New Australian website eShopGiver (eshopgiver.com) allows socially conscious consumers to donate up to 25 per cent of the cost of their online purchases to community projects around the world, at no extra cost.
To use, customers simply log on to the site and browse the various shopping categories including home and garden, babies and toddlers, stationery, books, clothing and fashion, gifts, sports and fitness, and pets.
When making a purchase a donation is made automatically to a project of their choice. The projects range from planting trees for orang-utans, helping farmers in the Pacific nation of Kiribati to adapt to changing weather conditions, to educating children in South Africa’s poorest regions.
Over 250 well-known Australian and international brands have already signed up to the site, including Ecoya, L’Occitane en Provance, ASOS, Coles, Rebel Sports, General Pants and Bonds.
eShopGiver is the sister site to the successful TravelGiver, which works in the same way but with travel booking partners rather than retail brands. Both were started by entrepreneur Kimi Anderson, who spent 12 years working in the hospitality and tourism industry before deciding to combine her love of travel and giving into a business.
Anderson is hopeful that her latest venture will make a difference. “When I set up TravelGiver a year ago, my aim was to use my business experience and skills to help community projects around the world to raise awareness and generate much needed funds,” she says.
“By extending this to shopping, we can help to raise even more funds for these projects and it’s as simple as a click of a mouse to give.”
