Nov 23, 2007 11:00 pm US/Eastern
GoodSearch Lets Web Searchers Help Charities
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
If you're giving to charity this season, there's a way to give by doing something you do every day at work and at home. CBS 3's Liz Keptner has the story of a little idea that's a huge help to thousands of charities.
Sheryl Isadore-Vona is not your ordinary dog lover! She runs the Philadelphia Greyhound Connection, a charity for the retired racers. But it can get expensive.
"They need crate, they need a crate mat, they need food, feeding bowls, things like that," said Isadore-Vona. "So it could cost several hundred dollars."
Small charities like Philadelphia Greyhound Connection need money.
What makes a lot of money? Search engine ads -- about $8 billion a year.
So entrepreneur Ken Ramberg put two and two together.
"I thought, what if every time we searched the Internet, we could help make this world a better place?" said Ramberg.
He created GoodSearch, a search engine that's more. Charities sign up. You choose the charity you want to support. Every time you search, your favorite charity earns about a penny.
"As one of the users wrote to us and said, 'If I can search for a restaurant and help feed the homeless at the same time, why wouldn't I do it?'" said Ramberg.
The money comes from ads that appear on your search page.
GoodSearch has given tens of thousands of dollars to thousands of charities.
Schools are signing up, too. At Naudain Academy Montessori School in Voorhees, NJ, those pennies help kids.
"All of our fundraising money goes to thinks like building our playground, materials for the classroom," said Leddy Naudain, administrator and teacher at Naudain Academy. "If you have a hundred people searching a day, you're making a dollar a day. And over a year, you can make a decent amount of money on that."
"Every penny is a penny, and pennies add up!" agrees Isadore-Vona.
Philadelphia Greyhound Connection has made 6300 pennies -- or $63 -- already.
"So if I had ten thousand people use it in one day, look at all the pennies I made, and look how many dogs I can help," said Isadore-Vona. To her and her greyhounds, a penny earned is a penny that saves.
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