I know a lot of the people involved in this comment thread heave been asking about this post. Questions like: “Why would you advocate against this?”, and “They are legitimate, what’s the big deal?”.

I just want to point out that this blog post isn’t saying that GoodSearch is “bad”, or that it isn’t legitimate. When I wrote this in 2008, I saw the potential for corruption and fraud, through a well-intentioned platform, and that’s what I wrote about. It has been over two years now and I’m not quite sure what has changed with GoodSearch, maybe I’ll take a look and write a new post about it.

Anyway, keep the comments coming. I’m fascinated by what has been brought up here.

Thanks!

My child’s school notified us of Goodsearch a few years ago, and I use it for the majority of my internet searches (sometimes I can’t get good results, so I search “google”, click the link, and do my search there).

As far as what counts to earn money, I believe the terms say that no credit is given for site-specific searches, so if you looked up “seosurvivor.com”, no credit would be given. So look up “seosurvivor”, and there is one cent for your chosen charity.

Unfortunately, it seems I am the only one from my child’s school who uses Goodsearch, but still, the school has received a couple hundred dollars over the years. You can track how much money has been earned, and it shows by searches and shopping percentages. You can check this in real time (for searches anyway), and you will see that each time you search, one cent is added to the totals.

What is the downside? Why would you advocate against this?

Non-profit has turned into “hide the baloney”. That is, the bury what would be profits.

Does the fire company get to buy discount equipment since the company making it is virtuous since it’s used in “saving human lives”? Nope. It’s darn expensive ..as are the fire engines ..ambulances ..the medi-vac helicopter ..the pilot …etc..etc.

Does the cancer research center have technicians and physicians that do this fine and noble work at a discount? The buildings ..hospitals ..the institutions ..the construction company that builds them ..the architects that design them

..do any of them do it “for the love of humanity”? Nope. All CASH baby CASH!!

I’ve worked in several alleged non profit orgs ..and the same recurring theme emerges EVERY TIME. The INSTITUTION is what gets served ..and the alleged object of their purpose is merely the financial grease that runs the machinery.

I had my YMCA call and ask for donations to provide programs for needy people. I asked in new people were being hired to administer to these needy people. Were new rooms being built? Where added costs going to be incurred? …..or……..was the donation going to be charged off to space/personnel that are already on payroll/budget …adding no cost to the facility.

I never got the answers.

First, you have to have a 501 c 3 registration with the federal government to be registered with Goodsearch. This takes up to a year with lots of scrutiny. You also have to file 5 years of records to get out of your temporary status with the tax exempt status. Non profits with more than $25,000/year (and I think that is being lowered) have to file a very detailed tax return. All of this information is available on line.

Second: Most people use goodsearch to raise money for a particular organization. I direct a program called Step by Step in WV. We’ve been around for twenty years, run after school, summer and youth leadership programs. We are asking all our staff and our donors to use Goodsearch as a way of raising money to expand the transportation $ to get kids to summer food sites. All but 3 of the kids one of the programs we run are eligible for free lunch under federal guidelines which means their families are really hurting when breakfast and lunch are not provided out of the school year. We work to get them to a place where they can have reading, arts, recreation, science and service projects and we feed them two meals. (and take them swimming if we can…_)

Is using the money for this a “big fat bonus.”????

Goodsearch is a fundraising tool. Non profits don’t get “bonuses” they raise money for programs. If they are not effective, they fold.

This doesn’t mean that there are not some corrupt practices out there, but I doubt anyone who cares enough to go through goodsearch to do their searches (because it does take a little more time than simply keeping a favorites list) isn’t also capable of doing a little, largely web based research, to find out if their intended charity is legit.

This article is a cheap shot. Why not take the time to help people figure out how to make sure their charities are legitimate rather than discourage people from using a very simple means of contributing to their cause.

People should not contribute to a charity they have not checked out. Any charity listed in Goodsearch should be something people can track down–find a web page, call up, etc. But this is something you should do for any place you contribute to whether or not you heard about them from a newspaper, goodsearch or in person.

Let me close by highlighting a passage in the article I found particularly objectionable:

Let me give you an example. Say you work at a Non-profit that is registered with GoodSearch. Your Non-profit has 150-200 employees. You make it mandatory that all of your employees use GoodSearch’s toolbar, and that every time they have to search online, they use that engine. Then, at the end of the year you get a nice “bonus” from GoodSearch.

a), Again, this is fundraising, not a bonus. All $ that go to non profits have to be used for their mission and do not go back into private hands
b) Why sneer ar organizations trying to integrate their techonological development with a little fundraising.
I quote a friend of mine who once responded to another friend who kept on obsessing on little details like this:
“If you have this much energy, shouldn’t you use it for something that will save people’s lives?”