In the News

Lynda Baquero reports on some of the best apps for finding some deals this holiday season

Save money while Christmas shopping and give at the same time.

Help the World and Save Money with Goodshop

JJ Ramberg and Stephen Van Deventer discuss foundations of good business, young entrepreneurs and building your company's dream team.

How to Be More Charitable Year-Round

While often one of the most understated features of a retailer’s online checkout page, the “Submit Coupon” box is actually one of the most powerful, holding the potential for hundreds in savings. And now, thanks to Gumdrop by Goodshop, the coupon box just got even more powerful — and it’s using its powers for good. An easy-to-install browser extension, Gumdrop makes sure you’ll never miss a deal, automatically bringing over 500,000 of the best coupons from across the web right to your browser as you shop more than 45,000 sites. And because Gumdrop is a part of the Goodshop family, users can also make a difference while they shop, with a percentage of each qualifying purchase being donated to the cause most important to you.

Shopfunding works this way. You identify or choose a cause or campaign of your choice. For example, I selected the ASPCA. Then, according to the company's website, "when you shop at thousands of stores, a percentage of what you spend will be donated to [the cause or campaign.]" You can create your own cause, perhaps a non-profit in your community? What's also cool is you get access to the best coupon codes. Checkout Goodshop homepage for more details.

The clock is ticking on the countdown to the holidays, and while we all have friends and family to shop for, we can’t forget about those less fortunate

Goodshop allows you to make all your holiday purchases online (while saving a ton of money using Goodshop’s coupons) while raising money for a cause that you care about. With their new Goodshop deals button that you can install on your browser, you can be shopping, giving back and saving money all at the same time.

It's the holiday home stretch. We think you should give back while you gift wrap. Enter: JJ Ramberg. She founded Goodshop Give, a site that helps you shop guilt-free. As in, doing your holiday shopping on Goodshop means some of the cash money from your purchases gets donated to a cause of your choice. Two birds, one charitable stone.

Consumer Reporter Lynda Baquero profiles Goodshop Fetch that helps you find the latest discount codes to online shops.

Good Shop www.goodshop.com Instant coupons for all your on line shopping...and a chance to give back too! Brilliant Idea! Listen in and save!

Goodshop - the company known for it's coupons for good shopping website, has launched the worlds first shopfunding site. Called Goodshop Give, the website allows consumers to leverage their online holiday purchase as a way to raise money for a cause they care about.

No more coupon hunting on Google! With this browser plugin (takes 30 seconds to add!), every time you go to an online store, all the best coupons and deals will automatically pop up! It's that easy. Plus, once it's added, if you want, you can choose a cause an a percentage of what you spend at thousands of stores will be donated to that cause at no cost to you! To date, more than $12 million has been raised to feed homeless pets, build playgrounds, pay for healthcare needs and more!

With the holiday season fast upon us, JJ Ramberg checks in to give the down low on the best shopping tips and highlights a way to never miss out on the best deals with Goodshop Fetch

For the past 11 years, social entrepreneur JJ Ramberg ’92 has overseen her business, Goodshop, which raises money for causes when people shop online. She founded Goodshop – which started as a charitable search engine called Goodsearch – with her brother “almost on a whim” about 10 years after she graduated from business school at Stanford. She used “guerrilla grassroots marketing” to promote the idea, cold-calling nonprofits and charitable organizations across the nation to ask them to share the platform with their supporters.

MSNBC's JJ Ramberg launches a service that lets you save money and contribute to great causes while shopping online

You’ve heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and maybe even Small Business Saturday and Giving Tuesday. But did you know there’s another shopping holiday, one where you can get presents for everyone, save money and give back to charities?

The Crunch: When consumers shop online through Goodshop, a percentage of their purchases go toward a cause of their choice, at no extra cost. By partnering with some of the biggest names in the retail industry — Staples, Apple, Vistaprint, Old Navy — Goodshop uses everyday transactions to add to the $12 million dollars it has already raised for causes that range from local animal shelters to international refugee aid. With nearly 125,000 nonprofits, local schools, and personal campaigns currently on the site, and more added every day, Goodshop is changing the way people give. JJ Ramberg, co-founder of the site, thinks shopping through Goodshop is a no-brainer because it enables consumers to give at no expense to themselves.

Co-Founder of GoodSearch.com, now known as Goodshop, and MSNBC’s “Your Business” host JJ Ramberg describes entrepreneurism Jan. 28 during her talk “A View From the Top” as a career that never occurred to her as something she couldn’t do. The event was attended by over 70 Drexel staff and students who gathered in Gerri C. Lebow Hall.

Calling all philanthropists: Dec. 1 is Giving Tuesday. Now that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over and you have all your Christmas shopping done (or, you know, at least you've bought a present or two), Giving Tuesday is about shifting focus toward a more charitable mindset. The founders of the holiday hope it becomes as natural of a habit to give on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving as it is to shop during the holiday weekend.

JJ on MSNBC First Look talking about "Giving Tuesday"

The whole idea of Giving Tuesday started at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan. Henry Timms is the Y's Executive Director and came up with the campaign three years ago. Henry Timms came up with the idea for #GivingTuesday three years ago CBS NEWS "We never needed more than six words: It was always Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday. And people would really say 'Yeah, I think that's a good idea.'" His idea was simple. After several days of shopping, he wanted people to refocus on giving -- to any charity or purpose they wanted to. He asked others to help, and they jumped right on the bandwagon.

Below is a list of some of the organizations participating in the 4th annual #GivingTuesday on December 1st, 2015. To learn more about how to get involved, visit http://www.givingtuesday.org. • Goodshop: Goodshop offers discounts on major brands — including Amazon, Best Buy, Apple, and Macy’s — and donates a percentage to causes you support.

“People feel really good about the fact that their shopping means more than just the thing they are buying. It makes people feel good when they know they are helping out a cause that they care about,” says JJ Ramberg, who is also the host of MSNBC’s weekend business show about small-business issues, Your Business.

Ideas include letting your children use their own allowance money -- not your money -- to buy a present for their classmates, teachers or a family member; writing letters to the soldiers overseas; making homemade cards for babysitters and deliverymen; and doing holiday shopping on sites such as Goodshop, which makes a donation to the charity of your choice with nearly every purchase.

Get something great for everyone on your list this year.

In the frenzy of holiday shopping, consumers are doing more than getting great deals, they’re also using coupons to help raise money for U.S. charities.

The holidays are hard on everyone’s budget, so don’t feel bad if you can’t write a big check to your favorite causes this year. Instead, give back without emptying your wallet with these nine great strategies

It's the time of year where we spend tons of money on presents. Why not also put some of that money towards a good cause? We've rounded up few easy ways for you shop for the holidays while also giving back to charity. It's a win-win. Get discounts and donate to charity while you shop for anything online with Goodshop. The site uses affiliate links for big name stores like GAP, Amazon, Apple and Walmart and then donates money to a charity of your choosing whenever you make a sale. You can pick from plenty of big names, like the American Cancer Society, the Wounded Warrior Project and the ASPCA.

If you want to feel good about how you shop and where you spend your money this holiday season, look no further. Goodshop allows consumers to feel the way they do when they shop at TOMS, but with just about everything that they buy. Check it out: Goodshop works with 30,000 online retailers such as Amazon, Macys, and Best Buy, and allows you to donate a percentage of what you spend to the cause of your choice (more than 100,000 non-profits and schools are listed.) Goodshop gathers the best coupon and discount codes from its participating merchants and puts them all in one place.

A season-long campaign that makes your holiday gifts give back. Thousands of stores participating, including Macy’s, Target, Sephora, even Amazon are listing their best deals right now and then they donate part of every purchase to goodshop.com. So far, 11 million dollars raised for charities such as ASCPA and American Cancer Society.

You're going to do some shopping this holiday, so why not do it in a way that gives back to others? Goodshop is a free app that will donate a percentage of every purchase you make on the app to a charity of your choice. There are more than 100,000 charities to choose from, with everything from The American Cancer Society to local animal shelters and schools.

What if you could get your gift shopping done and do something good for others at the same time? That's where Goodshop Sunday comes in. Thousands of stores are offering great deals and they'll donate a percentage back to your favorite cause. Goodshop CEO Scott Garrell joined Weekend Express to explain how it works and share some of the retailers who can help you give back this holiday season.

Today is Goodshop Sunday where thousands of stores (Amazon, Macy’s, Target, Sephora, Apple etc…) are offering great deals AND donating a percentage of virtually every purchase back to your favorite cause via Goodshop.com. More than 110,000 causes are participating and it’s up to the shopper to select which one they want to support. For example, if you support the ASPCA, one sweater from Macy's would raise enough to get two dogs adopted into loving homes. If you support UNICEF, your purchase of an Xbox from Best Buy could donate enough to provide therapeutic milk to fourteen malnourished children. To date, Goodshop has raised more than $11 million for causes!

Goodshop Sunday, Nov. 30: On this day, thousands of merchants will offer deals and coupons and will donate a percentage of purchases to your favorite nonprofit or school via Goodshop.com. There are more than 110,000 causes are participating, including some local causes, and you get to choose which cause you want to support be it the ASPCA,UNICEF, or others. To date, the event has raised more than $11 million for causes. Check the Twitter hashtag, #GoodshopSunday for chatter.

Most shoppers are familiar with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, but Goodshop Sunday, a commercial holiday that lets shoppers give back to local nonprofits in need, is quickly gaining steam.

New this year: Goodshop Sunday, an initiative out of San Francisco where retailers such as Target and Old Navy offer online deals and coupons and donate a percentage of every purchase to the shopper’s favorite charity.

You’re familiar with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but you most likely haven’t heard about Goodshop Sunday. BlackEnterprise.com chatted with Goodshop CEO Scott Garell for details. BlackEnterprise.com: What is Goodshop Sunday? Scott Garell: Goodshop Sunday, Nov. 30, is the day where thousands of merchants including Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Toys R Us, and Macy’s, will be offering great deals and coupons and donating a percentage of nearly every purchase back to the shopper’s favorite nonprofit or school!

GoodShop.com has donated more than $11 million to charity and saved shoppers money. The coupon site collects deals for Nordstrom, Macy’s, Best Buy, and dozens of other retailers. Each time you take advantage of these deals, a portion of the money goes to the organization of your choice. The GoodShop app, now available on iPhone and iPad, makes it easy to browse sales and manage your donations.

Goodshop.com is helping you get prepared for Back-to-School with killer deals that also help to save important programs at your favorite schools. Goodshop and the new Goodshop iOS app work with more than 5,000 retailers and donate a percentage of purchases made at those online stores to the shopper's chosen cause. More than $11 million has been donated so far, supporting over 110,000 non-profits and schools.

Online, Goodshop.com offers coupons good at more than 5,000 stores that donate up to 20 percent of your purchase price to a school or other cause.

GoodShop may just be the easiest way out there to make a difference without altering your current travel habits. A subset of Yahoo-powered GoodSearch, the online marketplace lets you book your trip on hundreds of travel merchants like Expedia, Travelocity and Hotels.com, and donate a percentage of your purchase to one of more than 100,000 nonprofits. GoodShop also has exclusive coupons that allow you not only to give money back, but also save money while you’re doing it.

Games -- they're fun, enjoyable and rewarding. When dissected down to their roots, the built-in learning process present in all games becomes clear. Whether they're designed and labeled as serious or casual, games take the pressure off of learning and giving, making them instrumental drivers of social impact. While Pixlwise builds games to take the pressure off learning, the online game provider Goodgames takes the pressure off giving. Through Goodgames, online gamers can now give back to the nonprofit or school of their choice when playing a variety of popular games from Arkadium, creators of the largest library of causal games in the world.

Most people see JJ Ramberg, the host of MSNBC's Your Business, as a polished TV star who's got it all: A successful career. A family. A business degree. Even the entrepreneurial venture, GoodSearch.com, that she founded with brother Ken has taken off, raising more than $9 million for 100,000 nonprofits since 2006. Still, entrepreneurship isn't an easy gig. "When it's good, it's great," she said. But on the days when running a company is overwhelming, she offers these tips.

Have you ever counted how many times per day you use a search engine? What if money could be donated to your favorite charity every time you made a search online, including all those searches for product reviews and the lowest price on an item? The website GoodSearch.com does just that.

Play games and raise money for a great cause at the same time-- sound too good to be true? Well it's not! Goodgames.org is trying to raise $1 billion for charities and schools by playing games.

Goodsearch has already used the power of the Internet to allow consumers to raise money for their favorite charities by doing things online that they already do like shopping, dining out and searching the net. Now the company is targeting the over 113 million Americans who play casual games with Goodgames.org. Scott Garell, CEO of Goodsearch, explains why Goodgames has the potential to raise over $1 billion.

Now you can make a donation simply by filling out an online survey. Goodsearch built Goodsurveys.com in collaboration with Peanut Labs as a cost-free way for people to raise money for causes by taking short online surveys. So you can make a donation simply by sharing your opinion.

Women's Day asks "Why Not use Goodsearch.com?" For every new search, the site donates a penny to a charity you select!

SHOP & MAKE A DIFFERENCE Use goodshop.com!

Goodshop.com: Score coupons for online sites (from Best Buy to Macy's), and the charity you pick gets a portion of the purchase price when you use them.

Ramberg co-founded GoodSearch.com, a charitable search engine that donates half its revenue to organizations the suers select. Home Business Magazine recently spoke with her.

Ever wish you could make every penny count twice—especially around the holidays? Use GoodSearch.com, powered by Yahoo, for regular online searches, and the site will donate 50% of the revenue generated from the search advertiser to the charity, school or nonprofit organization of your choice.

JJ Ramberg introduces her new book "Its Your Business" and shares examples from goodsearch, the company she co-founded with her brother.

Goodsearch Co-founder JJ Ramberg shares her insights and tips found in her new book -- a collection of some of the smartest, most practical, and easy to understand business advice out there. It’s straightforward information that you don't need a business school degree to understand, and you don't need to be a Fortune 500 company to use.

GoodSearch – Gives money to charities when people search.

Head to GoodSearch.com instead of Googling your online queries. The site will donate one cent to the fight against homelessness every time you search. Just enter the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth as your favorite charity.

Here’s a twist on buying Mother’s Day gifts, whether a meal out or a box of chocolates.

Pick from more than 2,600 online retailers and dozens of Baltimore area restaurants that make a donation to a favorite nonprofit charity for every purchase through GoodSearch, a Yahoo-powered search engine that works with more than 100,000 charities and schools.

GoodShop.com, an online shopping portal that links to national chain stores such as Bloomingdales, Lands’ End and Sephora, gives a percentage of each purchase back to the shopper’s designated charity. And restaurants listed on GoodDining.com donate up to 6 percent of the tab to the customer’s selected charity or school. In Baltimore area, dozens of restaurants have signed on, including Sotto Sopra on North Charles Street, Salsarita’s on the West Side and Aldo’s in Little Italy.

Some of the Baltimore-based non-profits are Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, Mental Health Association – Maryland, Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter and First Candle – sudden Infant Death Syndrome Alliance.

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – A locally-based program allows participants to help their favorite charities, simply by dining out. GoodDining is the latest project of GoodSearch.com and is the first ever national dine out for charity program in conjunction with 10,000 restaurants nationally and 200 in the Bay Area.

You use this search engine the same way you’d use any other; in fact it’s powered by Yahoo. The only difference is GoodSearch donates half its sponsored search revenue to the charities and schools chosen by users.

The next time you eat out you could be giving back as well thanks to what's called GoodDining.

Go onto the GoodDining website to register your credit cards and pick your favorite charity. Restaurants throughout the area will then give back as much as 6 percent of your check to that charity...There are 105,000 charities from which to choose.

10,000
The number of U.S.restaurants registered with GoodDining, a program that donates up to 6 percent of your bill to a charity of choice. Find a participating spot in your area at gooddining.com

GoodSearch

Are you passionate about fighting poverty? Want to save the whales? Are you committed to curing breast cancer?

No matter what your cause is, you can find a way to support it through the philanthropic search engine tool, GoodSearch. Simply type in the name of the organization you want to support, and GoodSearch will donate 50% of its advertising revenue to your charity of choice. With 54,000 organizations already registered, you’re bound to find a cause that you believe in. Once a few people hop on board, the funds add up fast: If a charity has 10,000 supporters who each use the search tool twice a day, that can add up to $73,000 in donations for the year.

Best of all, GoodSearch recently added a GoodShop tool, which allows you to donate a percentage of the cost of your purchases to the charity of your choice. The store choices include all the big names like Amazon, Best Buy, and Travelocity, so be sure to click through from the site whenever you’re planning a new purchase –you’ll finally have an excuse to feel good about shopping!

You're in luck -- there are lots of war to provide financial assistance without giving a donation. For example, you can use search engines and online shopping sites, such as GoodSearch.com...that will donate their revenue to the rescue groups of your choice.

Use GoodSearch. Think of how many times a day you search for something on the Internet. Every time you search using the GoodSearch engine, which is Yahoo-powered, GoodSearch will donate 1 cent to the charity/school of your choice. You can change your charity as often as you want.

There is also an online shopping component to GoodSearch through GoodShop, where more than 100,000 coupons are offered and a designated percentage of your purchase will be donated to the charity of your choice. Using GoodSearch and GoodShop is an easy way to give -- at no cost to you -- and to really make your online time count. Visit www.goodsearch.com for more information and to download the GoodSearch toolbar.

If you’re buying last-minute gifts online this week, GoodShop makes it possible to turn all those purchases into charitable donations supporting your favorite nonprofit organizations.

Amazon, Target, Neiman Marcus and Apple are among the 2,500 thousand retailers you can access through the site. Each donates a portion of your purchase price to a designated organization, including many worthy local ones, that you choose when you sign up. The percentages vary by retailer, but most fall into the 2 to 5 percent range. J. Crew, for example, will donate 5 percent of your purchase, while 2.5 percent of what you buy will be donated when you shop from Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue, Gap, Banana Republic, Crate and Barrel and iTunes.

If you still haven’t found that elusive perfect gift, you at least have an opportunity to do something perfectly noble with your holiday giving.

The website GoodShop.com has partnered with more than 2,500 retailers to donate up to 30 percent of every purchase to the charity of your choice, at no cost to you. In fact, the site — which features such big-name companies as Target, Apple, Macy’s, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Gap and PetSmart — also offers coupons, discounts and free-shipping deals for consumers.

Started in San Francisco in 2005 under parent company GoodSearch.com, the program has since donated more than $8 million to over 103,000 charities and schools designated by its users. In Central Florida, participating nonprofits include the Autism Society of Greater Orlando, Kids Beating Cancer, the SPCA of Central Florida, Health Care Center for the Homeless and the Coastal Conservation Association, to cite a very few.

You should know that the retailer sets the percentage that will be donated, and the average is a modest 3- to 4-percent cut, with many only donating 1 percent. But there are more generous companies, and nonprofit executives say even the small contributions can add up to substantial money.

Here are 5 ways people can 'give without giving':

Shop online. http://www.GoodShop.com works with more than 2,500 retailers (including Amazon, Gap, Target, Staples and Macy’s) to give a percentage of almost every purchase back to the shopper’s favorite charity.

In addition, GoodShop lists more than 100,000 coupons so that shoppers can save money and do good at the same time! GoodShop currently works with more than 102,000 charities and schools.

Search the Internet: GoodSearch.com donates about a penny per search to the charity the user designates.

Dine out: http://www.GoodDining.com works with more than 10,000 restaurants across the country, and each time you dine, up to 6% of what you spend is donated to your favorite charity.

SHOP FOR A CAUSE. Justify your online shopping habit using GoodShop (goodshop.com), which works with more than 2,500 retailers — Amazon, Apple, Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, and more — to donate a percentage of your purchase to charity. Just designate your cause from among the site's 100,000 nonprofit partners (or add your own favorite organization), then click on the store logos to browse online; the percentage each merchant gives is clearly listed (J.Crew is 5 percent; Barneys New York is 2.5). Knowing that $100 sweater will net $5 for those in need is a perfect excuse to splurge.

When you buy gifts via GOODSHOP.COM, a portion of what you spend will go to the nonprofit organization of your choice!

Use our Yahoo Powered web search and make the world better with every search!

This holiday season we're talking about GoodShop.com! We have partners with over 2,500 national retailers...Amazon, Target, Macy's, Nordstrom...to give a percentage of your purchase back to your charity or school. And the best part is that we have 100,000 money saving coupons so that you can save money while giving back to the make the world better!

In 2005, Ken and JJ Ramberg started a way for people to “give without giving.”

They wanted to create something that was “game-changing in the world of philanthropy,” and did so by launching GoodSearch.

The Humane Society of Yuma, Grand Canyon Association, Desert Star Community School and United Way – Pinal County, are a few of the many organizations in Arizona that use GoodSearch as a way to receive donations.

The idea of GoodSearch is to take everyday actions, such as searching the web, shopping and eating, and using them as ways for people to give back to the charity of their choice.

“People love to – if it’s easy – give back to their favorite school or charity,” Garell says.

If you're like me, you like to avoid the in-store back-to-school madness! Well, here's ANOTHER reason to shop online. At Goodshop.com, up to 30% of the purchases you make through their portal at stores you'd visit at the mall (like Best Buy, Apple, Gap) go to a charity you choose. What's the catch?? There isn't one!! You shop, they donate. So why WOULDN'T you do a little good with the money you're going to spend anyway?

The holidays are typically the season of giving, but how has the economy impacted charitable giving?

A weak economy has many people feeling more cautious than ever. As a result, 7 out of 10 of us (68%) will be “giving” more sparingly to our favorite causes, according to a study by Campbell Rinker. Another 1 in 10 Americans plan to stop giving altogether until the economy gets back on track.

The good news is there are plenty of ways to be charitable without actually dipping into your pocketbook. All you have to do is shop more thoughtfully, and “doing good” can easily be a part of your everyday life.

Here are some options:
Shop Your Closet
Have a couch that no longer matches your living room decor? Gently worn clothing that is cluttering up your closet? A television set that you’re not using? As long as your “stuff” is in good or better condition, charities will be pleased to take it, and you’ll be rewarded with a nice little tax deduction come tax time. To determine your item’s fair market value, use ItsDeductible, a free online site from TurboTax. It’s free, easy to use and it imports directly into your TurboTax return.

Shop Online
A site called GoodShop.com makes giving a cinch. Anywhere from 3% (on average) to as much as 30% of each purchase you make on this shopping portal – which is affiliated with over 2500 name brand retailers from Amazon, Toys ‘R Us, Target, to GAP, and Petco – is donated to your favorite charity. Simple as that.

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - Charities are cash-strapped with the poor economy, but there's a way the public can donate without spending an extra dime.

A website called Goodshop.com allows people to shop online, with a portion of that sale going toward their favorite charity.

"We've partnered with more than 2,500 stores from Amazon to Target to Staples to Sephora to Petco to Expedia, and every time you click through Goodsearch to that store, a percentage goes to your favorite charity or school. You're spending nothing, but doing good by using Goodshop," said J.J. Ramberg, the co-founder of Goodshop.

Run Your searches through GoodSearch or shop through GoodShop and you'll be supporting United Global Shift - AWESOME!

Donate While Shopping

Certain online retailers will donate a portion of sales from your online purchases to the charity of your choice. Here are a couple of examples:

GoodShop: Includes stores like Amazon, Apple and Nordstrom and donates an average 3% of your total sale — and up to 20% — to your charity of choice. The percentage donated is indicated below the merchant’s logo.

GoodSearch is a Yahoo-powered[1] search engine that donates 50% of its revenue, about a penny per search, to listed American charities and schools designated by its users.[2] The money donated comes from the site's advertisers.[3] According to the company's website, as of January 2011, more than 96,000 non-profits are participating in the program and 100 new organizations register daily. GoodSearch was founded in November 2005 by siblings Ken Ramberg (Co-Founder of JOBTRAK, purchased by Monster.com and operating today as MonsterTRAK) and JJ Ramberg.[4]

More than 70 local nonprofits ranging from large national organizations like the American Red Cross to local animal clinics, museums and schools have joined GoodSearch.com and GoodShop.com to provide supporters with free, easy ways to support their missions. Through these sites, supporters have raised nearly $8 million for their favorite nonprofits and schools!

JJ Ramberg, the host of MSNBC's Your Business, offers a way for people to help causes they believe in without spending any money. She and her brother, Ken, launched GoodSearch.com in 2005 and GoodShop.com in 2007.

She walked me through both sites and I found them both amazingly simple. With a few clicks, you can identify the cause you want to support, then use GoodSearch.com as your search engine or GoodShop.com when you’re buying from one of the companies listed on the site. Each time someone searches or shops through these sites, half of the sponsored search revenue, or 3 to 20 percent of the purchase price, goes to the nonprofit of the user's choice. The only question is… why not? Wouldn’t it feel good to know that anytime you search online, you’re contributing to the betterment of the world? Send some flowers, for example, and it automatically shows the dollar amount increase to your cause.

I recently caught up with JJ Ramberg, who is the host of msnbc’s “Your Business,” the only television show dedicated to issues affecting small business owners. Ramberg is a regular contributor to the TODAY Show on small business and financial issues. She is also msnbc’s small business expert and occassional on-air anchor. With her brother, she co-founded GoodSearch.com, a search engine that donates 50 percent of revenue to the charities and schools its users designate.

In this interview, she talks about her her favorite interview, how she’s worked together with her brother to start a company, and she gives some business tips for entrepreneurs, and explains why she doesn’t view herself as a brand.

GoodSearch LLC, a search site that allows users to donate cash to their favorite cause every time they search the web and shop online. Gigya has helped the company provide gamification features enabling users to compare their progress with others and unlock badges and status levels as they gain experience.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Name: JJ Ramberg
Age: 40
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Her Story: Ramberg, the host of MSNBC's Your Business, found a way for people without time or money to help causes they believed in. She and her brother, Ken, had both worked with Internet businesses in the past and knew what a search engine could generate from the $8 billion spent annually. We thought, "Wow. What if we could redirect come of those funds?" Ramberg says. They launched GoodSearch.com (powered by Yahoo!) in 2005 and GoodShop.com in '07. Now each time someone searches or shops through these sites, half of the sponsored search revenue, or 3 to 20 percent of the purchase price, goes to the nonprofit of the user's choice - no cost, no catch.

Shopping Online?

GoodShop.com helps you find and buy gifts from partnering retailers such as Sephora, Apple, Macy's, and Target. When you make a purchase, up to 20 percent is donated to the charity of your choice.

GoodSearch.com is a search engine, powered by Yahoo!, but every time you search, a penny goes to your favorite charity. So you don't spend any money, but you're helping you favorite cause!

Search using GoodSearch.com. Type "National Domestic Violence Hotline," then surf the Internet as you normally would. The site's browser is powered by Yahoo; every time you search, GoodSearch will donate about cent to NDVH. With millions of us clicking, that's big money!

After selling his Santa Monica career website JobTrack to Monster.com in 2000, Ken Ramberg looked for a way to give back. His solution: launching a site that allows Internet surfers to contribute to their favorite charities just by searching online.

Imagine donating big bucks without writing a single check. Thanks to GoodSearch.com, cofounded (with her brother, Ken) by JJ Ramberg, host of MSNBC's Your Business, that's possible: Simply browse the Web with this Yahoo-powered search engine. With each term you type in (e.g., "Usher's abs"), you'll raise a pretty penny - literally one cent - for your favorite nonprofit of the 90,000 on the site. Shop online using GoodSearch.com's sister site, GoodShop.com, and merchants like Target will donate up to 30 percent of each purchase to a listed cause.

Self Magazine's Woman Doing Good Awards

JJ Ramberg, Co-Founder of GoodSearch, was on the Today Show as the recipient of Self Magazine's Woman Doing Good Award.

Pick a Charity - Buy with a purpose

When you're shopping online, start your search at goodshop.com, a portal whose 1,500 participating stores (which sell clothing, food, housewares, books, toys, and more) contribute an average of 3 to 4 percent of your purchase to the charity you choose. Your cause will also earn a penny every time you use the search-engine feature -- just download the site's toolbar.

You can also do a good deed while spending your dollars at stores like Wal-Mart, Kohl's and Best Buy. They and more than 700 other top retailers have joined with the charity GoodShop.com.

In today's troubled economy, Ken Ramberg's recipe for fund-raising is simple: give people at all income levels a tool for benefiting charity without spending a dime. GoodSearch, the Los Angeles-based company that he and his sister JJ founded in 2005, tries to do just that.

Check out two easy - and free - ways you can fund your favorite charities. On Yahoo-powered search engine GoodSearch.com, one penny goes to you charity of choice (more than 64,000 currently listed) for every search you do; 500 people searching four times a day will raise around $7,300 in a year.

Portal site GoodShop.com donates a percentage of all purchases to your charity of choice, without the hassle of registering, whenever you buy from one of 600 affiliated merchants including Target, Bloomingdale's and Zappo's.

"GoodSearch.com, which is a search engine just like Google or Yahoo, but every time you search it you can donate to charity. There are thousands. I just thought that was really, really cool," Zauzmer said.

We all spend so much time searching the net for various things, so why not use a search engine that actually donates money to your favorite charity while you search?

The desire to lend a hand is increasingly becoming an aspect of corporate citizenship. GoodSearch.com is a Yahoo!-powered search engine which donates 50 percent of its revenue to the charities and schools designated by its users; its spin-off, GoodShop.com, is an online shopping mall that donates a percentage of each sale to user-selected charities.

New tools have even appeared to spur giving without money during these rough economic times, when people tend to cut back on contributions. GoodSearch.com allows donors to give to their favorite charities every time they conduct an online search on Yahoo (which donates a penny per search), and GoodShop.com donates a percentage of every purchase made from more than 700 retailers. Some 60,000 charities are already benefiting.

Search the Internet ... rack up cash for your favorite charity. Thanks to Yahoo-powered search engine Goodsearch, it's that easy for Internet users to contribute to your cause.

Imagine changing the world without changing your routine. That's what the founders of GoodSearch.com, launched back in 2005, and its new sister site GoodShop.com promise their users. With 60,000 nonprofits benefiting from both sites, it's philanthropy made easy in the form of a search engine and online mall of sorts.

You can benefit charity not only by the gifts that you purchase, but by changing your daily practices. One way you can do this is to raise money for charities by browsing the Web.

What makes it really appealing is that you don't have to buy anything for the charities to benefit.

The holiday season is notoriously known as the "season of giving" to charities, but I am sure that not many people know that they can give to their favorite non-profit without spending any of their own money by hitting the search button on GoodSearch.com or by shopping at their favorite stores online through GoodShop.com

According to the National Retail Federation, more than 72,000,000 Americans are expected to shop online Monday during so-called "Cyber Monday." But did you know you could do a good deed by getting those gifts online?

Many of you will be clicking a mouse to do your holiday shopping. If you do, you can help send money to the charity of your choice without one dollar coming from your wallet.

If test you like to donate this holiday season but don't have the time or money, one website can help you.

One website allows you to donate to your favorite charity just by searching the web, and several local organizations are taking advantage of the opportunity.

The maker of the charity search engine GoodSearch, which donates to your favorite charity just by searching the internet, is now using the same concept for on

This era's kings—and queens—of giving have changed the way we think of "charity." A look at the powerhouses.

Donating money to area non-profits in South Georgia is now just as simple as logging on to the Internet.

GoodSearch.com, which is powered by Yahoo!, is a grass-roots campaign started by Ken and JJ Ramberg in 2005.

Have you ever said, 'If I had a penny for every time..." Yes, we all have. Now, a new Internet search engine is taking the 'penny' philosophy and using it to make money for your favorite charity...

Wish you could be Santa's helper all year long and give to all your favorite causes? You can - and it won't cost you a dime.

It's the time of year when you want to donate to needy charities. But if it were easy enough, you would support some causes all year, like your kid's school or the research institute working to cure a disease rampant in your family.

Anyone who has wanted to do something good for an organization but was unable to find the time or means to do so, has a great opportunity to on the Internet.

It's easy to use: Just go to GoodSearch.com, enter the charity you want to support in the provided field, and search. Don't see your favorite cause represented? You can add it. Want to spread the love? Change your charity as often as you like.

It's easy to use: Just go to GoodSearch.com, enter the charity you want to support in the provided field, and search. Don't see your favorite cause represented? You can add it. Want to spread the love? Change your charity as often as you like.

It's a website designed to give back ... without even giving at all. GoodSearch.com is a search engine that works like Google or Yahoo ... the only difference is it's for a good cause.

There is a search engine called Goodsearch.com that donates 50 percent of its revenue to charities and schools designated by its users.

We are in the midst of the giving season, but what if you could give without actually giving?

My favorite example is the search engine GoodSearch.com. The idea behind this excellent search engine (powered by Yahoo) is simple and brilliant — 50% of all ad revenue generated from the site is donated to the charity of the user's choice, and the money GoodSearch donates comes from its advertisers, so it doesn't cost the users or the organizations a penny.

From Patagonia to Starbucks to a would-be Google-killer, forward-thinking companies are making philanthropy a part of their business models.

Matt Cleveland searches for troubled teens. Michael Brown searches for juvenile diabetics. A charity benefits.

Philanthropy is no longer just the business of the Heinz or Carnegie families. Donations to charities now come from Internet search engines, too.

"Search the Internet, make the difference." This is the motto of newly developed search engine called GoodSearch.com. This new engine, powered by Yahoo, was created by Ken and JJ Ramberg and allows users to search the Internet while donating money to a charity of their choice at the same time. TEST

According to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, Internet search engines generated close to $6 billion in advertising revenue in 2005. Two Internet entrepreneurs, [brother and sister] Ken and JJ Ramberg of Los Angeles, Calif., have created a way for searchers to donate a fraction of that money to make the world a better place.

"Search the Internet, make the difference." This is the motto of newly developed search engine called GoodSearch.com. This new engine, powered by Yahoo, was created by Ken and JJ Ramberg and allows users to search the Internet while donating money to a charity of their choice at the same time. TEST

Imagine if every time you logged on and looked up the caloric content of the snack you just ate, you earned money for charity. With each search you launch on goodsearch.com, about 1 cent goes to the charity or school of your choice. You simply select an organization from a database of thousands or add your own, then tell all your friends, tell your friends to tell their friends and so on. If 1,000 people with the same charity search twice a day for a year, the charity earns $7,300. Wanting to harness for mankind some of the cash advertisers throw at search engines ($6 billion last year), founders Ken and JJ Ramberg partnered with Yahoo!

Forget the car washes and bake sales. Raising money for your favorite charity is as easy as clicking your mouse. That's the case for seven local nonprofit organizations that are innovating their approaches by using an increasingly popular Web site called GoodSearch.

GoodSearch.com is powered by Yahoo! and raises money for charities using a model similar to paid searches on Yahoo or Google (Research): Advertisers pay a fee whenever Internet users click on a given link. Last year search engines generated almost $6 billion through such searches.

For Web-addicted Stanford students, the thought "If only I had a penny for every time I searched the Web," may cross minds often.

A new site called GoodSearch.com, launched late last year by Los Angeles-based GoodSearch LLC, aims to lure repeat users by donating roughly a cent to a charity of the user's choice every time a search is conducted on its Yahoo-based search engine ...

It is a place where people can donate to their favorite charity or school without ever spending a single penny. It is called GoodSearch.com, a search engine powered by Yahoo!

It is a place where people can donate to their favorite charity or school without ever spending a single penny. It is called GoodSearch.com, a search engine powered by Yahoo!

You'd like to donate to charities just by clicking around the Internet as you always do. GoodSearch is a search engine that splits its advertising revenues 50-50 with charities and schools.

"This isn't as crazy as it sounds," said Rich LeFurgy, a principal at Archer, a San Francisco consulting firm that specializes in marketing. "I think of it as the business model that's waiting to happen."

Some smaller search sites have tried to attract consumers by giving a percentage of ad sales to user-designated charities or giving individuals chances to win cash prizes. GoodSearch Inc., a site that uses Yahoo Inc. search technology, distributes a portion of its ad revenue to charities or schools selected by users each time they search.

Helping those in need is only a click away.

"Goodsearch.com founders Ken and J.J. Ramberg (who are brother and sister) plan to direct half of the revenue that their search engine generates toward charities that users specify using a pull-down menu on the search engine home page. Currently, more than 900,000 charities and schools are listed, according to Ken Ramberg. If your favorite charity isn't there, you can submit its information online and it will be added after verification."

Each time a person searches the Internet with GoodSearch.com, 50 percent of the revenue raised from advertisers on the Web site will be given to a charity designated by the user.

It's easy to use: Just go to GoodSearch.com, enter the charity you want to support in the provided field, and search. Don't see your favorite cause represented? You can add it. Want to spread the love? Change your charity as often as you like.

What if you could support your favorite charity without spending any of your own money, just by doing something you probably already do everyday? Well, GoodSearch.com has made that possible. It's a search engine that lets you direct money to any of hundreds of thousands of charities every time you do an online search.