Givebutter Builds a Better Way to Fundraise

In the past, the fundraising industry has primarily focused on the dollar given rather than the act of giving itself. However, Giverbutter aims to change that by making online giving a social experience, completely shifting the way people fundraise and how donors interact with the campaign they are giving to.

Givebutter is a fundraising website where people not only launch campaigns for their fundraisers, but share their campaign with a community of people who are seeking to give.

Compared to other fundraising sites, Givebutter charges a much lower start-up fee at 0.5%. Givebutter also allows donors to be active participants throughout campaigns. Unlike other fundraising sites such as GoFundme, Givebutter clearly lays out the impact you will make. For example, a current campaign called “Students for Orphan Relief at OU” is raising money to send orphaned children in Ghana to school. In this campaign, if you donate $20, you will fund a portion of 1 child’s tuition.

Ari, co-founder of Givebutter, spoke of a “gap that needed filling” in fundraising in order to target millennials. This gap is being filled through Givebutter’s social platform called “giving spaces” that function in giving donors a voice. The platform operates similar to other types of social media in that you can upload photos or gifs, make a drawing, and write a message that shows your support of the campaign you’re donating to. Not only does this allow for people to be active members in a campaign, but creates a community among givers where people are encouraged to give and enjoy doing it. This new, social aspect of fundraising is what makes Givebutter so successful.

Part of Givebutter’s larger purpose is to inspire the next generation to make giving a part of their lives. They currently have over 200 ambassadors (Butter Ambassadors) at over 100 college campuses, their job being to “spread the butter”. They do this by helping people run fundraising campaigns, out reach efforts, and inspiring others to give. Operated by millennials and focusing on how millennials interact socially, Givebutter is “changing the way people donate online to reflect the younger generation”, according to Ari.

Ari expressed that a common misconception is that millennials aren’t into giving. Co-founders Ari, Liran, and Max were all students at the start of their business and understand what student leaders and millennials need to get involved in giving. Ari said, “We are what we say we are. A lot of companies do things that’s not them, we don’t pretend to be something we’re not.”

Many fundraising organizations use direct mail as their primary source of donation. So the difficulty lies with getting the older donor base to see how successful online giving can be. Ari’s hopes to “get people to understand that this is the future and it’s working.”

Givebutter has been continually growing, with more and more campaigns switching previous methods of fundraising to use Givebutter for their campaign funding. They have also been forming more partnerships with non-profits, such as “It’s On Us”, a campaign that promotes sexual assault awareness.

Co-founder Max is now going to 10-15 different universities to meet with students and help with their fundraising efforts.

Simple: Be the only way to fundraise online.

“We hope to be the largest and most prolific platform ever…We want this movement to spread to all corners of the earth so people make giving a part of people’s lives”

If you’re looking to get involved, head to the Givebutter site. You can search through the Discover page to find a campaign you’d like to donate to or Start a Fundraiser of your own.