Thanksgiving

#GivingTuesday: a Chance to Use Tech to Give Back

Posted on by 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

25 Things the Case Foundation Team is Thankful for this Thanksgiving

Posted on by Case Foundation

This Thanksgiving our team is incredibly thankful for so many kindnesses, generosities and special friends who bring our work to life. We have the great privilege to work with scores of talented partners and leverage all sorts of new entrepreneurial models and innovations to address social challenges. It’s easy to get caught up in the process of work and just move from project to project without pausing to reflect on the successes, people, places and things – big and small – that make moving forward possible.

The upcoming holiday gave us the opportunity to reflect on what made 2009 such a great year here at the Case Foundation. From new technologies to key partners to the snacks and local haunts we could not live without, we had a great time putting this list together, and hope it inspires you to think about all of the wonderful things that you are thankful for this Thanksgiving, too!

Here are 25 things we’re thankful for this Thanksgiving:

  • The opportunity to work with smart, fun and passionate colleagues and world-class partners.
  • The courageous, selfless and dedicated veterans and active duty soldiers who serve our country and protect liberty with honor and valor.
  • And, organizations like Give an Hour, IAVA, United Service Organizations (USO), Operation Homefront, and The Mission Continues that are helping our soldiers and their families.
  • Miley Cyrus’s Party in the USA, which was the official theme song (at least in our office) of this year’s Giving Challenge.
    The passionate cause champions and donors who helped raise $2.1 million from 105,000 donations for nonprofits in need in this year’s America’s Giving Challenge.
  • And, our Giving Challenge partners who demonstrate that the real power of cross-sector partnerships come from the best and brightest organizations bringing their unique skills to the table. Thank you, PARADE, Causes, WK Kellogg Foundation and Aspen Institute.
  • The Asian Sesame Mix, almonds and Veggie Stix in bulk from Costco. It helps us get through a lot of long meetings.
    Great, free tools which make it easier for us to do our work, communicate with each other, our partners and our friends – like Twitter, UStream, Skype…
  • And, Click Daly who helped to introduce new users of such tools to integrating them into their social media strategies.
  • Of course, we’re grateful to See3 and Goldhirsh Foundation for making Click Daly possible and our fantastic Gear Up for Giving Gurus – Allison Fine, Geoff Livingston, Marnie Webb, Beth Kanter, Katya Andresen, Holly Ross, and Sarah Koch – whose wisdom and social media savviness helped hundreds of nonprofits.
  • Passage of the Kennedy Serve America Act which will allow for more Americans to volunteer, focus on critical national issues, and be a catalyst for social innovation in the nonprofit sector.
  • Mr. Yogato, Mudd House and Starbucks for keeping us fro-yo’d, caffeinated and happy.
    City Year leading the way through their Whole School, Whole Child education initiative, showing that volunteering can solve major national issues like the drop out crisis and performance gaps.
  • Washington Capitals for consistently making Washington proud. Ummm… Redskins, Wizards and Nationals, we still love you.
  • The 12,000 people who committed to “be the change in their communities” as part of our Change Begins with Me campaign, and the 90% who actually stuck it out and followed through with their commitments.
  • Thought leaders in our sector who are pushing boundaries, starting exciting new conversations and continuing to try new things, and challenge us to be smarter about social good … all in 140 characters or less.
  • 60 degree days in Washington, DC in November. We know that means we need to work even harder on climate change, but it sure feels great.
  • Companies like IBM, Cisco, Deloitte, Goldman Sachs and Intel that show that you can have meaningful programs and policies that allow your employees to make huge differences in communities around the world, that also, in turn, meet business goals.
  • Our impeccable taste in holiday fashion. Especially sweaters.
  • Organizations and individuals working to promote dialogue and create pathways for peace around the world, like Buxton Initiative, Peace Players Intl, and Aspen Institute’s Middle East Strategy Group.
  • Great for-profit social enterprises that make a difference, like Zipcar, Brainscope, SnagFilms, National Geographic and GOOD.
  • New and innovative approaches to online fundraising that empower everyone to be a philanthropist, like Twestival and GiveMN.
  • Millennials who are leading the way on volunteerism and service (according to the Civic Health Index and the CNCS Volunteering in America Report) and organizations like Mobilize.org, Generation Engage and Be the Change, who are helping young people continue to make a difference.
  • The $2 million raised for brain tumor research through ABC2’s Race for Hope and David Cook’s leadership as honorary chair of the Race.
    Admiral James Komack who has brought the Trekkie out in all of us.

This post was created as part of a global groundswell of gratitude called TweetsGiving. The celebration, created by US nonprofit Epic Change, is an experiment in social innovation that seeks to change the world through the power of gratitude. I hope you’ll visit the TweetsGiving site to learn more, and to bring your grateful heart to the party by sharing your gratitude, and giving in honor of that for which you’re most thankful.

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