GivingCart uses affiliate marketing to raise funds for approved Catholic financial needs. Just log in to your account in GivingCart and click on the logo of the merchant you want to shop with. Your purchase from that merchant earns a return, earmarked for the Catholic cause of your choice.
In affiliate marketing, the online merchant pays a commission to the web site that directs the consumer to the merchant’s site. For example, if you click the Ignatius Press logo on this web site and spend, say, $50 on books and music, then Ignatius Press gives 10% of the sale ($5.00) to GivingCart for directing you to their web site. We then pass that return on to your selected Catholic charity, less a small portion to cover our costs.
The transaction is similar to a credit card’s reward program. We list hundreds of online stores, and each listing on our site states the percentage (or, in some cases, a flat dollar amount) returned from each sale. Through GivingCart, Catholic consumers turn their ordinary purchases into a method of regular donation to the Church.
GivingCart is a portal for Catholic internet shoppers. When you register for a free membership, you choose the Catholic project or charity that will benefit from your transactions, with the option to change your beneficiary at any time. A running tally keeps you posted on how much money you have raised for your particular Catholic cause–and, as well, the total amount raised thus far by all GivingCart members.
Internet spending doubles every year, with more and more businesses expanding their online services each day. The average shopper spends over $3,500 per year shopping online, and the average commission in affiliate marketing is above 10%. With a modest network of just 30,000 online Catholic shoppers, GivingCart can raise more than $10 million each year for the Catholic Church. The potential expands, of course, with the growth of the network.
GivingCart transfers funds to registered designated recipients on a regular timetable. If the individual account of a charitable cause contains less than $10 at the end of a transfer cycle, the funds carry over to the next cycle until $10 or more has accrued.