More than 15,000 nonprofits and charities are using
GoodSearch to raise funds online simply by asking their supporters, staffers, and constituents to use it as their primiary search engine. And over 1,500 nonprofits are participating in
Google Grants, the search giant's program that offers organization free publicity in the form of Web advertising.
TechSoup's recent article "
Search Engines Help Nonprofits Raise Funds, Get Publicity" explores both of these programs and talks about a few organizations who are putting them to good use.
Is your organization signed up with GoodSearch, or have you recieved a Google Grant? If so, what's your opinion on the services? Pros? Cons? Feel free to speak up.
Brian;
Thanks for the tip. I had not thought of either source. I will go try it out and report back.
Please do report your experiences back to the community. We would love to hear if you were successful with the implementation of these applications.
Brian;
Many thanks for bringing us more good ideas. I have applied for the Google grant, but not the other one. You just need the usual information for the Google application. It is a simple one page application that just takes a few minutes.
However, I am not sure what they did with it from there. I did not see what happens after you apply.
Your link to GoodSearch in your message was not working for me. I went there, though, and I signed up our organization. They replied that it will take a few days to approve our organization, In The Master's Hands (just in case anyone wants to support us, please).
As with Google Grants, this is an easy enrollment. It just takes a few minutes.
Again, Brian, these are terrific aids to all of us. I am very grateful to you for these tips.
GBY, Gary
Joined on 02-13-2006
TechSoup Member
After reading about goodsearch, we just signed up. It took less than 5 minutes and our application was approved the next day. After a week, we've raised 83 cents and are getting ready to "roll it out" to our membership base.
On a personal basis, I have found the searches not as complete as google or ask.com, but I use it as my first shot, and then if I still need help try another engine.
Gina Fiorillo
Director of Development
Slow Food USA
Gary,
Glad you found the article useful. As for me, I had a good time writing it.
Joined on 06-22-2005
TechSoup Member
We signed up for GoodSearch a few months ago. Donors think it is cool to be able to see how much they are helping us to earn. It won't amount to a lot, but it helps them feel involved. I agree with a previous post that the search isn't as robust, but it is great to start there. We haven't done a Google grant but plan to.
Joined on 12-15-2006
TechSoup Member
I am just finding out about GoodSearch and I note that they mail checks out in Sept/Oct each year. Since GoodSearch is a year old this is the first year they will have dispursed funds.... Has anyone received an?
I don't recommend using GoodSearch in any way, shape, or form. If I remember correctly they used to use Google search and now are using Yahoo search.
The problem with what they are doing is that people are encouraged to click, thinking they are helping charities, and while this may not be a bad thing, it is an open invitation for people wanting to "do good" to click on ads just so they can support the charity. Not everyone will do this, but many will and it fraud and theft, pure and simple when that is why people click.
I was hoping that when GoodSearch was dropped by Google they would give up this ill-advised effort, but they just found another advertising system to use. I expect that Yahoo will also drop them then they figure out what is going on.
On a different note, I took a look at Google Grants and then remembered that I had seen this once before. The bottom line is that if you are accepted in the program, you get about $3,000 a month for a year to spend on Google advertising. This is a VERY NICE BUDGET to have for the promotion of your organization or events, and a great deal for any NP that is lucky enough to take part.
I've been working with Google Adwords for about 3 years now and any NP that doesn't have the expertise can contact me for some (limited) free help in getting your account set up and working. It does take a bit of time to properly set up the account, but it's well worth the effort.
Joined on 08-10-2006
TechSoup Member
Where did you get your information on Google dropping GoodSearch as I googled google, ha-ha, and found nothing referring to your post.
Thanks.
I agree with Chris. I would not recommend using Goodsearch.com.
I have been researching this on behalf of a client and despite the altruistic image created by a very aggressive and polished PR campaign, goodsearch.com is just another click-thru site with no content or product of its own, existing primarily to produce income for the owners (the Rambergs), and relying on the enthusiasm (and naivety?) of the non-profit community to do its marketing and recruiting for them at no charge (much like other affiliate programs).
Users end up with a second-rate search engine and most NPO's will realize far less income than they anticipate, if any at all.
Standard Advice: Read and understand every word of the Terms of Service and the Privacy statements before signing up for this or any other on-line service.
-ENO
Joined on 08-26-2007
TechSoup Member
In response to Christian, note that they are donating based on searches, not clicks on sponsored links. Thus, they should not be exposed to or encouraging click fraud the way typical PPC models are. Also, I have not researched this, but since they are using Yahoo's search engine, I imagine they are also using Yahoo click fraud protections, which are not absolute but would likely prevent most click fraud.
In response to ENO, true that it is a business idea but nevertheless with seemingly good intentions and positive results for nonprofits. What is wrong with a for-profit enterprise that benefits nonprofits?
As for it being a second rate search engine, cannot argue there.
I had assumed Google dropped them since they were using Yahoo the last time I checked, and right now they still are.
In response to Christian, note that they are donating based on searches.
I'm sorry, where did you see that? They are trying to mislead people. By their search box they say "Fraudulent searches will result in your charity being delisted." There is no such thing as a "Fraudulent search", but there are fraudulent clicks. The searching does not generate any revenue, it's the clicks.
Where does the money come from?
Search engines make most of their money from companies that pay an advertising fee when users click on links during a search.
This is exactly what I am talking about. Most people don't understand paid search very well and can easily become confused.
The problem is that those with little or no means to donate to charities will be very likely to donate in other ways, and therefore click on the paid ads of any site that offers them. While the intentions are well-meaning, it's still click fraud since the advertiser does not benefit and loses money.
Yes, there may be some honest clicks, but how do you tell? The answer to me is NEVER use any type of system to donate to charities where this can happen. A couple of years ago I put adsense on a charity site that I was helping, but I soon pulled it off after thinking more about it. It's better to use affiliate programs where people are paying for something they want and the NP can get some revenue (I have one such program and will help any NP that wants to get started that way. Contact me off-forum.).
And to update everyone on Google Grants: It's a great program, but it's been darned hard for me to get it to work for my NP client. I've been short of time, but after managing an AdWords account that has spent as much as $100K a month, this free account has been a big headache. if anyone has had success with setting up and running a Google Grant account for a NP I would really, really like to talk to them, because in this situation, Google has been almost no help at all.
"What is wrong with a for-profit enterprise that benefits nonprofits?"
Nothing at all.
But if the for-profit enterprise is deceiving the nonprofit with unrealistic promises, then the nonprofit might not realize any true benefit, and I become concerned about the extent of the deception and possible negative consequences.
For the record, I'm not saying that GoodSearch has done, or is likely to do anything overtly malicious. I'm just saying that they appear to be no better than any of the other tacky, specialized quasi-search engine providers I've seen. (except perhaps that they've been clever enough to get the nonprofit community to do all the footwork for them.)
I recognize their sales psychology as being a slightly updated version of the decades old multi-level soap powder marketing schemes.
I see them showing "success" examples that your local nonprofit will never be able to match.
Doing a quick check of the GoodSearch affiliated nonprofits in my metropolitan area, I see that very few of them are earning even $20 a year, meaning they'll see nothing.
Ignoring the money/time spent adding GoodSearch to their campaigns, if even one donor is sufficiently annoyed by the swith to Yahoo that they decide NOT to contribute to the latest campaign, the result is a net loss.
You might also want to investigate the GoodSearch toolbar. It's actually a version of the Dynamic Toolbar from Visicom Media, the same folks who created some infamous adware/spyware toolbars.
The GoodSearch toolbar collects additional information about "user behaviour" and gives GoodSearch the ability to generate substantial income without paying your selected charity a single dime.
There's more, but you don't have take my word for it. Read their terms and conditions. Note the disclaimers. Install the toobar. Analyze the changes to your computer and the outgoing traffic and decide for yourself.
-ENO