Robert,
After doing a little research, I believe that hmeininger might be associated with
Charlotte Mommies of Charlotte, NC. And indeed, they did raise that amount through goodsearch last year.
But I've checked the stats on nearly two hundred goodsearch listings for Los Angeles and NYC and the numbers just aren't there. The Charlotte Mommies results are so far above typical that there must be more to the story.
I've also been looking for any useful trends or indicators in those stats. Haven't found much, but I did notice a couple things.
Fist, the vast majority of listings show fewer than a thousand searches and little if any money raised. It's what you might expect to see if just one person listed the NPO and then searched for a few minutes every month. Is it real? Planted? I don't know. But the number of such listings is so high that it significantly inflates the claimed number of active participants.
Second, looking at monthly totals, it's common to see a sudden jump in usage, presumably the result of some fundraising activity that highlights the goodsearch program. But the following months generally show a steady decline in searches and revenue. (Not surprising since Yahoo is the search engine.) So the program is not self-sustaining. The NPO's must continue to promote it.
I do hope someone will explain the techniques that Charlotte Mommies used, and whether the associated costs were substantially less than the $2300 received.
-ENO