Saturday, March 31, 2007 at 12:12:36 AM
The Lake County News-Times, a newspaper affiliate of the Chicago Sun-Times, just published a story about Search Kindly (March 29, 2007; Business Section). I'll include both the link and the full story below. And just me being a broken record again--please don't forget to register at Digg.com so that we can rock the front page on April 4th.
Giving Kindly - By Kendrick Marchall kmarshall@scn1.com
Syed Karim believes making a difference can be accomplished by just browsing the Internet.
The Lake Forest College student has devised a Web site search engine that generates donations to worthy domestic and international charitable causes.
"Those people don't have a voice," Karim said. "It is important that we contribute some of our resources to people that really need it."
The idea behind Searchkindly.org is to give people a way to be willing givers without disrupting their lives.
"The whole point of the Web site is to take something that you would be doing anyway and turn it into a meaningful action," he said. "We know that most people would love to be able to give limitless amounts of money to those in need, but who as limitless amount of money? We're not asking for your money, we're just asking for a few seconds of your time."
Roughly one-third of a cent a will go to the charities, and even though advertisers pay for ad space on the site, all the revenue will be donated to the causes.
Since November, the Web site has raised nearly $300 for Invisible Children, a non-profit organization that helps Ugandan orphans reintegrate into society. The site also raises money for Ronald McDonald House Charities, The Save Darfur Coalition, Blood Water Mission, Baal Dan and A Wider Circle.
The goal of Karim and his team of volunteers is to raise $2,000 a month, Al and hopefully by the end of the year he wants to raise $12,000. Right now, incoming traffic has brought in $1,514.
Also with this venture, Karim is killing two birds with one stone with this project by generating money for charities and using it as an experiment in a social entrepreneurship for his senior thesis. As an independent scholar, it allowed him to craft his own major based on his unique interests.
Behind the idea of micro-volunteerism, Karim believes the more people that give without a burden will ultimately lead to a greater impact of change.
Growing up the son of Bangladesh immigrants, he came to grips with poverty first hand after spending some time in the foreign nation. There, he saw citizens having to struggle each day just to survive. This prompted the Chicagoan to always think of others before himself.
"When I was a kid my mother had this jar in the kitchen that was specifically labeled for different organizations and she would take the jar each month and donate the money to a cause," he said. "Since then, I have been motivated to follow in my parents' footsteps."
And that premise will continue after Karim's college career is in the rearview mirror this May.
Karim plans to continue his business pursuits by steadfastly raising money for charities through the Web site and pursue other entrepreneurial ventures as well.
If that does not work, he has ambitions of becoming a firefighter.
"I have to help people in some way," he said. "I have to keep doing things to help people."
