by HM Wilson

Created on: July 21, 2009

With a few keystrokes and clicks of your mouse, you can help your favorite charity.

How? The Internet, which you probably already spend a bit of time using, can be utilized to benefit your favorite charity.

Here are some ways you can help charities via the Internet:

GoodSearch (www.goodsearch.com): This is one of the easiest ways to help charity. Use this search, powered with Yahoo search results, and your selected charity will receive a certain amount for each search you do or when you shop through the site. While it isn't a lot of money, it does add up throughout the year.

This is a good way to get money to your favorite charities even when your budget doesn't allow you to actually donate it.

Twitter: Something going on with your favorite charity? Let your followers know via a tweet (a short message posted on Twitter). This can be a good way to raise awareness of the charity (especially if you have a large circle of followers), and it takes very little time to do so.

Badges and links: If your charity has a badge, post it to your blog, website or wherever else you hang out on line. No badge? Post a link to the organization's website instead. Do this wherever you can.

Email: No, don't inundate people with emails about things. However, if your favorite charity is holding an event or running a fundraiser, mention it in your emails to friends and family.

If you are selective in how you use email, it may prove to be an effective tool in your efforts to raise awareness of and money for your charity/charities.

Write articles: If you enjoy writing and possess some talent for it, why not use this gift to help charity?

For example, say you are interested in helping to raise awareness of Kiva (www.kiva.org), which is a microlending organization that helps entrepreneurs in struggling areas. You could easily write articles about microlending, charity or even Kiva itself and publish them on sites such as Gather (www.gather.com), Associated Content (www.associatedcontent.com), RedGage (www.redgage.com) or HubPages (www.hubpages.com).

An added bonus to writing articles about your favorite charity or charities is that you will most likely earn some money doing so. This money can either be taken as part of your personal income, or, if finances allow, you can always donate these earnings to the charity.

Website: Does your favorite charity lack a website? Or is its current website rarely updated?

Why not volunteer to run the organization's website? Sure, it can be time-consuming. However, it can also be a rewarding experience.

While this isn't an exhaustive list of ways to use the Internet to benefit your favorite charities, this is a good place to start.

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