Briefs: Yahoo! kicks off cyber-giving week Dec. 25

Yahoo! said Friday it is kicking off cyber-giving week on Christmas Day.

The Internet search engine will work with the Network for Good, an online charitable resource, and launch a site that provides donation links to a number of charities as well as resources about how much and where to donate.

"At a time when the Internet is playing an increasingly vital role in facilitating charitable contributions, we want to make it as simple as possible for our users to donate to their favorite charities," said Meg Garlinghouse, director of Yahoo! for Good, the company's community relations program that connects users with products and services that inspire them to make a positive impact. "The Internet facilitates a real-time sense of gratification and also allows people to quickly and efficiently maximize their annual tax breaks in this last week of eligibility.

"Yahoo! users contributed more then $55 million in support of Hurricane Katrina alone. However, we know that our users are passionate about causes and hope they'll take cyber giving week as inspiration to do even more good," she added.

Copyright 2005 by United Press International