Well, actually, I gave while shopping. Lots of online stores offer a commission on your purchases to your favorite non-profit. These cyber “stores” and services range from L.L.Bean to Amazon to 1-800-flowers.com — which, by the way, offers Fair Trade Certified roses. If you start your shopping through the igive.com website, your favorite stores provide a commission to your selected cause.
All you need to do is register with igive.com. You select a “cause”, like the UnTours Foundation (we hope!), and give your name and a password. (You don’t have to sign up for the igive button). From there, you find your cyber destinations through igive’s directory, click through, and shop as you normally would on those sites directly. igive.com does the rest. Each store sets its own commission rate, which seems to range from around .5% to over 10%. The pennies and dollars add up fast for us.
The following times you go to igive.com, you just sign in and go to the store directory. igive remembers your cause, which you may change at any time.
Just now, I see that I could have been buying my dog’s medications through igive.com all this time. Too bad! I will going forward. But I have remembered to buy three years of plane tickets through igive.com to send my daughter to college, which has reaped $100 in easy commissions for the foundation.
You might be thinking: “I don’t shop much online.” But I bet you shop more online than you realize whether it’s hotel reservations, fruit for relatives over the holidays, or books.
I do know that this is indeed a strange Blog from a foundation that promotes simple living! But even simple living might require rain barrels for your home, heirloom seeds, and other such things you can find through igive.com.
Thanks for shopping for a cause!
“When women are depressed, they eat or go shopping. Men invade another country. It’s a whole different way of thinking.” Elayne Boosler