Giving Thanks
November  22, 2006

Q: Hi Steve!  I have much to be thankful for this year - business is good, the family is healthy, etc., so we are fortunate.  I also wanted to pass well wishes and thanks on to you.  I enjoy your column every week and like that you spread the entrepreneurship word.  -- Jesse

A:  Thank you Jesse, and thanks to all of you who read this column. I am very blessed to get to do this every week.

One thing I have learned in the more than eight years I have been writing this column is that there are all sorts of entrepreneurs in this world: Some who enjoy working at home by themselves near their family, others who create great teams and offer something special to the marketplace, and my favorite new breed of entrepreneur, what we might call the entrepreneurial philanthropist.

In the world of big business, giving is the new taking. If it is not Bill Gates giving away vast sums to causes he believes in (and Warren Buffet helping him) it is Richard Branson promising $3 billion to combat global warming, or the founders of Google creating Google.org, an organization which they hope will help solve many planetary problems.

Not to be outdone, there is also cropping up a new breed of small business entrepreneurial philanthropists as well.

My favorite example is the search engine GoodSearch.com. The idea behind this excellent search engine (powered by Yahoo) is simple and brilliant - 50% of all ad revenue generated from the site is donated to the charity of the user's choice, and the money GoodSearch donates comes from its advertisers, so it doesn't cost the users or the organizations a penny.

Here's how it works: By going to GoodSearch.com (or downloading the GoodSearch toolbar to your browser), you can search just as you would on any other search engine, the difference being that half of all ad revenue your searches generate, approximately a penny a search, goes to the charity of your choice.

It is no secret that a good search engine site can generate significant sums of ad revenue; $6 billion a year to be exact. Google didn't become Google by accident. Realizing this, Internet entrepreneurs (and siblings) Ken and JJ Ramberg figured that if they could get even a fraction of that global search ad revenue to go to charity, they might make an impact. They were right.

More than 22,000 nonprofits and schools are now generating revenue from the site and more than 100 charities and schools are registering daily. For instance:

• The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation went from 3,040 searches in June to more than 47,000 searches in September, and GoodSearch searchers have, in the process, generated more than $1,500 in ad revenue for the Foundation.

• The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, the country's largest habitat refuge for endangered elephants, has raised more than $1,900 in just a few months.

• The Penn State Dance Marathon, which helps thousands of children and families fight pediatric caner, raised more than $1,400 by promoting the site and having people do their searches through GoodSearch.

Lisa Perry, an attorney in Los Angeles, uses GoodSearch as many as 10 times a day in support of Heal the Bay, a nonprofit that helps preserve coastal waters.  "Why wouldn't you use it?" asks Perry. A good question indeed. It has become my search engine of choice too.

Everyone has a cause they care about, but sometimes helping that cause may be difficult either in terms of time or money. GoodSearch.com is the answer. This great site allows you to go about your daily business and help the world in the process. Steve says check it out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today's tip: Here is another example of small business entrepreneurial philanthropists at work: Stone and Nikki Melet were out to dinner near their home in San Francisco not long ago and received, shall we say, not great service. After leaving less than a 20% tip, they started discussing how great it would be if they could gently explain to the waiter why he received a poor tip, and use the difference for good. That is how Turtle Tip was born.

This business turns bad restaurant service into a good experience. By going to the Turtle Tip website, you can get some small, free stickers of a slow tortoise serving food, along with a little note explaining that though the waiter is not getting his (or her) customary tip, the difference is going to charity. Use the sticker when appropriate and when you get home afterwards, simply go to the Turtle Tip website and there you can donate the difference to charity.
 

Back to "Ask an Expert"          MSCE Home

Batesville Memorial Public Library