Michael Rutschky
Published: April 26, 2006
A new search engine has emerged that makes it simple for people around the world to earn money for their favorite charities and schools. The site is GoodSearch.com, and it was started in November 2005 by Ken Ramberg and his sister, J.J. Ramberg, after the two lost their mother to cancer.
As the site explains, Internet search engines generated $6 billion in ad revenue last year. By using the ingenuity and scope of the World Wide Web to their advantage, the Rambergs hope to put some of that money towards people and organizations that really need it.
Fifty percent of the ad revenue that is generated from a search through GoodSearch, an estimated one cent per search, goes to the organization of the user’s choice. According to co-founder Ken Ramberg, the non-profit organizations that are getting the most support are quite varied in their causes.
“Everything from Spinal Muscular Atrophy to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital,” Ken Ramberg said. “It goes on and on.”
There are currently hundreds of thousands of charities and schools in the Good Search database, and new entries can be added every day. For instance, if someone wanted to add PJC to the GoodSearch database, they need only go to the page, click on the “Add a New Charity or School” link, and submit the required information.
The search engine itself is very easy to use. The user must first search for his preferred school or charity in the database, and then verify it as the recipient of that search’s charity. Since the search engine is powered by Yahoo!, users are guaranteed a thorough list of search results. Users can also check to see how much money a particular charity or school has earned.
“It works well. It’s just as accurate as Yahoo! Or Google,” Joshua Rouse, a graphic design student at PJC who was asked to try out the new site, said.
“I think it’s really honorable that they support various charities,” Rouse said, “I’ll probably start using it more often.”