'LOOKLE' Searches to Help Charities
26 February 2007 at 11:29 am
There’s a new Australian-based Internet search-engine that hopes to use consumers voracious need to browse the web to help charity.
It’s called LOOKLE.com (not to be confused with Google.com) and every time someone searches the Internet on LOOKLE, one cent can go to a charity or school of the donor’s choice.
LOOKLE founder Alan Rogers says one cent may not sound like a lot, but considering that Internet searching is one of the most popular activities on the net where typical search engines generate millions of searches per year, this can translate into thousands of dollars going to worthy causes.
Based on LOOKLE’s own estimates, charities can earn as little as $100 a year or as much as $45,000 per year.
Rogers says the concept is simple. At LOOKLE.com, consumers select an organisation from a database of hundreds and search away as normal. There’s no need to register or give up an email address. It works automatically with every search conducted.
He says the idea is that users tell all their friends, and they tell all their friends and so on. If 100 people selected the same organisation and used LOOKLE only three times a day for a year, that organisation would earn $1095.
Users can alternate the organisations they want to help, for example one day they might choose the ‘Australian Red Cross’ and another day swap over to the ‘Make a Wish Foundation’.
Rogers says some 390 charities are already listed on the site and he is looking for extra charities and schools with DGR status to join. It is a free service for charities who can apply via LOOKLE’s web site.
Another interesting aspect of the search-engine is that LOOKLE searches Australian web sites only and has been around since 2001.
Rogers says after initial concerns by international search-engine giant Google.com when LOOKLE.com started, the idea of an Australian-only search engine added a point of difference.
Rogers says he was set to embark on a mega advertising campaign, spending thousands of dollars on self promotion.
But he says he had a gut feeling there had to be a smarter way.
He thought why not divert the advertising budget to charities and encourage users to tell others about LOOKLE.
If you want to register your charity go to www.lookle.com and click on ‘submit a charity’.
