There are some do-gooder websites out there that have signed up for a number of affiliate programs and when you go to their website first then click through on one of their affiliate links to make your purchase, they give the lion’s share of the affiliate commission to charity. iGive is an example of such a site.

However, I think there is a whole other approach that could be taken if someone was willing to take it on as a champion. The idea is this…

If we were to have a competing affiliate program to LinkShare, BeFree, Commission Junction, etc. where all the proceeds except for operating expenses go to charity, that would be pretty cool.

An affiliate network like that would probably entice a lot of webmasters to participate. Assuming you can still have access to the same types of merchants that you would through another competing affiliate network, and access to similar commission percentages, this could be a workable solution. Maybe some of the merchants on other affiliate networks would be willing to switch to this affiliate network because it contributes to the common good?

Or perhaps one of the existing affiliate networks would be willing to branch out into this area and carve out a sub-set of their network for such a worthy purpose, where not just the proceeds go to charity, but also the commissions that the affiliate earned.