GiveForward Featured on AOL News

Recently, GiveForward was featured on AOL on their Philanthropy Project page for the opportunity we provide donors to easily connect to a variety of causes. The article highlights some of the diverse projects that have been featured on GiveForward, such as raising money for college funds to what we primarily focus on, raising money for medical expenses. The author notes that the ease of giving and the opportunity to donate any amount of money is what sets GiveForward apart from other fundraising websites and organizations.

To read the article in its entirety, please visit AOL News Philanthropy Project.  

Giving Site Connects Donors, Causes

By Suyin So

Eric Hills wants to raise $2,000 for a college fund he’s set up for three children of a friend who died in a car accident last fall. The Endangered Languages Club needs travel funds to present its research at the 2010 Annual Anthropological Association Conference in New Orleans.

And Gretell Vidal and her husband have raised 85 percent of their fund-raising goal of $5,112 to pay for treatment for her 15-month-old son, Alejandro. The toddler, who has been on a ventilator since birth, was born with congenital heart disease that prevents oxygenated blood from traveling from his heart to his lungs.

All of these diverse fund-raising needs come together on Give Forward, a Chicago-based online giving site that aims to make it “ridiculously easy for people to give money to stuff they like.”

Give Forward‘s mission, co-founders Desiree Vargas and Ethan Austin say, is to help as many people as possible by providing a simple and effective online tool for any fund-raising goal.

Like other “citizen philanthropy” sites such as Donors Choose, which helps teachers raise funds for classroom projects, Give Forward connects users to a broad array of fund-raising causes and needs. Donors can then contribute almost any amount, whether $10 or $1,000.

CBS News recently reported on one Give Forward beneficiary, David Hartsock, whose friends and family used the site to raise almost $50,000 for his care. Hartsock, a skydiving instructor, was paralyzed after he broke a student’s fall with his own body in an August 2009 accident.

To date, Give Forward says it has helped individuals and groups raise more than $1.3 million toward goals as diverse as headstones for loved ones, educational trips abroad, filmmaking workshops and braces for a stay-at-home mom who needs them.

Recently, the company shifted its strategic and marketing focus to medical-related fund-raising needs like Alejandro Vidal or David Hartsock. While anyone can still use Give Forward for any purpose, co-founder Vargas told news site MetroGREEN + Business that the company saw its greatest impact in medical expense-related fundraising.

“It became abundantly clear,” Vargas said, “that medical expenses fund-raisers were where we were raising the most money, doing the most good and having the biggest word of mouth expansion.”

Give Forward raises operating revenue by charging fund raisers a 4 percent processing fee on all money raised and a 2.6 percent fee on credit card transactions. Its founders say they set their fees to make choosing Give Forward a “no-brainer.” Consequently, neither Vargas nor Austin have taken a salary since the site launched.

They will be able to stay in business as long as their business grows, they told MetroGREEN + Business.

“We’re working as hard as we possibly can to get more projects to the site and to help make the projects that are here the most successful they can be,” Vargas said.

To learn more, go to Give Forward.