Small Town News

Internet searches result in cash for nonprofits in Canada

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MONTREAL--Israeli high-tech wizards are the creators of an Internet tool that enables Canadians to contribute financially to their favorite charity or nonprofit organization with a click of a mouse and not a penny out of their pockets.

Every time a Web search is made via a customized site for that organization, a few cents automatically goes into that organization's coffers.

Comtribute was launched recently by its co-founder Yaniv Rivlin, a 28-year-old Israeli who was a Sauve

Scholar this year in Montreal, where he lived and learned with a dozen other promising young leaders from around the world.

During his stay, he became familiar with the difficulties many nonprofits here have in raising a steady stream of funds, especially those that are less known and can't count on big donors. He believed Israel's innovative information technology experts might have an answer.

Comtribute was developed by Rivlin and his Israeli partners under the guidance of professor Jim Torczyner, founder and director of the

McGill Middle East Peace Program, who was Rivlin's mentor as a Sauve Scholar.

Rivlin is not a techie; he is, in fact, headed this fall for Harvard University, where he will pursue a master's in public policy at the Kennedy School.

Hillel Montreal, the Ghetto Shul, a student-run synagogue, and The Human Promise, a mostly Jewish youth group that was active in raising awareness of the human tragedy in Darfur, are among the first 15 nonprofits that have joined Comtribute.

Others include such major charitable bodies as Canada World Youth, Make-A-Wish

Foundation and the Jeanne Sauve Foundation, which was created by the late Governor General and sponsors the Sauve Scholars program.

Comtribute, which is a private company, offers registered nonprofits in Canada, and soon in the United States as well, a free solution called a platform through which they can not only raise money online but also communicate information and, ideally, foster a sense of community among their supporters. The platform can be set up in a matter of minutes, said Rivlin.

Searches may be initiated from that site or an associated toolbar that can be downloaded.

The searches are powered by search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing and results are at the same speed. These corporate giants are the source of the money paid, an average of three cents per search. While there is no cost to the "donor" or organization, Comtribute's take is 30 per cent.

"In return for choosing them, these search engine companies contribute a part of their advertising revenue directly to the nonprofit from whose site the search was run," Rivlin explained.

The platform is "white label," that is, it does not contain any reference to Comtribute, and contains only the organization's own branding, including its own name above the search box. The search engine company

is identified only in a small-print line at the page bottom.

Users can forward the site to people they know, thereby extending the revenue-generating potential.

While a few pennies may not seem like a lot, Rivlin points out the multiplier effect is significant. "If each supporter performs only two searches a day, they'll bring in over $15 each year straight to the organization. Now imagine if you recruit just over 1,000 supporters, that's over $15,000" netted.

Comtribute's solution is flexible enough that online shopping, playing games and even sending e-mails will eventually also bring in money for the nonprofits, he said, perhaps as early as next year.

The service is not available on mobile devices--yet.

The platform contains such features as a toolbar with a scrolling newsline, and a running tally of the amount the user has contributed through his searches, as well as the total from the people he has recruited to the site.

A link can be included to the organization's primary website or blog.

Rivlin, who is Comtribute's North American director, said organizations are carefully screened for the legitimacy and are required to sign a terms-of-use agreement. The search patterns are monitored and any fraudulent use will result in the site being closed down.

Otherwise, Rivlin assures

that Comtribute is secure and private.

Rivlin's co-founder and the CEO of Comtribute is Nadav Brandstater in Israel, who was a senior executive with the software company Amdocs,

Another key developer of Comtribute is Mark Goldstein, who was a top designer for Microsoft in Israel.

Rivlin thinks the service will be especially popular with young people who are used to technology and want to support causes but have little money.

Rivlin grew up on a kibbutz in the Golan Heights, the son of an American-born father and a mother from Montreal, and is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He will be attending Harvard on an E. David Fischman Scholarship, worth about $300,000. The foundation selects outstanding young veterans of the Israel Defense Forces who wish to study political science, economics or law at an Ivy League university, through to a doctorate. The one proviso is that they return to Israel for at least five years after graduation and work in the public sector.

That's no problem for Rivlin, a former combat commander who served in the 2006 Lebanon war and turned into a peace activist who has dreams of some day serving his country--not in high-tech--but perhaps in the political and diplomatic sphere.



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© 2011 Heritage Florida Jewish News Fern Park, Florida. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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