search by nonprofit to make sure that you can designate them.

In addition, the site provides categories of merchandise (shoes, clothing, cars) and listings of the most popular stores and the amount they will contribute.

The best part of the site may be the list of coupons that are being offered by the store you are searching. If Target is your favorite store, you will be presented with a list of Target coupons/deals. So you get everything in one place: A good deal, online, with a contribution to your favorite charity.

Very cool.

How many nonprofits have benefited? More than 85,000 nonprofits have partnered with goodshop.com to enable their supporters to generate funds simply by shopping online and searching the Internet.

I love this idea/concept. Try it, and you will, too. Happy holidays and happy shopping.

Larry Fiorino, founder and chief executive of G.1440, a Baltimore-based e-solutions firm, writes every week for The Daily Record. He can be reached at 410-843-3800 or at his company’s Web site, www.G1440.com.