December 16, 2007
By Jim Harmening
There are many great charities out there, and one near and dear to my heart is the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (www.cff.org). My friend also has a foundation that is near and dear to his heart, the Maeve McNicholas Memorial Foundation (www.maevesfoundation.org).
The interesting part about these charities and many others is their participation in the Web site, iGive.com. Here is how it works: Go to www.igive.com and sign up to be an iGive shopper. A portion of the total of your purchases will go to the charity of your choice, and it won’t cost you a dime.
Go to igive.com, pick Illinois as the state, and put Maeve in the keyword search. Then click Find Causes. On the right, click the Maeve McNicholas Memorial Foundation (in gray); sign up to have your purchases go toward this foundation.
Some great stores such as Gap, Best Buy, Nordstrom, Macy’s and Overstock.com are participants.
Once you sign up on iGive.com, you must download a little iGive program and install it. Then when you visit one of the 600-plus shops on the site, it will automatically recognize that you are an iGive shopper and credit your charity. A message will appear in the lower right-hand corner of your screen when you check out at a shopping site that is supported by iGive.
This is one of those unique opportunities where you can get something for nothing. The stores want to give to the charities that their shoppers like, so they have a win. You get to shop and get great deals on items online, and a portion of the money you spend goes to your favorite charity. Just think of how your charity will feel when they get a check out of nowhere from Best Buy Charities. I like win-win situations.
A few weeks ago, the end of one of my columns was trimmed for space. I was writing about good Web sites of Cook County elected officials, and I got some friendly ribbing from friends of mine. One county official who has some great features on his Web site is Clerk David Orr. I don’t do any work for the county clerk’s office, but I do like its Web site and I hear it may be getting an upgrade in the near future.
The site – www.cook countyclerk.com – is the place to go if you need birth records, election information, real estate tax redemptions or contact information for your elected officials. You can even check to see if you are registered to vote! With the primary election Feb. 5, make sure you are registered.