One of the most frustrating mega-charities in the U.S. is the Red Cross. American Red Cross provides services to hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents every year - for disaster relief, blood transfusions, health education and more. Despite their $3 billion plus annual budget, the American Red Cross has been struggling to find the money to pay for all of the work they need to do for victims of Hurricane’s Ike and Gustav and other disasters. They’ve had to take out loans and get emergency assistance from taxpayers.
One of key programs of The American Red Cross is to provide shelter, clothing, and financial assistance to people who have lost their homes due to fires or other circumstances. This is a massive organization performing very difficult and expensive services both here in the U.S., and overseas.
Make a donation today - even $20 can help. At Givvy we will match the first 5 donations - up to $250 total - to the American Red Cross that go through Givvy. This is a tough year for all of us, but think of those who are even less fortunate and open your wallets just a little today.
Calling all nonprofits! GivvyBase version 2 is now live. Find your charity and update the information in our database. Add your description, events, volunteering opportunities, jobs and contacts. GivvyBase is free and will shortly have an open API so anybody can access information on your nonprofit.
I just had a very nice meeting with the George McCully and his team over at the Catalog for Philanthropy. Catalogue is a great effort, started in Massachusetts (where they are well-known) but with a desire to be more of a national effort. This is the 11th year for the Catalogue and they have profiled over 900 charities in that time. The result is a very nice printed “catalogue” that gets sent to the top 120,000 households in Massachusetts.
Their core screening qualification is fairly simple. First, your organization must be some form of public benefit that impacts the quality of life in a philanthropic or charitable way. There are over 36,000 nonprofits in Massachusetts, but George only counts 3,000 or so organizations in his “target.” Gone from the list are churches, clubs, dues-paying associations, business groups, sports leagues and other organizations that primarily benefit a specific community. The Catalogue is making no judgment on the value of supporting or joining these organizations, but they don’t meet the test of providing a broad-based public benefit.
If the Massachusetts experience holds nationally, then the “1.4 million registered IRS charities” may be narrowed down to less than 140,000 “Catalogue-worthy” organizations. George also culls organizations that are above $3m in annual revenues, which actually doesn’t impact the number of organizations all that much since most are well under $3m (in the U.S., only 35,000 or so 501c3 organizations exceed $3m revenue out of 1.4m total nonprofits).
So, when people throw around the “1.4 million IRS nonprofits” number, it may be accurate, but it’s not reflective of the real situation. Perhaps at some point Givvy and the Catalogue for Philanthropy can work on creating more of a breakdown that makes it easier for people to find the great local charities that are so easily overlooked when we pull out our checkbooks…
The 2008 Cone Cause Study is out. It continues to promote the mantra that cause marketing and engagement by companies has a meaningful impact with consumers, employees and other stakeholders. Here is a chart in the study (which you can download for free here).
“While the cause marketing of the past primarily targeted consumers in sales transactions, cause marketing today is often concerned with a company’s strongest ambassadors - its employees. Thanks to 24/7 technology and the increasingly blurred line between work and home, employees are seeking more purposeful work. Companies that provide substance and meaning will be rewarded with high employee pride, morale and retention. Cone’s research shows that there is a spectrum of opportunities employees feel it is important for their employers to provide, including:”
If you are planning a page to raise money for charity this fall and holiday season, let us know. We’re doing campaign pages for employers, brands and others. It’s time to plan now if you want to have the biggest impact for your holiday giving campaign! jtreadway - at - givvy
Givvy is one of the three “Main Dish” presenters at tonight’s WebInnovators Group organized by Venrock VC David Beisel. The event kicks off at 6:30 tonight at the Royal Sonesta Hotel across from the Cambridgeside Galleria (a good place to park). Hope to see you there!
See the article on Givvy in Xconomy.com. Here is an excerpt:
From what I’ve seen so far—and I’m still really just warming up the engine for my test drive of the system—Treadway and his crew have put together a nice set of Web 2.0-style features and tools while still keeping things fairly clean and approachable.
It was a great three days at TechCrunch50. We met some great people doing very innovative work, and got a lot of positive feedback on Givvy. Congratulations to Heather, Mike, Jason Calacanis, and the entire the TechCrunch team for a wonderful event.
On Tuesday we were in the DempPit and got visited by Rafe Needleman from WebWare/CNET TV. Here’s the video.
I just had a very nice meeting with the George McCully and his team over at the 
