charity Archives - Case Foundation

Some time ago, the idea of putting your credit card number on the internet seemed unthinkable, but today almost 80 percent of Americans shop online. And with the holidays coming up, online marketplaces are seeing an impressive spike in both traffic and orders. In fact, this year, more people are expected to shop online than in-store.

While e-commerce has forced traditional brick and mortar retail to evolve, the convenience of online shopping for consumers has been advantageous for online giving. This summer, we talked about how tech trends like the emergence of online payment platforms have made it that much easier for everyone to jump into philanthropy. Millennials are key players in that trend too; the Millennial Impact Report found that 80 percent of Millennials made donations last year, and 62 percent have expressed interest in using mobile as a giving platform.

In 2012, we helped support the first official #GivingTuesday campaign, founded by the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation. We were very excited to play a part in #GivingTuesday’s transformation from a campaign to a movement, both through our own donation matching campaigns and by supporting the overall tracking of fundraising activity each #GivingTuesday.

Five years later, it’s more convenient than ever to give. New platforms allow users to search for charities that match their interests, donate by shopping for things they’d already buy and use social media to donate and fundraise.

Here are some easy ways you can use tech to give on #GivingTuesday.

Donation Platforms

If you’re not sure where to start, there’s a variety of platforms that can help you find a cause you’re passionate about and verify the credibility of the organization behind it so you can donate with confidence.

If you shop online, you’re already familiar with PayPal, but did you know that you can also use the payment service for donations? The Paypal Giving Fund lets you browse charities and donate to them online through your PayPal account.

If you’re searching for a specific charity, or already know which issue you want to support, Network for Good* has an online database of over a million charities of all sizes and issue areas. You can also purchase Good Cards on the site if you want to give someone else a gift card that they can use to donate to the charity of their choice.

Interested in taking a more international approach to your giving? Global Giving allows you to donate to vetted projects from around the world and will send you updates on how your money is being put to work.

And if you’re interested in helping educators in the U.S., Donors Choose can connect you to a public school in need. Teachers use the site to share the projects for which they need funds, and how much they need to reach their goals. You can use the site to donate to the classroom project of your choice.

Crowdfunding platforms

Donating to a crowdfunding campaign is a great way for people on a wide range of budgets to work with others in the online community to help someone in need, and there are several platforms you can use.

GoFundMe allows online donors to contribute to individuals or groups taking on a wide variety of projects and problems. And it’s making a real difference—more than $4 billion has already been raised through the site. If you’re looking to contribute to an individual or a new organization that hasn’t registered as a charity yet, GoFundMe provides that flexibility.

Crowdrise is a social fundraising tool that supports corporations, nonprofits and events. Nonprofits and individuals can set up fundraisers for their favorite cause with specific goals and timelines. Do you want to use your network to expand your impact on #GivingTuesday? Crowdrise can help you do that. The website also allows users to explore trending fundraisers and look for ones in the categories they’re interested in.

A different type of online crowdfunding source is Kiva. Kiva gives users a chance to lend as little as $25 to help people across the globe with everything from going to school to launching a business. Kiva donors get their loans repaid, and then can reuse the repayment for another loan, or withdraw it.

Purchase roundups

When checking out at a brick and mortar store, you’ve probably been given a chance to round-up your purchase to the nearest dollar or more and have that extra change go to charity. Now you can do that online, and you can choose which charity receives that extra money.

We micro give is an online platform that rounds your online and in-person purchases up to the nearest dollar and donates the change to the charity of your choice. The site allows you to set monthly maximums and provides users with an online dashboard to summarize their giving activity.

Similarly, Coin Up offers a website and an app that donors can use to have their credit and debit card purchases rounded up and donated. The site tracks your donations over time and sends a year-end donation total so you can see your yearlong impact.

Network for Good* recently launched Hippo Give, an app that also helps you make secure donations through purchase roundups. You can support multiple organizations with your spare change and see your donation activity tracked in real time. Hippo Give even makes a donation on your behalf when you get started. It should be noted that this is still in minimum viable product development stage (MVP), but it’s an exciting new platform that shows promise.

And finally, if you use Amazon.com, you can give back without spending an extra dime just by changing the URL. If you use https://smile.amazon.com/, 0.5 percent of your purchase total will go to the charity of your choice.

#Donate Using Social Media

Organizations and individuals often use social media to give their fundraisers a promotional boost, but now there are ways to donate directly though the social media sites themselves.

Facebook has a donating platform that organizations can use year-round to give their followers an easy way to donate and share. And this #GivingTuesday, the site is stepping up its commitment to support online giving through an up-to-$2 million matching campaign in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

You can also donate instantly across social platforms with Goodworld. All you have to do is comment or reply #donate on a participating cause’s Facebook or Twitter post, and you’ll be sent a secure, one-time link you can use to apply your donation.

Last year, #GivingTuesday saw a record $168 million in charitable donations, and we expect to see similar results from today’s activity. Every year, online platforms like these make it that easier, more interactive and more fun for users to donate to causes close to their hearts. Charitable giving is truly just a click away. We hope you’ve been inspired to give to a cause you care this #GivingTuesday (November 28 this year) and throughout the year.

*Brian Sasscer is on the Board of Trustees for Network for Good

We’re pleased to announce today that we have joined the Giving Pledge, an effort led by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet.

We are proud to reaffirm our commitment to give away the majority of our wealth to fund worthy causes, and look forward to working with the dozens of others who have made the Giving Pledge commitment to share lessons, perspectives and best practices. Below is our pledge letter sharing our thoughts on taking part in this effort.

From the early 1980s, we were both privileged to play a part in ushering in the Internet revolution. AOL was, in essence, a social enterprise. While we were focused on building a business, what really drove us was the mission of building a new medium that could empower individuals and become as ubiquitous as the television or telephone, but be even more valuable. We are proud of the success AOL achieved – and in awe of the profound impact the Internet has had globally.

Since launching the Case Foundation in 1997 we have sought to tap the power of the Internet, new technologies and entrepreneurial approaches to help strengthen the social sector. The Case Foundation has invested in hundreds of organizations, initiatives and partnerships in the U.S. and around the globe. Built on the principles of leadership, collaboration and entrepreneurship, we seek to inspire individuals to realize their potential to create change, while helping social institutions achieve sustainable scale and impact.

While the Case Foundation is our primary philanthropic vehicle, it is not our only avenue as we seek to make a difference. We have also made personal gifts to schools, churches and other organizations that support our local communities. Further, while our commitment to charitable giving is fundamental to our efforts to address societal challenges, we think it is important to note that we also believe – and back our words with dollars – that societal objectives can often also be met through the prism of entrepreneurial businesses.

While there is often a defined division between “for profit” and “not for profit” sectors – with for profit focused on making money and not for profit focused on making a difference – our experiences suggest that can be an overly simplistic way of looking at the world. Instead, we first focus on a societal problem or opportunity that needs to be addressed, and then decide the right strategy to achieve the greatest gains. Sometimes that is backing or starting a non-profit organization. Other times, that is backing or starting a business that is focused on doing well while doing good.

We want to use all the tools available to us, to have the greatest impact, and achieve the greatest good. Our missions for the Case Foundation and our investment firm Revolution are therefore identical: we invest in people and ideas that can change the world. We deploy our capital – and our time – to have the greatest possible impact. We are privileged to have this opportunity to give back in so many ways.

We share the view that those to whom much is given, much is expected. We realize we have been given a unique platform and opportunity, and we are committed to doing the best we can with it. We do not believe our assets are “ours” but rather we try to be the responsible stewards of these resources – and we recognize we have an obligation to reinvest them in a positive, constructive and flexible manner.

We are pleased to join The Giving Pledge and publicly reaffirm our commitment to give away the majority of our wealth to fund worthy charitable causes. We also look forward to working with the dozens of others who have made the Giving Pledge commitment to share lessons, perspectives and best practices. We have learned a lot over the years both through our philanthropic successes and our failures, and believe that by working together and exchanging lessons learned, the impact of the backers of the Giving Pledge can be enhanced. Our individual commitments are significant, but the power of our collective commitments can be greater than the sum of the parts. That is why we are joining with Bill, Melinda, Warren, and so many others to make this public commitment.

While we are proud to be part of this distinguished Giving Pledge group, in closing we also want to reaffirm our ongoing commitment to encouraging a citizen-centered approach to philanthropy, which is rooted in the belief that small gifts from many are just as powerful as large gifts from a few. We hope the Giving Pledge will inspire many others, and we stand ready to do whatever we can to share what we learn and shine a spotlight on the extraordinary commitments millions of people make each and every day.

Sincerely, Jean Case & Steve Case

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