Charities Benefit When Wedding Bells Ring

Imagine the following scenario, if you will. After months of planning, anxiety, and anticipation, the big day has come and gone without a hitch. Everything went beautifully. Uncle Bob made a donation to support a local cancer clinic. Grandma wrote a generous check to help promote adult literacy. Hundreds of dollars were raised by friends and family for several different charitable causes. Oh yeah, and John and Jane got married.

JustGive, the on-line giving portal dedicated to connecting people with charities, has made it easier for soon-to-be-married couples to support the causes they care about. The on-line Charity Wedding Registry allows couples to create a list of the nonprofit organizations that they would like to help. Wedding guests can then choose to go on-line and make a donation to one of these organizations in lieu of a traditional gift.

"A lot of couples nowadays tend to already have the basics for their homes covered, and they don't really have a need to register for the traditional dishes and glassware," says Kendall Webb, founder and executive director of JustGive. "We've seen a big increase in the number of people using our Charity Wedding Registry, as it enables them to offer their wedding guests a meaningful and personal option for gifts."

Couples are able to select nonprofits from more than 850,000 organizations listed in the GuideStar database. Registry listings can then be personalized with information on the couple, details of their upcoming wedding, and the reasons why they chose each charity on their list.

The JustGive Charity Wedding Registry also features e-mails that let guests know about the registry and notifications for the couple whenever a donation is made in their name.

Couples who are interested in taking advantage of this resource should go to www.justgive.org and click on the "wedding registry area" link. You can take a look at some existing registries, browse through the FAQs, or search for nonprofits that match your interests. There's no charge for establishing a registry.

Nonprofit organizations looking to raise funds can also take advantage of the Wedding Registry simply by making their supporters aware that it exists. A single soon-to-be-married supporter can generate multiple donations through the goodwill of family and friends. The registry also has the potential of spreading the word of an organization's mission to a wider audience.

If you're planning a wedding or know someone who is, take a look at the JustGive Wedding Registry. It provides an interesting alternative for guests and just might make a special day even more special.

Patrick Ferraro, 2003 © Philanthropic Research, Inc. Patrick Ferraro is a marketing coordinator for GuideStar.