Over 15 online businesses will donate a portion of their sales from Feb. 1 through Feb. 5 to support the relief effort following the Haiti earthquake.
When the small business owners developed the idea for the project on Your Store Forums, an online community for the store members to share questions, tips, and advice, Cathy Ward, owner of BridesVillage.com, volunteered to help coordinate. Her website has dedicated a page to the project, including a list of links for the participating business and their contributions. She has also posted links for the charities that will receive the donations.
"We are all independent business owners coming from different backgrounds, but this is something we knew we should do together," said Ward. "Some of us are giving a percentage of our sales, others are donating their time and talents to this project. What’s important is that we are working at this as a community." The participating business owners have each chosen how best to contribute based on their unique talents and offerings.
For five days, Feb 1 through Feb 5, customers can purchase items and services knowing that they will also be assisting the relief effort for the thousands of struggling survivors in Haiti.
The donations will made through several involved organizations including Doctors Without Borders, Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision and The Red Cross.
"We wanted to focus on charities that send 95 to 100 percent of their proceeds directly to the victims of the Haiti earthquake," said Ward. "We want the money we raise to help as many of those affected as possible." Many rescue organizations keep a larger percentage of donations to offset administrative costs.
How donations will be calculated varies from business to business. Some online retailers will donate percentages of sales during the first five days of February. Other Business-to-business services may base their donation based on new clients gained during this same period.