LONGMONT - After the tragic loss of a friend, entrepreneur Richard Waldvogel found solace - and professional fulfillment - by creating a unique format where online shoppers can raise funding for the nonprofit of their choice through their purchases.

In 2003, one of Waldvogel's best friends was diagnosed with breast cancer. Looking back, Waldvogel said his first attempts at raising money for her medical expenses were "naive."

"Once I started doing fundraising for my friend it was a reality check as to how difficult fundraising is," he said. "When you're asking someone for $5 and they turn you down, you get into a different mindset - especially when it's for someone you care about."

One day, while stuck in traffic on I-70, the idea came to him to translate his skills as a software engineer and developer into his fundraising efforts.

"This idea suddenly popped into my head - instead of asking people for money, why don't I ask them to buy stuff?"

Waldvogel brought in Dan Werling, a Web site designer, and for the next two years they developed their idea for a shopping/fundraising site - too late, unfortunately, to help his friend. It was her illness, however, that gave Waldvogel the impetus to help others.

Waldvogel and Werling forged a sub-affiliate network partnership with both eBay and Amazon.com to create a Web site that enables users to purchase anything they want from these two sites with a percentage of the proceeds going to a charity of their choice.

Established in October 2006, Giveness LLC launched its new Web site in March. The company site, Giveness.com, provides buyers with the opportunity to shop, buy and give.

"We're like a middleman," Waldvogel said. "We bring together the merchant, the nonprofit and the supporter to create this win-win situation."

Online shoppers can purchase eBay or Amazon.com merchandise through the Giveness site, with a percentage - from 4 to 8.5 percent - going to a nonprofit registered with the site. Buyers can choose which nonprofit receives these proceeds.

There's no membership fee or registration required for purchasers.

The percentages are based on a tier structure. The more merchandise eBay and Amazon.com ship per quarter, the higher percentage they donate. Waldvogel said 100 percent of these donated proceeds go directly to the nonprofit organizations.

Nonprofits interested in registering can fill out a form on the Giveness site and are carefully screened. So far, 96 charities and nonprofits have signed up, including the March of Dimes, the Red Cross, Swallow Hill Music Association and the Denver Children's Home.

Giveness also provides an online community where users can register for free and participate in message boards and post photos and other information about themselves. Nonprofits and individuals can register for this community, which boasts 279 members.

Nonprofits and individual members of the online Giveness community can now take advantage of Flash-based "widgets" on the site. Nonprofits can use these widgets to provide information and a link to their own Web sites. Individual members can add a widget next to their user name to give personal information such as their favorite music and charities.

Waldvogel said he wants to get everyone into the mindset that every time they shop Amazon or eBay, they can use it as an opportunity to help a charity. While Giveness itself is not a nonprofit, Waldvogel said it's still a labor of love.

"The purpose of this is not for me to make a fortune," he said. "This is something I'm doing that's good for my life. It's about the cause, not the money."

Since its creation, the company has been angel-funded by three international investors, which provided the seed money. At present, Waldvogel runs the entire business from his home office in Longmont. Because nothing is outsourced, operating expenses only run $400 a month.

Waldvogel plans for revenues to be generated by selling advertisements, which will be placed throughout the site. In addition, he plans to start providing marketing and IT services to nonprofits - such as donor management and e-mail distribution tools - for a reasonable fee.

"Right now our focus is fundraising because we are in the business to help these people," he said. "We want them to know that, first and foremost, we want to send them money. In the future, if we have services they need to help them manage their nonprofits, we'll beat the prices of anyone else."

While Waldvogel hopes to eventually get funding with venture capital or corporate sponsorships, he wants any interested investors to first be aware that the priority of Giveness is not to make large profits but to give large donations.

"We want to find somebody who is interested in making a difference rather than making a huge profit, even if it means we have to turn potential investors down," he said. "If we can find sponsors and investors who want to help us help people, we'd love to talk to them."

Giveness LLC

P.O. Box 96, Longmont, CO 80502
303-800-NESS
www.giveness.com
info@giveness.com
Richard Waldvogel, chief executive, Dan Werling, co-founder
Employees: 2
Primary service: Online fundraising service for nonprofits
Founded: 2006