Tsunami Relief Distributed Through Network for Good
Americans give $1M in one day through Network for Good towards Tsunami Relief

December 29, 2004, Washington, DC — In response to the urgent need for Tsunami Relief in South East Asia, Americans went online with their credit cards yesterday and donated more than $1 million to relief organizations through Network for Good, a nonprofit organization that accepts online donations from individuals and distributes them to designated charities. The much needed donations are pouring in, according to Network for Good’s CEO, Bill Strathmann. "We experienced record volume yesterday in response to the need for Tsunami Relief and today we are already ahead of yesterday’s pace. Personal contributions from individual Americans are an integral piece of the international Tsunami Relief effort” continues Strathmann, “and Network for Good provides a safe and easy place to donate to the multiple organizations that are on the ground providing that relief."

In order to increase donations to Tsunami Relief efforts, Network for Good is working closely with online media companies AOL, Yahoo! and others, to give users an efficient, safe, and informed way to help out with the most important form of support: cash contributions. Opportunities to give to Tsunami Relief agencies through Network for Good appear, alongside online news stories and on the welcome screens or home pages of their large media partners. Network for Good provides a broad range of choice for Americans who want to help, from well known charities to smaller and lesser known organizations that are also instrumental in responding to the crisis.

Network for Good, a website that includes detailed listings of more than 1,000,000 U.S.-based charities and a searchable database of nearly 80,000 volunteer opportunities, is just one example of how donors are headed to the Internet to give in times of crisis. It provides organizations with a way to get their name in front of millions of Americans and tap into resources that are typically available only to the larger nonprofit organizations with recognized brands. Since its inception three years ago, Network for Good has distributed more than $45 million in donations to more than 15,000 nonprofits and also matched more than 150,000 volunteers with thousands of nonprofit organizations nationwide.

"The advantage of a service like Network for Good is that we provide a donor with the ability to give to multiple organizations rather than just one,” explains Strathmann. “Also, unlike many of the organizations receiving donations, our system is built to handle the peaks in volume that we experience in crucial times such as these."

About Network for Good

Network for Good (www.networkforgood.org) is the Internet's leading charitable resource, an easy-to-use website where individuals can connect with causes they care about by donating to more than one million nonprofit organizations and by choosing from among tens of thousands of volunteer opportunities. Network for Good also works directly with nonprofits to advance the adoption of the Internet as a tool for fundraising, volunteer recruitment and community engagement. Founded in 2001 by AOL, Cisco Systems and Yahoo!, Network for Good is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Contact: Bill Strathmann (703-265-6818)