I applaud Quest's thread in that everyone should give to charity as much as possible and as often as possible. However, I would like to point out that after reading the thread, my cynical self declared the site a scam. I did a bit of information gathering, and this is what I came up with: 2000-2004 The Breast Cancer Site. All rights reserved. Patent Pending. Owned and operated by CharityUSA.com, LLC. Funds are paid by CharityUSA.com, LLC. to the benefiting organization(s) in the form of a royalty payment. whois'ing thebreastcancersite.com I got: Organization: Charity USA.Com, LLC Gregory Hesterberg 600 University St., Ste.1000 Seattle, WA 98101 US Phone: 734-475-0409 So I went to CharityUSA.com site. It has plenty of sites just like it, saving the earth, etc. It basically sells its products with logos and what not (something we can all do quite easily) and a PORTION of its profits to charity. I dug deeper. Registrant: HOMELINE PUBLICATIONS (CHARITYUSA-DOM) 110 BRIDGE ST DEDHAM, MA 02026-1702 US So thebreastcancersite.com is owned by a guy in Seattle Washington who works for CharityUSA.com. CharityUSA.com though, is owned by Homeline Publications which is a company in Masachussets (sp?). Homeline Publications has no website or online presence. It is, however, listed on a couple of Yellow Pages-sort of sites, with its HQ in Dedham. I myself find that a bit dodgy. So I went even further. http://www.silicon.com/networks/broadband/0,39024661,39117644,00.htm "So what's the story? All these sites are run by an organisation called CharityUSA.com. But despite its name CharityUSA is not a registered charity, it is a for-profit organisation, owned by a company called Homeline Publications, which gives "a percentage" of its profits to charity. " My personal beef isn't with giving to charity. Not at all. It's finding dodgy sites that MAY give money to charity, and in the process, help out themselves a bit... or more. The internet is filled with them. "While in the main it would seem an innovative way of creating charitable donations you may feel more comfortable going direct to a registered charity of your choice and making a direct cash donation. CharityUSA has failed to respond to requests for further information about its business." Going even deeper I disovered that it is not even on the government's list of accepted and legal charities. If you can find it on the Combined Federal Campaign website, I'll eat my hat. Again, don't take this the wrong way, it's just easy to fall into the trap of giving money or clicks on the internet for self-serving individuals. Now click on my name and visit my gallery. Drac

Good heads up on your research. I'll add that so many vulnerable people get reeled into this,wether by phone or internet.Then they hound you.I give to many,but do it directly,and check the legitimacy.Also the percentage of how much is actually donated.

This is essentially the internet version of the boiler room telemarketers who make phone calls "for charities." I think the rule here in the USA is that if at least 10% of the net profits go to charity, then they won't pursue them for fraud. But, of course, that means that 90% of the profits stay with the boiler room. And, mind you that's 10% of the net .... so it can be pennies on the dollar. Bottom line is (and I say this from the bottom of my black heart as an attorney), always give DIRECTLY to the charity of your choice, and make certain it is a legitimate charity (so best to stick to the big names). In the USA there is an IRS site that actually lists all of the legitimate not-for-profit organizations, and that's a place to start, but you can always give to the Red Cross, or the Humane Society, or to a known research organization (I think, for example, there is an American Breast Cancer Society. But, please, don't waste your money on boiler room calls and sites. My aunt used to give money (lots of it) to those places (until I had her phones rerouted so that I could screen her calls from home). I always told her that she'd get more bang for her buck if she baked a cake and took it to the firestation than she would donating to some boiler room group "representing" the "Widows of FireFighers".

Ricky, any company, organization, if collecting for a charity, such as Breast Cancer, is ONLY REQUIRED BY LAW TO HAND OVER 2%, of the money they collect to the charity they are representing. That means, anyone can collect money for a charity and can keep all of it but the reqiured two percent by law. And there are companies and organizations that do just that, if you want to donate, go directly to the Charity of your choice...

I found this very interesting. Others had notified me of that particular website Quest mentioned and I never felt it hurt to click on it. I wasn't spending any money. I was intrigued by the background behind it. Thank you for taking time to dig into it.

Drac, thanks for ringing the alarm, I had no idea of CharityUSAs internal operations of its business dealings so Ive decided to look into it myself. I set CharityUSA in the Googles search engine and the silicon.com website you mentioned in your post is the only negative article Ive encountered after 23 pages of searching. Most other sites veered towards the positive. Take for instance this article from the Business Journal:

http://seattle.bizjournals.com

CharityUSA has failed to respond to requests for further information about its business.

If you read further, at the bottom of the page Readers Comments, the second posting at least someone was able to get some cooperation:

I called CharityUSA and the guy who answered it, Brian, was very, very helpful. My first question was "What proportion of the profits go to the partner?" and he immediately and completely answered it; and directed me to the relevant parts of the site so that I could see for myself.
I'm surprised the Will had so much trouble getting a response...
(Ed note. Obviously being in the US, contacting a US business you may have had more luck. For those of us in the UK grappling with an eight-hour time difference it's not so easy. Will contacted CharityUSA using the dedicated press enquiry email address the company provides. CharityUSA has subsequently admitted it did receive the email but failed to reply.)

Let me be clear on this, not that Im taking any sides but this site is setup to help online charitable organizations, as such it will incur operating expenses so obviously its funding must come from somewhere. Thats why it pays out royalties. If you read the FAQ page it says:

How much funding goes to the National Breast Cancer Foundation?

75% of the total funds generated at The Breast Cancer Site goes to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, while The Breast Cancer Site receives the other 25% as a hosting fee to offset a portion of the overhead costs associated with development and maintenance of the site.

So the site itself is not a charitable organization but the distributor of the funds to those organizations so one would be hard pressed to find it in the CFC. On the other hand, the National Breast Cancer Foundation is a charitable organization and can be found in the Combined Federal Campaign; CFC #1362:

1362 National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.
972-248-9200 www.nationalbreastcancer.org EIN: 75-2391148
Educates women on lifesaving techniques of early detection of breast cancer; provides support for breast cancer patients; free to low-cost mammography for underserved women. 17.3%

If you go to their Sponsors Page you will see listed CharityUSA as one of their benefactors.

nationalbreastcancer.org

Further, if you go to the About us page at the http://www.thebreastcancersite.com you will find out who Mr. Greg Hesterberg is, way down on the bottom of the page.

About the Owners of The Breast Cancer Site

Long-time environmental activists Tim Kunin and Greg Hesterberg met at the University of Michigan while working on the Michigan Bottle Bill ballot campaign in 1976. In the late 1990s, they recognized that broad consumer-adoption of the Internet offered a new opportunity to raise funds for good causes, which led them to found CharityMall.com, LLC, a cause-related shopping portal. As enthusiastic supporters of The Hunger Site, they realized the power of providing busy Internet users with a fast, free and easy way to make a difference and launched EcologyFund.com to give people the means to support wilderness preservation efforts worldwide. They are particularly excited to revive The Breast Cancer Site, as both are sons of breast cancer survivors.
Tim Kunin is a life-long lover of wilderness who has canoed and hiked for thousands of miles in the United States, Canada, and Patagonia. He started working for environmental causes at the University of Michigan, where he walked 200 miles across the state to publicize the need for recycling.
Greg Hesterberg was chairman of two statewide consumer and environmental organizations (MaryPIRG and PIRGIM) while in college. After 20 years running a successful publishing firm, Greg delights in finding innovative ways to make the world a better place.
In many articles Ive read about him, he is much revered for his work with charities.

While I agree with most of you that if you were wanting to make a substantial monetary contribution to this charity or any other charity, the best way to do it would be to contact them directly and making sure you get a receipt in return. But this is a free sponsored donation and it doesnt hurt anything but the inconvenience of clicking a button to help at least one underprivileged woman somewhere combat this terrible disease and its fallout.

The urban legend busting web site; www.snopes.com

Ah, it's only 2%, not 10% .... even worse than I thought. Yup .... well as I said, don't donate via go-betweens. Donate DIRECTLY. Ricky