# It's a dog's life, but not for e-commerce

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2006/04/04/it039s-dog039s-life-not-ecommerce/
- Published: 2006-04-04T13:10:33+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

When I first read in the Independent (March 27th) that dog tags are to be the new
wristbands of charity fundraising, I pegged a little thought. It was the “this will
come back to me” kind of thought.

 

Ding. An email dropped in to my inbox this morning and it was for a cause called
The Name Campaign (US-based) – [www.namecampaign.org](http://www.namecampaign.org).
It helps Ugandan children who have been kidnapped by the rebel army. It’s using 
dog tags to raise its profile – each bears the name of a real abducted child and
his or her age – and it’s selling them online.

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Apparently Samaritans were the first to launch this in the UK, and although their‘
product page’ was difficult to find on their site (it’s under their 24/7 campaign)
a direct web search brought it up:  [http://www.samaritans.org/support/247/tags.shtm](http://www.samaritans.org/support/247/tags.shtm)

 

So I looked around some more and found another UK example in Reprieve  – they’re
not directly selling online but they are using their website to promote their tags–
[http://www.reprieve.org.uk/getinvolved_products.htm](http://www.reprieve.org.uk/getinvolved_products.htm)

 

But finally it was back to the US. I found the utlimate in e-commerce and affinity
fundraising. Pedigree USA has a Dog Adoption Drive. You can save up vouchers from
bags of dog food and send off for your dog tags. Or you can bid for a series of 
one-of-a-kind dog tags on eBay. Pedigree has teamed up with well-known celebrities
to get them to create designer-wear dog tags in the name of the American Human Association–
available by auction for a limited time (now expired – and as yet no sign of the
results).

 

Now it occurs to me I could / should (?) bang home some points about the transparency,
ethics, cause-worthiness or accountability of such sales. After all, I tried and
couldn’t find out how much of the proceeds from each dog tag reaches the cause, 
whether they were manufactured ethically, whether consumers actually knew or learned
anything about the cause (or just cared that they were a new cool fashion statement),
whether there is any evidence they produce new supporters / donors or indeed a reasonably
justified fundraising income…

 

But I won’t. Here’s where that little thought lodged in my head is taking me.

 

Is it time for charity e-commerce to come into its own? It certainly seems that
in the US the idea of charity trading and merchandising has taken off far more than
here in the UK. The direct e-commerce angle is being creatively exploited either
by focusing on own brands, goods difficult to find in stores, celebrity limited 
editions, and other special fundraising affiliations between charities and companies.
Much of what you can do online as a consumer you can probably find a way to do for
charity (if only a single cause) in the States, but it’s certainly not widespread
there and far from it here.

 

Initiatives like eBay’s GivingWorks, and our very own eBay for Charity here, 
could start to make a consumer consciousness of charity more mainstream, but changes
like that usually take a decade or more as a single initiative. I’m thinking more
about affinity online shopping, redeeming loyalty points online for charity (Nectar/
Boots / any and all), cashback schemes and other online buying incentives.

 

Isn’t it time charities got a share of consumers buying habits and consumers got
a chance to choose who benefits from what they do?

 

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