Give while you shop - it's free

Charities can now benefit any time their supporters shop online thanks to www.agoodcause.com which recently launched internationally.

The concept is simple. Users download a browser plugin which takes just a few seconds. Then when they make purchases in stores registered with agoodcause a donation is generated from the store to a charity of their choice. There is no cost to the user.

The site is the brainchild of Danish duo Jonathan Low and Mads Ellegaard. It is available in eight countries including the US, UK and various European countries (each in the appropriate language). Users simply select their country of choice from a drop down at the top right of the home page.

A good range of stores feature already - 5000 in total - including big names like Amazon, Tesco, and Lovefilm for the UK. There is also a reasonable number of charities signed up.

These are early beginnings and revenues generated so far are modest, but as users become familiar with the software, and more stores and charities join, it could be big.

I've downloaded the plugin - it just seems a no brainer. I should perhaps mention that when I did this the first time a bug in my version of Internet Explore 6 caused the address line in my browser to disappear. The guys at agoodcause were really quick in giving me help though. Most internet users should have no problem.

Spread the word.