Rescuing Missing Children

Lost Children's Network uses money raised by iGive.com shoppers to purchase airtime

EVANSTON, Ill. (January 12, 2000) For families of missing children, nothing rivals the reach of television for publicity that might bring their loved ones home, but nothing rivals the expense, either.  The Lost Children's Network, a Dallas-based nonprofit organization that publicizes missing children's cases on the air, spent tens of thousands of dollars to broadcast five 30-minute national TV programs and 500 30-second local spots last year.  Almost every penny went to buy airtime.

With no formal membership or professional fundraisers, the group uses various alternative methods to finance its efforts.  One important source is iGive.com, an online shopping portal that donates up to 20 percent of every purchase made from any of 172 participating merchants to the charitable cause of the shopper's choice.   Prices are the same as or better than other online channels, so there is no extra cost to consumers.

Simply by asking supporters to do their everyday online shopping at www.iGive.com/lostchildren, the Lost Children's Network raised more than $2,000 in a very short time.  Randy Smith, the group's founder and president, estimates that half of the 550 givers who have participated to date are grappling with missing children situations themselves.

"I get between 25 to 50 families per week looking for help, and it gives me a sick feeling in my stomach when I have to turn them down because we don't have enough money to buy airtime," Smith said.  "iGive.com gives them an easy way to support our efforts, and it gives us incremental revenue that helps us continue our work."

Smith is an independent television producer and music composer with a keen personal interest in the missing children problem.  His ex-wife disappeared with their two children for two years, and his niece was abducted by her mother at roughly the same time. 

Having lived through his own missing children nightmare, Smith realized that television was an untapped medium for alerting the public to specific cases.  "There were missing children's photos on milk cartons, storefront posters and little blue mail cards, but no one was taking it into people's living rooms," Smith recalled.  "I knew how to do that, so I decided to give it a try."

With a child reported missing every 37 seconds and more than 800,000 juveniles abducted or otherwise vanishing every year, Smith recruited volunteer cameramen, scriptwriters and other production personnel to help bring the most egregious stories to TV.  He produced his first program in 1996 and donated it to Find The Children, one of the oldest missing children's organizations. 

Buoyed by the positive response, he launched the Lost Children's Network as an independent organization in 1997.  The group has helped families, law enforcement agencies and other missing children organizations locate 22 children in 24 months.  There are no paid employees, including Smith.  The entire budget comes from donations.

One of Smith's acquaintances contributed $30,000 to underwrite the group's initial equipment purchases, but the bulk of the funds since then have been raised from non-traditional sources like iGive.com.  The organization promotes the e-charity through its website, www.lostchildren.org, occasional mentions on its TV programs, and the assistance of grateful parents � one of whom was so appreciative that he recently gave iGive.com an unsolicited plug on a radio program where he was a guest.  Smith believes online donations will become an increasingly important source of funding as e-commerce gains ground.

"Online shopping is going to grow in popularity, and we believe our contributions from iGive.com will grow proportionately," Smith said.  "Our job is to make sure that our supporters do their shopping through iGive.com so that we reap the benefits."

The Lost Children's Network also raises money from cooperating grocery stores that have agreed to make a donation to the organization every time a registered shopper presents his or her card.

Since its inception in 1997, iGive.com has generated more than $616,000 for thousands of worthy causes designated by members who shop through the iGive.com mall.  The site's stores include big names like barnesandnoble.com, eToys, CDNow, Dell Computers, The Sharper Image, PlanetRX, J Crew, JC Penney, AtYourOffice.com, Beyond.com and Outpost.com as well as specialty stores from DogToys.com to Green Marketplace, Swiss Army Depot and Tiemaster.  Donations to qualifying organizations are tax-deductible.

Many of the more than 7,000 beneficiaries are small organizations like the Lost Children's Network that lack the resources to hold large fundraising campaigns.  Recipients range from animal shelters and school marching bands to medical research foundations, women's shelters and missing children advocacy groups.

"There are thousands of worthy causes like the Lost Children's Network constantly searching for funding, and we recognized early on that Internet shopping presented a golden opportunity to raise money for these groups," said Robert Grosshandler, founder and CEO of iGive.com. 

"We are striving to take advantage of the favorable cost margins of e-business to enable online consumers to do good while they shop," Grosshandler said.  "Our growing membership and the thousands of checks we've written show that it's working, and that is good news for anyone interested in supporting charitable giving."