Sure, the latest initiatives from the Teslas, Apples and Googles of the industry tend to dominate the tech news space — and with good reason. Still, the tech titans aren’t the only ones bringing innovation to the sector.
In an effort to highlight up-and-coming startups, Built In has launched The Future 5 across 11 major U.S. tech hubs. Each quarter, we will feature five tech startups, nonprofits or entrepreneurs in each of these hubs who just might be working on the next big thing. Read our round-up of D.C.’s rising startups from last quarter here.
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Fundraising isn’t the simple cash donation process it used to be. With 54 percent of donors worldwide preferring to give online with a credit or debit card, nonprofits need to have an affordable way to accept donations. Many online donation platforms have fees that cut into nonprofits’ income, meaning less of that money goes toward the actual cause.
One donation platform wants to help nonprofits keep more of their money in the bank. End-to-end fundraising platform Givebutter offers nonprofits everything they need to raise funds, track donations and engage with donors, including donation forms, fundraising and event pages, peer-to-peer fundraising, donor management, email and texting. The platform is easy to use too with over 1,000 integrations allowing organizations to hook Givebutter up to their existing systems.
Givebutter was co-founded in 2016 by George Washington University roommates Max Friedman, Liran Cohen and Ari Krasner in their dorm room junior year. At the time, a friend needed help fundraising to get his kosher food truck with a good cause off the ground. The three co-founders developed a fundraising platform for their friend. They beat their goal within 24 hours and with that the Givebutter platform was born.
The company has a fee-or-free model that allows donors themselves to cover the cost of the transaction with each donation by adding an additional tip. If nonprofits choose not to accept tips to cover transaction costs, they’re charged a small platform fee instead. However, according to Givebutter, 99.5 percent of donors choose to cover that cost, allowing nonprofits to put more money toward making positive changes.
“Our society is more generous than ever, collectively powering $471 billion in donations in the United States in 2020, making it the most charitable year on record,” Givebutter CEO and co-founder Max Friedman told Built In in an email. “Despite unprecedented levels of giving, nonprofits continue to face economic challenges alongside this surge in demand for social change. Having low-cost, easy-to-use fundraising tools to reach nonprofit professionals and donors has never been more important. Givebutter propels its users forward into the digital age, offering more ways to connect with supporters than ever, and does it all for free.”
Givebutter has big plans for the future. Friedman said the platform intends to add new features thanks to its recent $7 million seed funding round. One of those features includes an auction platform with a live display to give organizations more options for how they fundraise. The company is also currently hiring for seven positions across multiple departments, including engineers and analysts.
