News: Rotherham company launches ethical search engine

A new search engine, GiveFind.com, has been launched in Rotherham. GiveFind plans to challenge Google by donating the majority of the money it makes from advertising to good causes.

Young entrepreneur, John Hardy has been developing its Fonvo brand to power the GiveFind search engine at RiDO's Moorgate Crofts business centre. Fonvo sources results from Yahoo, Bing and others to provide fantastic search results. GiveFind is an ethical search engine, allowing users to support any cause registered with the site, such as a local school or cancer research.

John said: "Search engines like Google make billions from advertising. Just by searching the web, users don't realise they're generating these huge revenues.

"Our message to all Internet users is, visit GiveFind.com, choose your cause and make us your homepage. It's that easy and together we can make a real difference. Our search stands out in its own right; the fundraising is an added bonus!"

John first came up with the idea whilst at University in 2006. As a Rotherham United supporter when the club went into administration John hit on the idea of setting up a website selling advertising space to give local businesses incentive to donate. The site raised £2,205 in two weeks and led to further ideas about ways to use the internet to raise money for good causes.

John added: "As part of my business degree I ended up doing an assignment on Google which made me realise just how much money search engines make from advertising and from that I joined the dots and came up with GiveFind."

John's company, Dibgo Limited, is a new type of company which aims to transparently and positively combine commercial activities and social enterprise and John has received valuable support from Rotherham Youth Enterprise. He explained: "It's been a long journey to get the site to launch, I've been delighted with the support I've received through RYE, the facilities at Moorgate Crofts are fantastic and its been perfect for a start-up like GiveFind.

"I've also found it very helpful to have a mentor who is always very enthusiastic and full of encouragement, I've also benefited from the free financial surgeries on offer which has helped with some of the administrative side of things."

GiveFind website
Rotherham Investment and Development Office

Images: givefind.com