Longmont, CO, November 20th, 2007 – Giveness announced today the availability of several new technology tools to support the fund raising activities of nonprofit organizations. The company has also extended its policy of providing 100% of commissions to participating nonprofits through the busy holiday shopping period. Just in time for the holiday shopping season, these tools raise money for nonprofits through "charitable shopping." Online retailers pay referral commissions when shoppers are directed to their websites by third parties. Giveness facilitates the referrals from the supporters of nonprofits to online retailers and passes the commissions on to the nonprofit organizations.

"This is a perfect time for nonprofits to tap into these new tools. The end of the year is known for its high volume of online shopping and this gives nonprofits the opportunity to end their year with an increase in income from sources other than donations," said Richard Waldvogel, founder of Giveness.

"Using Giveness is a no-brainer," said Joe Linstedt, Campus Crusade for Christ director at Colorado State University. "Enrollment was quick and easy and the new tools give students a way to contribute to our financial needs simply by doing their regular online shopping through Giveness," he explained.

In addition to shopping via Giveness.com, supporters can now shop for their favorite nonprofit through applications that have been embedded in social network websites, links on the nonprofit's website and a toolbar add in that can be installed in a browser. With approximately 4% commissions being generated for online shopping, nonprofits can benefit simply by asking their supporters to shop via Giveness. During the holiday shopping period, Giveness is giving 100% of the commission proceeds to its member nonprofit organizations.

About Giveness
Giveness is an exciting and unique new service that helps nonprofit organizations and individuals unite to support philanthropic causes. Giveness has developed a powerful Online Shopping System that generates incremental income for nonprofits whenever a supporter shops online through Giveness. Online merchants who participate in the Giveness program pay a sales commission for each online purchase that an individual makes through one of Giveness' unique online shopping tools. During our beta period, Giveness will re-direct 100% of those commissions to the nonprofit that the consumer has selected to support.

John Musser from Programmableweb.com continues his Case Study on Giveness with this article.

Read it here.

John Musser from Programmableweb.com recently published a case study examining how Giveness uses APIs to generate donations.

"How can open APIs be used to help charitable causes? In this case study interview we speak with Richard Waldvogel, founder of Giveness, a social network for philanthropy that builds on open APIs like Amazon's and eBay's to enable people to support their favorite charities while they shop."

Read the full the first of two parts here.

Keely Brown did an excellent write up on Giveness.com for the Boulder County Business Report.  It gives a great overview on how our company got started and our motives behind this new business.  It's a great read.

http://www.bcbr.com/article.asp?id=87623

Giveness is excited to announce the release of our new Flash based widget. We now give you the opportunity to take our fundraising technology with you across the Internet. You can showcase the products you recommend at Giveness as well as giving your visitors the ability to shop the entire Amazon and eBay catalogues for products that generate commissions for your organization.

How Do I Get One?
We have embedded the widgets on all the Charity and Member profiles throughout Giveness.com. Simply visit your profile page or the Charity that you support and you will notice our new product widget on the right hand side. The widget itself contains an "Embed" button where you can simply copy and paste the required code to place the widget on your site.

You can also visit http://www.giveness.com/givecast to view a widget configuration tool that will allow you to select the necessary embed code for the Charity you want to support.

How Does It Work?
In order for the widget to function, an active and valid Charity at Giveness must be provided in the embed code. This ensures that the Charity that you are supporting will receive credit for any purchases made from the widget.

See our widget functioning on Myspace.com.
http://www.myspace.com/giveness

Place it on your blogs, your website, or on your social networking sites. It's an easy and fun way to show your support the causes important to you.

Give Us Your Feedback
We'd love to hear what you think about our new widget so don't hesitate to drop us a note at support@giveness.com with any ideas, thoughts or issues you have about taking advantage of this exciting opportunity for you to raise more awareness and support for your cause.