Delight Mom with Mother's Day Flowers, Give Hope to Kids in 170 Children's Hospitals Nationwide

Children's Miracle Network
Thursday, 27 April 2000

Up to $14 per bouquet donated to Children's Miracle Network when flowers are ordered through iGive.com and GreatFlowers.com

EVANSTON, Ill., April 27, 2000 — This Mother's Day, ship fresh flowers to mom with the click of a mouse and have up to $14 per bouquet donated to help kids in 170 children's hospitals, at no extra cost. To make it possible, iGive.com, the first online charity shopping mall, has teamed with GreatFlowers.com to raise the money for the benefit of children treated at children's hospitals affiliated with Children's Miracle Network (CMN).

"This unique program is a complete win for all parties, especially our kids," explained Scott Burt, chief operating officer for CMN. "We're very excited to have teamed with iGive.com and GreatFlowers.com to create a vehicle that both says, 'I love you mom' and raises needed funds for children's hospitals in such an easy way. Considering millions of people will already be buying flowers for their mothers this year, why not help kids at the same time?"

Three Mother's Day bouquets will be made available, each under $40. Shoppers can purchase their Mother's Day bouquets through www.GreatFlowers.com/cmn or www.iGive.com/cmn and have up to 10 percent of each bouquet's net purchase price donated to CMN at no extra cost. For first-time shoppers buying their flowers through www.iGive.com/cmn, the charity shopping mall will also donate an extra $10 to the CMN-affiliated children's hospital the shopper selects. Shoppers having orders delivered between May 2 and 11 will also receive a free vase.

"Enabling people to send mom flowers while helping kids is what we're all about," commented Robert Grosshandler, founder and chief executive officer of iGive.com. "Mother's Day is the perfect holiday to help, as well as celebrate, children. With generous merchants like GreatFlowers.com, we can create programs like this one to help people make a difference in their communities through their everyday online shopping."

Karen Campbell, CMN director with Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, Indiana, explained, "We always need money to help our kids walk again, overcome speech disorders, and battle hundreds of other medical conditions and ailments. This is exactly the kind of program to help us do that. It also shows how the Internet can be a great fundraising tool."

To increase the success of this Mother's Day promotion, iGive.com has notified all of its members and has provided each of the 170 CMN-affiliated hospitals with marketing materials to help promote the program. GreatFlowers.com is launching extensive online marketing banner, text link, and e-mail campaigns that will result in millions of impressions to qualified, active online consumers. It is also leveraging the core strength of its 4anything.com network and other AshLaneShops.com properties to promote the program.

Judy Grishaver, vice president of E-commerce for 4anything.com, explained, "GreatFlowers.com is excited to partner with iGive.com and Children's Miracle Network this Mother's Day to provide an easy way for people to donate to a wonderful charity."

Children's Miracle Network raises funds and awareness for 170 non-profit children's hospitals throughout North America. Each year these hospitals treat 14 million kids with all types of afflictions and provide charity medical care worth billions of dollars. One hundred percent of locally generated donations stay in the community in which they were made to benefit the local hospital and children. CMN's annual, national telethon airs June 3 and 4.

A leader in the floral industry, GreatFlowers.com delivers flowers directly from the grower at affordable prices. All flowers are cut fresh to order in private greenhouses and delivered to their destination within 24 hours after an order has been placed. Founded in 1998, GreatFlowers.com is a division of 4anything.com.

iGive.com is the Internet's first and most innovative venture turning online shopping into a vehicle for charitable giving. Users can support any cause they wish, especially those "close to home, close to heart." As the first online charity mall, iGive.com enables consumers to shop at hundreds of major online retailers, while directing up to 33 percent of every purchase (depending on the merchant) to their favorite causes. Since its debut in 1997, iGive.com has raised more than $755,000 for thousands of worthy causes, ranging from animal shelters to school marching bands to medical research foundations to women's shelters.

For more information, or to contact Children's Miracle Network, see their website at: www.cmn.org