ACTIONS: Earth Friendly Fundraising

If you want to shop green and/or raise money for a nonprofit through green spending, check out Greenraising: Earth Friendly Fundraising. It was started last year by parents who'd observed how difficult it was for parents associations to raise the funds necessary to provide an excellent elementary education. They'd also noticed that their children were coming home from school feeling helpless about their ability to have an effect on what they'd learned about in class: pollution, global warming, and poor living conditions around the world. Greenraising was created to help solve both problems by raising money for schools and giving children an opportunity to learn that their actions can change the world.

To raise funds, your school or nonprofit agency can fill out an online application form; in one to seven days you'll start receiving 25 percent of sales from Web drives or 40 percent of sales from catalog drives directed to buyers who name your group as the beneficiary. Buyers can shop for everything from recycled gift wrap, free-trade chocolate, and cleaning supplies to recycled rulers made out of old paper money that's been taken out of circulation. For more information, go to Greenraising.com.