GoodSearch

In my unscientific Memorial Day weekend poll, I asked some friends and a few strangers if they were familiar with the term embedded philanthropy. The result was a unanimous “huh?” But, when I explained what it was – almost everyone could identify a personal example from the past week. So, let me take you through my past week, and see if any of this sounds familiar.

 

On Monday, I ordered my regular low fat grande mocha and was asked if I wanted to purchase a pound of coffee -- for every pound purchased, Starbucks would donate a pound to a patient in the AIDS ward of the hospital down the street. On Wednesday, I went to the grocery store and while checking out was asked if I cared to add a dollar to my purchase to support a local food bank. Both of these examples took place when I was out and about in my daily life, but these days my daily routine seems to include more hours in front of the computer than anywhere else. 

 

Fear not, embedded philanthropy is taking place more and more right there (or here for that matter). Take for example the platform GoodSearch. You enter the name of a charity you’d like to support, and then every time you perform a search a donation is made to that organization. GoodSearch grew from a realization of what a fraction of the $8 billion generated annually by search engine advertisers could do if it were directed towards organizations trying to make the world a better place. GoodSearch donates 50 percent of its revenue to charities and schools designated by its users.

 

The new URL shortener good.ly is also getting into the online embedded giving game –donating a portion of the referral fees it receives to a nonprofit whenever someone clicks through a shortened URL and then purchases the product.

 

Simply put, embedded philanthropy is really just a form of charitable giving in which an act of philanthropy is built into regular everyday transactions. As Nathaniel Whittemore of Change.org explained last week, “In some ways, it's like moving a piece of corporate social responsibility to the user side, and making it a part of the commercial relationship between the company and it's client (or user, for the case of online products).”

 

So, why does this matter? Or as Sean Stannard Stockton at Tactical Philanthropy asks, “does it matter at all?”

 

These days it seems there are countless opportunities to give a dollar here or reduce your carbon footprint there. Take for example the sponsor of this blog series, Telecom for Charity. They have a business model based on embedded giving – as they explain, “the Telecom for Charity Initiative puts forth five percent of your monthly telecom spend towards whatever cause you wish to support.”

 

Individuals tend to “give where they live" but more specifically, they give to causes in which they have a personal relationship. A smart donor wants to see him/herself as a key stakeholder. At the Case Foundation, we believe strongly in promoting everyday philanthropy and broadening the use of new technology to make giving more informed, efficient, and effective – and I like to think, easier.

 

So, while all of this transactional giving behavior surrounds us, is it making us more thoughtful philanthropists? Are we really giving because we are compelled to support an organization? Are we stopping to ask whether our couple of dollars will really make a difference? Or, do we feel pressured by the barista behind the counter?

 

Let’s face it, “doing good” has never been trendier. We can wear "good," shop "good," drive "good," but these trends come and go. When doing "good" is as easy adding a few bucks to your grocery bill, are people really connecting to the cause they are giving to? 

 

I think the real question is how can we convert a new era of embedded philanthropists into passionate advocates for the causes to which they donate?  If we can take the mindset of the conscious consumer and translate this kind of behavior into our giving habits, then embedded philanthropy will be more than a trend for "good."  It has the potential to drive a deeper kind of philanthropic engagement.