# The Giving Machine adds shop and give reminder toolbar

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/09/11/giving-machine-adds-shop-give-reminder-toolbar/
- Published: 2014-09-11T14:40:19+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Online shopping website TheGivingMachine, which lets shoppers raise funds for charities
at no cost to themselves, has created a digital toolbar to help remind shoppers 
they are on a participating store’s website. In this way it should boost income 
for their chosen charity.

The toolbar helps identify retailers that will donate money to charities of the 
shopper’s choice when they shop online. A red heart icon appears next to the retailer’s
name in search results. The heart also appears when a shopper visits a participating
retailer’s website.

 

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[⌊Sample search results using TheGivingMachine toolbar⌉⌊Sample search results using
TheGivingMachine toolbar⌉[

TheGivingMachine toolbar highlights participating merchants with a red heart, plus
details of their donation percentage.

 

The [toolbar works on both PC and Mac browsers](http://www.thegivingmachine.co.uk/shop_and_give.php).

## Why the need for a reminder?

Affiliate marketing works when shoppers click on a dedicated link from the affiliate’s
website to take them to the online retailer, which can then track the visit and 
whether and what the shopper buys anything. It can then reward the affiliate with
payment.

If a shopper visits a retailer’s site directly – without going via the affiliate’s
website – the affiliate will earn nothing.

This kind of toolbar is designed to reduce the chances of that happening, thereby
boosting income for the affiliate, TheGivingMachine, and its charity beneficiaries.

So far, more than 1,700 retailers participate in the scheme, and TheGivingMachine
has raised over £770,000 from over 1.2 million purchases.

TGM founder and managing director Richard Morris said:

> “We currently have over 80,000 Givers using our portal. The new ‘Shop&Give reminder’
> makes it even easier for Givers to give for free with every online purchase they
> make. With over 1,700 shops participating and more joining every week, it’s hard
> to remember them all – now you don’t have to”.

He described the launch of the reminder toolbar as “the next step in connecting 
companies, customers and communities by ensuring our online shopping community has
every opportunity to give for free”.

Set up in 2007, [TheGivingMachine](http://www.thegivingmachine.co.uk) claims to 
be the only not-for-profit, social enterprise helping shoppers raise free cash donations
for charities and causes. It was awarded The Social Enterprise mark in 2011. It 
donates 75% of all its commission income to charity, “higher than any other donor
model”.

It also offers users the choice of up to four charities to support regularly. It
says that no other scheme offers that function.

Other providers offer reminder toolbars which work in similar ways to highlight 
participating retailers. [Easyfundraising introduced their toolbar in 2011](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/2011/10/31/never-miss-donation-again-easyfundraising-easyreminder/)
and report that it increases donations five-fold.

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