GiveBack.org is a new web-based philanthropic arm that is founded by Stephen Paletta, the winner of Oprah's Big Give. Basically, it is a one stop shop for you to be able to donate your money, follow charities, and at the end of the year you get one statement for tax purposes. Any charity registered with the IRS is listed to the site. 100% of all donations will go towards the charities.
I opened an account with GiveBack and I was given $5 to start. I still had two charities to give to this year, so I took the opportunity to use GiveBack to donate. There are 3 ways to add funds. You can add money directly. You can shop for your foundation, while visiting sponsors they have partnered with and a percentage of your purchase goes towards your foundation. Finally, you can be gifted funds through their sponsors who are interested in helping to give back. I added funds to the account and gave the full amount in my foundation, including the $5 that I was given to start. It was so fast, so easy, and so very simple.
When I decided to participate in this campaign, I was initially perplexed to have to sign up for another thing. But, if you have a Facebook account, then you can use those credentials to login. The site seems a bit slow when searching for a charity, but I think it that may have had more to do with the type of browser I was using.
In any case, here's my final thoughts. GiveBack is a great idea and a one stop spot to donate money. My biggest issues with it are the speed of the site and also, the limits on the detail of the foundation. You give the money to the organization, but let's say you have a specific program reference, well, there is no place to put that information. This is limiting for those charitable 5Ks, marathons, and 3-Days that I support. So there you go. If you donate money frequently to multiple charities that don't have a specific program reference, then this is for you! Especially if you frequently do online shopping not affiliated with Amazon. It is like having your very own philanthropic foundation.
Click here to learn more about GiveBack.org.
**I participated in the GiveBack blog posting through the One2OneNetwork. For completing this post, I am eligible to receive full registration for the BlissDom '11 conference plus 3 nights at Opryland Hotel and $500 towards travel costs or a $350 Visa Gift Card. The opinions of this post are my own and the opportunity to win a prize did not influence me in any way.**
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