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If You’re Searching for Blue Bird Houses…
Whether your search is for jewelry, electronics, or blue bird houses…check this out!!
Supporters Turn to Innovative Ways to Help Their Favorite Nonprofits This Holiday Season
The economic downturn inspires people to utilize online shopping mall and search engine – GoodShop.com and GoodSearch.com – to both save money and help their favorite causes generate funds
New York, NY, November, 2009 – As a result of the economy and because of a national drop in donations, individuals are looking for innovative and free ways to help their favorite charities.
More than 85,000 nonprofits have partnered with the online shopping mall, GoodShop.com, and Yahoo! powered search engine, GoodSearch.com, to enable their supporters to generate funds simply by shopping online and searching the Internet. What makes the system so compelling is that it doesn’t cost the users (or the organizations) a thing. It’s a form of philanthropy that works for everyone in this tough economy!
Consumers are helping their favorite causes by shopping at GoodShop.com where they can choose from more than 1,400 well known retailers including Target, Apple, Macy’s, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Gap, and PETCO among others. The shopping experience and the prices are exactly the same as going to the retailer directly, but by going through GoodShop, up to 30% of the purchase price is donated to the user’s favorite cause. GoodShop also offers coupons and free shipping deals, so not only are the consumers helping their favorite non-profits, but they are saving money while doing so!
Similarly, with every search conducted on Yahoo!-powered GoodSearch.com, approximately one penny is donated to the user’s favorite charity. It’s used exactly like any other search engine and the pennies add up quickly! Just 500 people searching four times a day will earn around $7,300 in a year! And, again it doesn’t cost the users a thing!
Individuals can even add the GoodSearch toolbar to their browser, allowing them to automatically generate donations every time they search or shop online – without going to GoodSearch or GoodShop first.
GoodSearch and GoodShop have quickly spread via word-of-mouth, the blogger community, and a number of celebrities and their foundations including Jessica Biel, Montel Williams, Jeff Bridges, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw among others.
To give you a sense of how this has worked:
· Supporters of the ASPCA, to date, have raised nearly $30,000 to help animals in need
· The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has earned over $12,000 in pursuit of finding a cure
· The National Inclusion Project, which helps children with disabilities, has used the money it’s earned to send more than 100 children to summer camp.
· A single purchase placed at Gaiam.com resulted in a $284 donation to the Motion Mania Dance Theater in Maryland!
Internet users have found GoodSearch and GoodShop to be a compelling idea. Leslie Philips, a veterinarian in Tennessee, uses GoodSearch and GoodShop to support The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee – the nation’s largest natural habitat refuge developed specifically for endangered African and Asian elephants. “There’s no reason not to use GoodShop! It makes me feel so good knowing that when I’m buying my friends and family gifts this season, a portion of that money will go towards endangered species. And with the new toolbar and coupons, it’s a no-brainer!”
The GoodSearch and GoodShop team is revolutionizing online philanthropy so that no one is denied the opportunity to support the causes most important to them. “The response to this idea has been truly overwhelming,” said Ken Ramberg, Co-Founder of GoodSearch and former President of JOBTRAK, the largest online career site for college students (which was acquired by Monster.com). “More than 100 new nonprofits and schools register daily and GoodSearch and GoodShop are making a difference in communities across the country. They are alleviating the strain in resources and making it possible for everyone, regardless of how much time or money they have, to give back.”
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More than Bluebird Houses to do the Trick!
In attempting to attract bluebirds to my yard last season, I learned that housing didn’t seem quite sufficient to appease these lovely birds to take up residence. After experimenting with different foods, actually calling themselves “Bluebird Food”, I realized that live mealworms were the only thing that did the trick…and they really worked great, with two successful broods!
If you’re inviting bluebirds into your yard with bluebird houses alone, feeders will greatly increase chances of them nesting and sticking around. Live meal worms are their food of choice since they are basically insectivores. Providing fruit-bearing trees is also a good way to attract many species of wild birds.
Houses should be in a clearing if possible, mounted to a fence, or a few feet away from a treeline. If post-mounting the house, provide protection from predators with a baffle. A fresh water source in winter is also a great help and attractor for bluebirds and others, especially heated bath water.
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Bird Cameras
Get a glimpse into some of the most magnificent miracles of nature never before available for human viewing. Bird Cams allow us entry to the wonderful, secretive world of nature. Whether raising their young in a nest box, or visiting bird feeders, you can sit back and watch all the activity…everything from hummingbirds to eagles in the comfort of your home.
Many backyard birders have taken the hobby to a new level with the advent of bird cameras. For your viewing pleasure, many folks are kind enough to post their cams on the web. If you enjoy watching this sort of thing, hours could be spent just viewing the many cams available on the internet, including The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and a Birds World at http://www.abirdsworld.com/html/birdcam.html.
The Bird Cameras are also an excellent instrument for scientists, aiding in their research on wild bird populations.