Giving Back While You Shop

Sharing Spree, a daily deal site that gives part of its proceeds to charity, is one of the ways that holiday shoppers can give back this year.

Image: Sharing Spree

Feel guilty about spending too much on holiday shopping when the unemployment rate still stands at 8.6 percent? From big retailers to startups, many companies have come up with ways to give to help consumers give to charity as they shop.

Here are a few that came across our desks in recent weeks.

Pop-Up for a Good Cause: The tech-marketing-architectural startup Steel Space Productions is partnering with DKNY on a display that is sure to grab attention. A customized container will pop up in three different locations in New York City December 8 through 10. For every 100 people who enter the space to check out a sampling of DKNY fashions, the retailer will provide a donation to assist City Harvest, which provides food for the hungry.

Daily Deal Giving: Sharing Spree is a new daily deal site that donates between 10 and 15 percent of every deal sold to nonprofits or schools all year long. So far, it has donated $225,00 and is looking to ramp up the effort this holiday. For the holidays, deal site giant LivingSocial will giving a gift to charity for its third annual 12 Days of Giving program. One percent of every U.S. sale will got to the U.S. Marine Toy for Tots Foundation, while internationally, 1 percent of sales will go to support projects that are part of the GlobalGiving community.

Save, Shop, and Give: Charitable online shoppers hoping to multitask might want to visit GoodShop.com,which was started six years ago by a brother-and-sister team Ken and JJ Ramberg, who wanted to make supporting charitable organizations effortless. The company 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 charity of the shopper’s choice. The site lists more than 100,000 coupons so shoppers can also save.

Good-Deed Widgets: Web-based startups that want to make donating via their sites a snap can do so with American Express’ digital payments platform Serve, which is partnering with the American Red Cross to make it easier for people to give meaningful gifts this holiday season. The Serve Red Cross Charity Widget can be downloaded to any website, blog, or social-media page, enabling people to donate to the American Red Cross with just a few clicks. As part of the Red Cross Holiday Giving Campaign, Serve is matching contributions made via the widget until $50,000 is raised, which will fund shelters, hot meals, and relief supplies.

Recycle and Give Back: If you plan on buying or giving electronic gadgets this holiday, why not give the old ones to a good cause? For those looking to recycle them and simultaneously raise money for charity, five-year-old startup Gazelle.com, which accepts more than 30,000 electronic trade-ins per month, has a program called Gazelle for Good. Gazelle can help by setting up a link to let you and friends donate old gadgets and raise money for the cause you select.