From...

November 30, 1998
Web posted at: 10:30 AM EST

by Kathleen Ohlson

(IDG) -- Online storefronts seem to be launching and re-launching daily this holiday season to take advantage of annual gift giving. But one Web shopping site that's scheduled to debut next week takes a different tack.

Shop2Give, which began operating quietly earlier this month, will let users make a donation to charity as they buy items from participating merchants, said Brett Holmes, a spokesman for Shop2Give LLC in Los Angeles.

Donations, which are a percentage of purchases and predetermined by the merchants, can be made to a choice of 640,000 nonprofit organizations, including the American Lung Association and Special Olympics, Holmes said.

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About two dozen merchants, including J. Crew, Brookstone and Fashionmall.com, have signed on to Shop2Give, and other major online retailers will be coming on board soon, Holmes promised. Shoppers can visit and make purchases now, he said, although the site officially bows Dec. 1.

When a purchase is made, the merchant cuts two checks. One goes to Shop2Give.com as a commission. The other, representing a percentage of the purchase the merchant has agreed to donate, is sent to Shop2Give.com's trust account.

Holmes said that account will be administered by a trust company and audited by a major accounting firm, although he said he wasn't yet ready to announce which firms are involved.

Checks will be sent to charities each month or as they accrue a minimum of $75, he added.

To make a purchase through Shop2Give, consumers must first pick a nonprofit group, said Mayer Brenner, chief technology officer at the new company. Users can select a different charity with each purchase, Brenner added. Shoppers can also be notified about their donation if they supply an E-mail address, he said.

Among the charities that will benefit is the Child Welfare League of America in Washington. The group currently raises funds through foundations and corporations and saw joining Shop2Give.com as another way to reach the public, said Liz Loden, director of development at the organization.

The concept behind Shop2Give.com is a "win-win" situation, said Marc Peabody, an analyst at Boston-based Aberdeen Group Inc. "It's an aggregated product site with charitable aspects," he said. The nonprofit groups get attention, while consumers make the purchases they want and have a chance to make a donation, he added.

Shop2Give.com should be able to attract big vendor names because of its charity aspect, Peabody said. For the vendor, "it's another distribution channel, and it doesn't take traffic away from [a vendor's own] site," Peabody said. "There is no clear leader" in the online shopping market and plenty of room for new entrants, he added.

Purchase information that goes to consumers, charities, merchants and Shop2Give is managed by LinkShare Corp.'s Synergy 3.0, Holmes said.

Synergy will track users from Shop2Give's site to participating online retailers' sites. After a purchase is made, it will report the predetermined commission to Shop2Give and to the nonprofit organization, LinkShare said in a statement.

Among the vendors is Fashionmall.com, which became involved with Shop2Give because it "was looking at ways to leverage its strength on the Web in a positive way," said Ben Narasin, president of Internet Fashion Mall LLC in New York. Fashionmall.com, which gathers merchants such as Hugo Boss, Fortunoff's and Brooks Brothers in a virtual shopping center, has decided it will donate 5% of each customer's tab to registered charities, Narasin said.

Shop2Give is the brainchild of Ami Kassar, 29, who decided to chuck 80-hour workweeks as a sales manager for a company that makes construction tools.

Kassar has been working on the idea that has become Shop2Give for the past year. "It's all about empowerment" and giving new choices to consumers, vendors and nonprofits, Kassar said. "It gives the shopping experience a new feeling and makes people feel good."

Shop2Give is a for-profit business. Companies can choose to pay the company either an advertising fee or a percentage of a shopper's purchase, Kassar said.

The site was designed to allow "the consumers to know what's going on" in terms of where their money goes, he added.

In addition to vendor and charity links, Shop2Give also will provide information on "spotlight causes," such as rescue and humanitarian efforts going on in the wake of Hurricane Mitch, which recently devastated parts of Central America. It also will showcase charity and civic activities in major U.S. communities, Brenner said.

For instance, the Child Welfare League will mount a question-and-answer piece on children's issues, which will be in the site's Community Action section, Loden said. In the future, the group will provide additional information via Shop2Give's site, including tips on how to find quality day care and how to become a foster parent, she said.