At No Charge

Free Money for Your Favorite Charity!!

2008-05-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

There are many ways you can keep up with your charitable giving during hardship. Although you do not need to have a hardship to use any of these methods for giving.

CHARITY WATCH

First, I want to discuss picking your charity. Make sure you do a little background research on any charity before you decide to give. Unfortunately, there are a lot of scams (especially on the internet). I like giving to a local charity so that I can visit the establishment, take a look at how they run their charity, and maybe even meet the heart of the operation. There are a few locations online that rate charitable organizations (i.e. American Institute of Philanthropy and One-Click Charity Check). I suggest doing a little research yourself, never be afraid to ask questions about how your donation will be spent. Many online charities don't have anything but a website, but there should be information on how your donation will be allocated as well as contact information.

DONATE A SERVICE

If you are unable to donate money to your favorite charity consider donating your service. What is your skill set? For instance, if you are educated about animal care, you may offer your services in caring for the animals at the local shelter, take them for walks, or even help train them. Do you like to chat online? Tell all your friends about your favorite charity, maybe even start a blog (animal lovers check out zootoo.com). Some of you may have accounting or legal background and could offer your services for free to a local non-profit. These are just a few ideas to get you brainstorming for yourself. Remember: Time = Money, so when you volunteer your time it is just as valuable to an organization in need. If you are not sure what service you can offer call your local charity and ask!

BE AN AMBASSADOR

Spread the word about your favorite charity. Use the name and contact information in your signature in your emails. Talk about the charity to everyone you know. If you participate in online chats or forums, be sure to add a link to the charity (if allowed).

DONATE UNUSED ITEMS
sell them in a charity auction

Walk through your house every couple of months and pick up items that you haven't used in the past 3-6 months. Take them to a thrift store and donate them. OR donate the items for a charity auction (you could even run it yourself). Many charities are taking advantage of the ease of online auctions. Call some of your local stores and find out if they have anything to donate. Stores such as Tractor Supply, Pet Supply stores, and others will donate items for charity auctions. Find out what your charity needs and try to get these specific items donated

DONATE YOUR HAIR

There are several organizations that will take hair donations for adults and children who have lost their hair due to health problems. Click here to see a list of sites that take donated hair.

DONATE YOUR UNUSED COMPUTER TIME

Grid computing is a new and wonderful way to give to help with research. All that is needed is your unused computer time. You can help cure cancer and other health problems at worldcommunitygrid.org

LET OTHERS DONATE FOR YOU

There are tons of websites that give some or all of their revenue to charity. Here are just a few:

Click-to-Give
With click to give 100% of the sponsors revenue goes to the charitable partners who then determine how to spend the money. So, basically you are donating to the charitable partners. You can learn more about each of the charitable partners on the click-to-give sites. The main site will have tabs to each of the following locations that you can click daily to give for Free.

HERE IS A LIST OF THE CHARITABLE PARTNERS THAT RECEIVE THE DONATIONS FROM YOUR CLICKS:
Hunger - the charitable partners that fund programs to feed the hungry are: GreaterGood.org, mercycorps.org, secondharvest.org, savedarfur.org, one.org
Breast Cancer - the charitable partners that fund free mammograms are: GreaterGood.org, nationalbreastcancer.org
Child Health - the charitable partners that fund free child healthcare are: GreaterGood.org, mercycorps.org, pofsea.org, hki.org (Helen Keller International), pedaids.org, one.org
Literacy - the charitable partners that fund free books are: GreaterGood.org, firstbook.org, roomtoread.org
Rainforest - the charitable partners that fund to protect endangered habitat are: GreaterGood.org, nature.org, rainforestconservation.org, worldlandtrust-us.org, rainforest2reef.org
Animal Rescue - the charitable partners that fund free food and care for animals are: GreaterGood.org, fundforanimals.org, petfinder.com/foundation, nsalamerica.org

Click here to see a list of more click-to-give websites

Click to give on the social networking site Care2.com

Use Pink Ribbon Search Engine
Each search helps fund mammograms for women in need. PinkRibbonSearch.com brings together the best results from the Internet's top search engines, including Google, Yahoo!, and more. They are the same search results you know and love, but here they help the cause! 100% of collected revenue from site sponsorships goes to pay for mammograms.

FreeLanthropy
People simply search the Internet like they normally do and money is generated for your cause. Freelanthropy's web search is powered by Yahoo! so you get the same great experience you know and trust. 50% of Freelanthropy's gross revenues (not a "portion of proceeds" or even 50% of profit, but 50% of all money earned goes back out to nonprofits). If you do not see you favorite charity let them know about this search engine and they can sign up for Free and begin receiving donations from your search.

GoodSearch & GoodShop
GoodSearch is a search engine like Google with one exception, every time you search GoodSearch donates approximately 1 penny to your designated charity. "GoodSearch is a search engine which donates 50-percent of its revenue to the charities and schools designated by its users. It's a simple and compelling concept. You use GoodSearch exactly as you would any other search engine. Because it's powered by Yahoo!, you get proven search results. The money GoodSearch donates to your cause comes from its advertisers — the users and the organizations do not spend a dime!"

GoodShop is the GoodSearch shopping mall. When you shop through GoodShop at one of their retail partners, GoodSearch is paid a commission. A portion of this commission is then donated to your favorite charity (3% - ?% depending on the retailer). Many popular stores participate with GoodShop, such as eBay, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Apple, 1-800-flowers, Circuit City, Gap, Expedia, Home Depot, iTunes, Macy's, Bloomingdales, and more. Check out the retailer search here.

GoodTree
Supporting your favorite charities by searching the web.

Shop WonderBull
WonderBull is dedicated to helping pit bulls in need through the sale of pit bull related merchandise.

ADD A DONATION WIDGET TO YOUR WEB PRESENCE

Many organizations are using widgets to collect donations or get attention. If you have a website, blog, myspace profile, etc...consider adding a widget from your favorite charity to your page.

Check out sixdegrees.org : This is a charitable initiative by Kevin Bacon. You can create your own widget to help the charity of your choice.

Click here to get a widget that helps homeless animals (every time it is posted on a new site $1 is donated to a rescue in need). The website also donates a portion of its revenue from sponsors to help animals in need.

GIVE A FRIEND A HAND

This last suggestion is not as obvious as the others. Charity doesn't mean that you have to give to an organization. Help a friend who needs a hand.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE WAY TO GIVE ? TELL US!!

In my next blog you will learn how to get Free media, such as Television shows, Radio, and music at no charge...

Free Trade Magazines, Free Family Magazines, Free Magazines.

2007-12-28T07:32:00.000-08:00

Welcome back! I have been off briefly for the holidays and to rest my broken hand. This weeks blog is all about getting FREE subscriptions to trade magazines, FREE subscriptions to family/baby magazines, and other various FREE magazine content.

More than 100 FREE trade magazines are found at FreeTradeMagazines.com. There are also a few paid or trial issues available. According to Free Trade Magazines.com, "Free Trade Magazines is the quick and easy way to receive free magazines for busy trade professionals. Subscriptions are available to professionals in the trade marketplace who reside in the United States. Using our service to subscribe to magazines is the best way to obtain the industry news, trends, tips, techniques and information you need to get the job done. Choose from well over 100 free magazines as well as a few magazines that offer paid or trial subscriptions. Any magazines that are not free are clearly marked in red as a paid or trial subscription. All the rest are free! Using one simple form, you can subscribe to a variety of industry magazines. "

NASA offers Free subscriptions here.

If you are expecting or a new parent you can get the following magazines FREE: Gerber Baby, BabyTalk, American Baby, and Very Best Toddler

Get a Free subscription to Maxim Magazine.

Most magazines will offer at least one Free trial copy. Just grab the subscribe postcard from inside the magazine and send it in. Most say - if you do not like the magazine, after the first issue write cancel on the bill and keep the first issue as a gift.

Almost all magazines have entered the internet age and publish a website. You can access some to all articles from your favorite magazines online. Online your favorite magazines will have special offers, magazine archives, and the latest articles sooner.

Finally, you can always go to your local library and read any of the magazines you are interested in -- FREE.

Future blog topics will include: Free gaming, Finding Free household items in your community, Free business help, Free software, Free lessons in something, Free topic requests...

Thank you for visiting me this week. I hope you found many magazines you can sign up for "At No Charge". If you want to receive notification of my next blog please subscribe using the link at the bottom of this page.

FREE Household Items, Free Clothing, Free Musical Instruments, Free Furniture, & More

2007-12-01T17:05:00.001-08:00

Welcome once again to the "At No Charge" blog that shows you how to get the best things for FREE!

This week I will discuss Free items in the classifieds. I am only going to discuss the two locations I check regularly because many of the others are not as consistently satisfying. Please feel free to post others in the comments section.

I am sure most of you have heard of Criagslist (www.craigslist.org), but did you know that there are tons of great free items on Craigslist? I have discovered new and used items, including clothing, computers, pianos, mobile homes, vehicles, furniture, books, kids items, construction materials, landscaping materials, and just about anything else you could imagine. When you are looking on Craigslist to find free items you will first need to select the state or country in which you want to find items. Usually near your residence is the easiest for free item pick-up, but if you are interested in making a road trip to collect freebies then have fun looking all over the country or even worldwide. Once you have chosen your state of interest you need to select a city. I tend to look in all of the cities in my state. Not all cities have a section. Many people posting in a city section may be in a different city. Finally, choose the free link under the for sale section and have fun browsing.

Here's a quick recap: 1. Visit Criagslist (www.craigslist.org) , 2. Select a state or country (if you are looking in a major city you can skip this step), 3. Select a city , 4. Select Free link under the for sale area of the page , 5. Have Fun finding free items....

The other classifieds I regularly peruse are in my local paper. Most cities have a free section in the classifieds. There is no need the subscribe to the paper because almost all of the local papers are now online and have all of the classified listings available on the internet.

Free Classifieds Hunting Tip: Look early, Look often!

ENJOY your Free classifieds search and talk to you at the next "At No Charge" posting.

Don't forget to sign up for email reminders at each new posting by clicking on the subscribe link at the bottom of this page.

FREE On-Demand Book & Video Downloads, Free Movie Rentals, and More

2007-11-24T19:10:00.000-08:00

This week I will be talking to you about all of the seemingly untapped resources of FREE items at your local library, as well as the libraries online.

Many of you may not be aware that your local library stocks all of the movies that you can find at you local video store (probably more movies than your video store - my local library boasts a collection of 14,000+). All of the movies can be checked out "At No Charge" to you. The only requirement is a library card, which is also FREE. Most libraries allow you to keep the movies for a week or more at a time and have minimal late fees (i.e. I have a 3 day grace period and then my late fee is $0.10 a day). One drawback to the collection at my library is that they only have a few copies of each movie. But, if there is one I want I can place it on hold and they will call me when it is returned (this takes, at most, a week or two).

Your local library is also a great source for books, books on tape/DVD, music cds, Free classes/storytimes for your children, Free wi-fi, Free internet access on the library computers, Free gaming (my library has gaming systems for use at the library, as well as competition nights) and I am sure that I am probably forgetting something.

Okay, so you don't want to have go anywhere, but still want to read a book or watch a movie from the library. There is a myriad of online library resources. I am only going to be able to brush the surface in this blog by covering a few of my favorites.

First I will discuss MyLibrarydv. This is a newer service available from your local library. You can access it through you local library's homepage. What is it? "MyLibrarydv is a unique on-demand video service created by Recorded Books in partnership with your local library. You can access 100's of hours of DVD quality programming on topics such as cooking, travel, and health as well as classic movies, documentaries and more. Best of all this service is FREE to you as part of your library account." My library is also partnered with a digital media library where you can download books to play on your electronic devices, such as i-pods and laptops OR download the text to read the old way;)

Next I will tell you about the internet archive organization at www.archive.org. Here you will find they have archived moving images (videos), Live music, other audio, web page archives (for previous versions of web pages), and texts. This is a pretty robust site and I feel like I still have more to explore in what they have to offer. "The Archive's Moving Images section is a library of free movies, films, and videos. This library contains thousands of digital movies which range from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to videos of every genre uploaded by Archive users. Most of the movies are available for download. The Archive's audio and MP3 library contains over a hundred thousand free digital recordings ranging from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry readings, to original music uploaded by our users. Many of the audios and MP3s are available for free download. They also have a full-text library. Texts are Free to read, download, print, and enjoy. Some have restrictions on bulk re-use and commercial use, please see the collection or the sponsor of a book. By providing near-unrestricted access to these texts, the Archive hopes to encourage widespread use of texts in new contexts by people who might not have used them before."

Finally I will end with the online books page. This index includes more than 25,000 English works in various formats. All should be free for personal, noncommercial use.

I hope that you will find some great knowledge and entertainment "At No Charge" from what you have learned from this weeks blog. I will continue my search for great free items and we will blog again next week.

Out of the office - Check out FREE Stuff links

2007-11-17T05:42:00.000-08:00

I apologize to those of you waiting for my next blog. I have had an injury and will not be posting until next week.

FYI - The next blog will cover some untapped resources where you can get video and DVD rentals "At No Charge", as well as many other great free items.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate and have a great week to everyone!

Don't forget - "The best things in life are free!"

Welcome to the "At No Charge" Blog....

2007-11-10T10:12:00.001-08:00

In this first blog I just want to cover some of the things that we will blog about. If the name, "At No Charge", isn't obvious - We will discuss how to get anything and everything "At No Charge". In other words...FREE.

We will discuss how to get anything "At No Charge", online or not. I will share many of my personal experiences and discuss what I have acquired "At No Charge" and how you can do the same.

Please notice that I will be adding links to great FREE online sites on the right side of the page. These will be updated regularly. If you have a request for something that you would like "At No Charge" or would like to discuss a particular topic please e-mail me or add it in the comments section of this blog.

Thank you for visiting the "At No Charge" blog - Talk to you at the next posting ;)