March 2011 - More than 1,300 charities can use the stuff that's cluttering your home.

It's time to throw open the windows, spruce up your home, and get rid of clutter - the emotionally gratifying way: donate things you no longer need to causes in your neighborhood or around the country.

The Giving Effect (www.thegivingeffect.com) is a new website that makes it easy to discover who needs your stuff. Donors browse the site by needs, location, or categories to find a cause, then complete a simple form to arrange a pickup, drop off, or shipment.

Participating organizations include Operation Kid Equip, a nonprofit in Royal Oak, Michigan that provides school supplies, toiletries, and food to tens-of-thousands of kids in need, The American Cancer Society, and Habitat for Humanity locations across the country. Hundreds of animal shelters have also listed their needs with The Giving Effect.

These organizations can use almost anything you can spare, from clothes, food, and books to cleaning supplies and lumber.

Following your donation, the site generates an easily shareable web page that describes your gift and who it helped. By sharing the page, donors inspire others to give and thus increase the impact of their donation.

Spring cleaning may be a chore, but if you're doing it for a good cause it will leave you feeling great!

About The Giving Effect

The Giving Effect (www.thegivingeffect.com) uses social media to help donors discover and connect with organizations that need items such as clothes, shoes, and food. It's the first website to create stories around each in-kind donation that can be easily shared online to inspire others to give. The goal is to create a national movement to get food, gently-used items, and more to people in need. The Giving Effect is headquartered in Brooklyn, NY.