The Harlem Islamic Cultural Center is running a virtual drive on The Giving Effect. They’re close to collecting their goal of $2000, which they’ll use in part to buy a minibus they can use to take children on field trips. Please visit their drive page for more  information or to make a donation!

“We plan field trips at the zoo, the museums, monuments and landmarks, other masjids and so on. With your support, we will be able to organize summer camps and science fairs. A pen pal program with children living in California is being set up. A book club also is in our agenda.

We are in for a lot of things to do for our children to help them grow up brightly, safely and make them outstanding citizens, but we need your financial help to make this happen.

Our biggest ambition is to acquire a minibus for the children’s transportation needs, since we have plans to take them to field trips around the city, the state and even out of state. Many children want to participate in the Program but their parents have transportation problems to and from the Center. So acquiring a minibus or at least 2 vans will be a huge asset to the Programs. PLEASE HELP US REALIZE THESE DREAMS!

We appreciate your kindness, and thank you for helping the children’s cause. Our organization is exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3). Your donations are tax deductible, just ask us for a receipt if you want to take advantage of the deduction.”

There’s big news here at The Giving Effect! We’ve relaunched the site today with a whole new look.

We’ve added some great new features to the site, but there are two main differences between the old site and the new one:

1. Cause organizers have been asking for the ability to collect financial donations over The Giving Effect. Well, now you can! When you create a new drive page on The Giving Effect, donors will be able to contribute to your cause securely over the the site. Donations will be tracked on your drive page so that everyone can see your progress.
2. The second big difference is a change in focus: The Giving Effect is now organized around community drives. That means that you can  now tie your page on the site to a specific event. Running a drive to collect supplies for a new school year? Create a school supplies drive on The Giving Effect to solicit donations. You can create a drive for clothing, food, or book donations or for any type of drive at all in a few simple steps. We take the hard work out of managing a drive. Using our site you can easily:

• promote your drive
• collect financial donations
• create print material to advertise your drive
• attract and manage drive sponsors (such as local businesses)

Just click here to get started.

Never fear! If you already created a cause page on The Giving Effect, it is still available in our in-kind directory. You can get to the directory by clicking the In Kind Directory link in the footer of The Giving Effect or in the menu under your name when you’re logged in. Please feel free to update to the new format by creating a drive page.