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Support the SSA Through Amazon.com!

Submitted by Lyz on Sat, 2007-05-19 22:03.

This article originally appeared in the SSA eMpirical No. 19 - After the Conference.

What are your plans for the summer?  Looking forward to camping or traveling overseas?  Planning some fun at the beach or the pool?  Going to veg out with some DVDs and video games, or maybe catch up on all that fun reading that got put aside in favor of school reading?  Now, you can do all this and more, and support the SSA while you do it!  It’s easy, it’s what you’ve already been planning to do, and – best of all – it’s free!

There are some programs out there that can best be described as stealware.  They contain subprograms that override the links we provide to Amazon and take the support you would be giving us and instead shunt it to the creators of the programs you’re using.  Major offenders are LimeWire, Kazaa, Morpheus, WeatherBug and earlier versions of AOL Instant Messenger.  Many other spyware programs also have this feature.  To keep your computer clean and support the groups you want to be supporting, we recommend using the program AdAware SE (found at www.lavasoft.com) and being aware of what software you’re using.  If you want to learn more, there’s a page at Wikipedia about spyware and how to deal with it.
Ok, now we sound like a bad spam email with better grammar.  Where’s the catch?  Nothing is free, and supporting something always takes money or time or energy, right?  How are we pulling this off?

Here’s the deal.  The SSA has an arrangement called an “Associate’s Account” with one of the world’s largest online retailers, Amazon.com.  When someone – anyone – buys a product from Amazon.com using one of the specially-generated links (like this one, or any link in the eMpirical), a portion of the sales of that item, plus any other item purchased within the next 24 hours on that browser, goes to support the SSA.  Looking for something in particular? Use the search box in the right sidebar to get started!

In short, you buy stuff, we get cash.  That means that we can help send you to our activist training workshop next year, fund the Speakers Bureau , manage day-to-day operational expenses, pay our staff members and possibly create a few more staff positions within the SSA.  All because you chose to start your shopping with a click from our website.

Check it out!  There’s a link on the side of every page of www.secualrstudents.org, and any link in the eMpirical will have our code embedded in it.  And since you can buy just about anything through Amazon.com (books, textbooks, DVDs, video games, clothes, housewares, camping gear, sports gear, jewelry, and pretty much anything else you can think of), it’s easy to make it a habit to help us along the way.  And don’t forget about us when you buy birthday presents, do you holiday shopping, buy your new textbooks, get that first apartment, or other major shopping opportunities!

Have fun, happy shopping, and thanks for your support!
 
This article originally appeared in the SSA eMpirical No. 19 - After the Conference.
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