Nothing lights up the GiveForward office quite like electricity. We’ve tried candles and natural light – neither was as effective. In terms of what lights us up as people in the metaphorical sense, nothing even comes close to the feeling we get when we hear good news from people who have had successful fundraisers on our site.

Over the summer, Tommy McElroy’s family started a fundraiser on GiveForward with the goal of buying Tommy a wheelchair accessible car. They were able to raise $12,285, and we just received word that Tommy is now out on the roadways with his new van.

“He’s like a new man!” Tommy’s family told us via e-mail. “What a difference this has made in his life, and we couldn’t have met our goal without you.”

It’s great to hear that, on top of reaching the monetary goal, the family is now seeing the impact they had hoped for come to fruition. We’re so happy for you Tommy!

If any other users have updates you’ve yet to share with us, please send those our way because we love putting good news on our blog!

We don’t want to attach any exact dates or specific religious figures to this, but GiveForward will soon be delivering some holiday gifts to all of our users in the form of new website features.

The one thing that we are most looking forward to sharing with you all is our improved Facebook integration. Users who opt in and enable Facebook connect will be able to instantly and automatically spread the word to their friends about worthy causes every time they donate to a fundraiser on our site. We expect this feature to come in very handy for getting friends of friends of friends (and so on) to donate.

Another feature we are very excited about is the creation of partner pages. This will bring about a mutually beneficial, collaborative environment that will give our partners an easy fundraising platform to provide their members while simultaneously enabling us to expand our user base and help more and more people every day.

In addition to all these things you’ll be able to literally see on the site, there are even more fixes happening behind the scenes that should make for a much smoother operation all around. I’d explain what some of these things are, but frankly, even I don’t understand them. What I do understand is the fact that users will soon be able to subscribe to this blog, so as to ensure that important GiveForward updates such as this one never go unnoticed. So be on the lookout for all of that and have a wonderful holiday season!

From everyone here at GiveForward, Happy Thanksgiving to you all! In addition to the many personal blessings we have to be thankful for, the whole gang here is collectively grateful for a number of things.

We’ve had a really great year in general, and we recently had our biggest month to date, so we just want to express our deepest gratitude to you, the users. Though our transition to the new site has been challenging at times, everyone’s patience and understanding has really made it feel like a manageable shift.

You all are amazing and we truly appreciate you letting us be a part of your lives. Have a wonderful holiday!

GiveForward is honored to announce that the Testicular Cancer Society — owners of one of the best logos we’ve ever seen — has decided to list us as a resource for testicular cancer patients.

Site founder and testicular cancer survivor Mike Craycraft gave us a fantastic write-up on the “Just Diagnosed Now What” page. We were thrilled to see that right alongside us, Mike endorsed our good friends and burrito-eating competitors over at Imerman Angels.

The Testicular Cancer Society is a non-profit organization with the mission of increasing awareness and education about the disease, and providing patient services to survivors and caregivers. We truly admire their efforts and we are excited to help out in any way that we can.

GiveForward co-founder Ethan Austin (@ethanaustin) recently had a chat with MO.com about the origins of our site and his experiences since its inception. Here is an excerpt:

MO:

There are many heartwarming and tear jerking stories that go along with some of the funds raised on your site.  Which one strikes you the most and why?

Ethan:

Wow, it’s tough to pick just one.  We’ve been fortunate in that we’ve been able to work really closely with a lot of our users.  Many of them have become like family often staying in touch long after their fundraisers have ended.  Personally though, I think the one that stands out the most for me was a fundraiser one of my law school friends started for her dad who had just been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. This was back in early 2009 when the website still hadn’t gained much traction and we were only getting maybe 2-3 new users per day.  At that time, there was a lot of self-doubt whether GiveForward was actually going to work.  But then my friend was able to raise $12,000, and I could see what a huge difference it made for the family.  It felt amazing to be able to help someone I cared about, and their success made me realize that we were on to something that could be big.

MO:

Aside from your philanthropic passions, did you have any experience running an Internet business?  If not, how did you adapt to the business model?

Ethan :

Neither of us had any experience running an Internet business.  Desiree came from the foundation world and I had a legal background.  Since we had no real idea of how to run a business when we started, we just did what we were naturally good at – being nice to people.  Since day one, our secret sauce has been pretty simple: be kind, genuine and compassionate and treat people the way we’d want to be treated.  We give our users a lot of virtual hugs and high fives and in turn they’ve been great GiveForward ambassadors, spreading the word for us telling their friends and others about our service.

Be sure to head over to MO.com and check out the rest of the interview!

The GiveForward team is swelling with pride after receiving word that our co-founder, Desiree (@DesireeGF), has been chosen from a field of nearly 900 applicants to participate in FEmba. World-famous author, speaker, and entrepreneur Seth Godin (@thisissethsblog) will be holding this three-day intensive workshop in New York for 15 female entrepreneurs from around the country, and Desiree is honored to be one of them.

Desiree told us that she is “flattered to be among such amazing women” and that she “really can’t wait to work with Seth.”

Our other co-founder, Ethan (@ethanaustin), bought copies of Godin’s Linchpin for everyone at the office to read over the summer, so we are especially thrilled due to our collective familiarity with his work. We’re sure Desiree will take away quite a bit from this trip at the start of November, and we look forward to using what she learns to make GiveForward better for you!

GiveForward recently moved out of the office space provided for us during the Excelerate Labs technology incubator program and into a different area of the office building we previously called home at 211 West Wacker.

We are so excited to have more space than ever before, and we have really enjoyed being able to fill it with Ikea furniture and paint the walls however we like (blue and green, of course). You can see more photos of our new digs by checking out our Facebook page.

The bonus news, which we just received, is that this building was awarded a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certification.

The building’s Energy Star Score of 87 puts it in the top 15% of commercial office buildings in the United States. The average office building uses 1,093 more metric tons of CO2 than ours does. This differential is equivalent to the CO2 emissions from the energy use of 93 homes for a year.

We personally think this is all pretty impressive, especially when considering the fact that this building was originally built in 1927. It feels good to know that we’re reducing both our operating expenses and our carbon footprints by being in this building. Though we deal primarily with helping people pay for medical expenses and other needs, we are generally a company in favor of enabling positive change in the world, so we encourage you all to take any steps you can to join us in going green!

Few things light up the GiveForward office quite like hearing from users who are happy with their experience on our site. Earlier this year, we posted a blog with some of the nice things users said. Since these kind words have continued to pour in and make us smile, we have decided to share some more of them with you all below.

“Oh my goodness!!! Thank you so much!!! Your site is amazing, and an answered prayer. We couldn’t figure out a way to do this until we found your site. Thank you again…this means so much.”

– Britany Gladhill raised $1,070 for her friend’s rare cancer treatment

“You guys are truly amazing. You have been such a great support the whole way through.  If you ever need anything, please do not hesitate to ask.

Much love,

Loree”

– Loree Frizatta raised $39,244 to help pay for her sister’s breast cancer treatments

“Thank you so much! I’ve been really impressed by your enterprise so far! We moved quickly to work with you after Paypal was giving us major headaches. We are friends that are throwing together a huge event, so this helps make a confusing process a lot more reliable and clear.”

– Heather W. raised $17,000 for her friend’s nine-month old daughter battling a rare brain tumor

“Thank you, GiveForward for the amazing opportunity you gave us to raise funds for our daughter. You have definitely made a difference in getting her the care she needs. You are making a difference for many, many people.”

– Vicky raised $9,000 to help a young woman pay for anorexia nervosa treatment

“I just received the proceeds from Surfer’s fundraiser and was so touched at the personal note included with his check. It brought a smile to my face and warmth to my heart. I have been so pleased with the GiveForward.org site, it has made our fundraising easy, efficient and effective! I will most certainly share my positive experience with others. Keep up the good work!”

– Courtney Pierce, DVM, Oldtown Veterinary Hospital, Winston-Salem, NC raised $1,390 to help cover the cost of hip surgery for “Surfer” the wonder dog!

“I just want to say thank you for providing this forum in which we can instantly raise money for our loved ones. It has made the difference for our friends that were unprepared for the news of cancer. Their utilities were about to be shut off and they were 2 months behind on rent. When our friend went in for surgery he was comforted knowing that he would have a home to come back to after his recovery in the hospital. We are more than half way to our goal in just 2 weeks. Thank you again and may God bless you.”

– Kim S. raised $1,500 for her friend fighting colon cancer and was so happy with the results that she started a fundraiser on GiveForward for GiveForward

“I would like to thank every one of your staff for creating this wonderful concept to help others like myself raise money for our loved one in need. This was a brilliant idea, and everyone on your staff has been amazing!!!”

– Samantha Nomany raised $7,865 for her sister Kay’s breast cancer treatments

“The fundraiser went better than I ever anticipated! I am still pinching myself! I have never done any kind of fundraising and I just used your info to coordinate my event with GiveForward and Facebook. My ‘team’ of two thanks you again for all of your help!!!”

– Stephanie Carroll raised $2,624 for her friend Joel’s medical expenses after a car accident

“Thank you so much for your help with my friend Nathan’s fundraiser.  When we learned of his accident on the other coast, we couldn’t figure out what to do to help.  A friend recommended your service, and through your easy to use product, and all of your great support, we were able to raise almost $4,000 to help Nathan’s mom with expenses and pay for some of his medical bills.  I know I appreciate GiveForward.org, and I’m sure Nathan will as well as soon as he is ok.”

– Mary Heather Hanley raised $3,773 for her friend Nathan after a terrible motorcycle accident

“We LOVE your site. You have made it so easy for us to raise a ton of money in no time at all.”

– Ellin G. raised $7,000 to help cover her friend’s medical and living expenses while undergoing chemo therapy for stage two breast cancer

After seeing The Social Network over the weekend like everybody else, we here at GiveForward decided it was time to leave the dot org world behind for the lucrative land of the dot com. Why? Money, money, money, money, money.

We are confident that this switch will be instrumental in helping us achieve our newest goal: getting a GiveForward movie made and having the “villain” be played by a former tween pop sensation.

Obviously, Justin Bieber would be our first choice for this, and yes, we agree that he completely ruined that episode of Saturday Night Live he was on, but keep in mind that this is all about money, and that little dude, for whatever reason, would sell lots and lots of tickets for us.

Speaking of Bieber Fever, yet another explanation for our switch to GiveForward.com is the fact that we are undergoing what WebMD confirms to be e-puberty. It’s kind of a scary and confusing time of transition for us, but every website has to go through it.

Well, maybe not every website, but definitely the ones that are commonly (and understandably) mistaken for non-profits despite actually being for-profit social ventures. This happens to be a group we fall into, so we view the switch as a necessary step that will hopefully help prevent future befuddlement.

Just to clarify, we have always been a for-profit social venture, but the dot org domain has caused a lot of people over the years to assume we were a non-profit. The transition to dot com is designed to eliminate this confusion. The point of a for-profit social venture is to make money by doing good, so this has been the ideal job for us because we are able to help people every day while earning a living in the process.

So update your bookmarks, break that habit of saying “dot org” when you’re telling all your friends about us, and be on the lookout for The Fundraising Tool in a few years.

The GiveForward team had arguably too much fun at midVentures Launch, a massive conference for startup companies held in Chicago on September 28. We had our own table on the event floor and we got to see plenty of great panels, speeches, and presentations (including an appearance from our co-founder, Desiree Vargas, on a panel about our experience in the Excelerate Labs technology incubator program), but we probably had the most fun just walking around and talking to all the different entrepreneurs about their companies.

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