This week's Tap That App Tuesday features an app that nicely meets the intersection of two crucial end-of-year goals: knocking out your shopping list without breaking the bank, and giving back to charity during the holidays.

How does GoodShop, the "charity-shopping" app for iOS, do this? By being both a coupon-clipping app and something of a charity shop-a-thon fund drive.


By the makers of GoodSearch, an innovative search engine that donates a penny per search to charity, the GoodShop app combines digital coupon-clipping with the same type of altruistic fund-driving.

It works with most of the major online retailers you can think of, and a bunch of smaller ones you probably haven't, in order to save you money while you shop and raise money for one of dozens of charities you get to pick.

You can shop at over 2,500 online locations, including big names like Target, Best Buy, Apple, and Amazon, using a coupon-clipping interface that finds shipping deals, general sales, and special discounted items. There's a search feature, but GoodShop's browsing interface is as good as any other discount-shopping app out there. The app also offers push notifications for special deals at stores you're particularly fond of, so you'll never miss a good sale.

But that's not the most unique feature of GoodShop, of course. The app, and its parent organization GoodSearch, is partnered up with those online stores on offer to raise funds for its charity selection. Because retailers want to get eyeballs on their products, they often pay or pass on a percentage of a sale to the site that referred shoppers to their store in the first place.

GoodShop uses that referral system, along with partnerships it set up with other stores, to put a portion of that referral money towards the charity of your choice -- all without adding a dime to your checkout price. In most cases, that referral money is there for the giving, and so there's really no reason not to put it to good use.

And there's a wide selection of charities you can put your referral to good use towards. GoodShop is partnered with a long list of major charities, from Unicef to ASPCA to the American Red Cross, Make a Wish, Habitat for Humanity, The Salvation Army, World Wildlife Fund, the Smithsonian, and many, many more.

If there's a charity you want to help that GoodShop somehow isn't partnered with (the organization boasts over 113,000 partnered causes right now) you can even suggest it on their website, and GoodShop will take due diligence to see if it can hook up with that cause.

On top of all that, when you sign up or sign in with a social media account, GoodShop will keep a running tally of how much you've raised for the charity of your choice right in the settings menu. Maybe that helps with sticker shock, or makes retail therapy that much more therapeutic; the bottom line is that you're actually helping a charity while you shop.

The other bottom line is that you can save lots of money using GoodShop's excellent and constantly-updated list of discounts and coupons. For example, most stores you look at through the app will have a free shipping deal and at least some percentage off their general selection. Beyond that, other special deals can save you even more.

GoodShop is a win-win that helps you give back while you're shopping for gifts this holiday season. It's available on the web and with a nicely designed app on iOS, but unfortunately not for Android at the moment.

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