GiveForward - Fundraising Made Simple

They told us it wouldn’t be necessary, but we here at GiveForward are poised to break out our caps and gowns anyway for our impending graduation from the Excelerate Labs incubator program we’ve been enjoying all summer. TechCrunch gave us, along with each of our classmates, a lovely write-up.

We can only hope that this graduation announcement of sorts will lead to some sweet graduation gifts (read: funding, so that we can make our site even more useful and fun for you all). Big thanks to TechCrunch and congrats to all the other incubate-ees. Make sure you sign our yearbooks before we leave!

GiveForward user Michelle Martin was featured on today’s Running Feet Helping Hands blog on ChicagoNow.com. Michelle’s friend and co-worker Lauren was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in December, so Michelle created a fundraiser on our site to help pay for treatment and recovery. To further support her friend, Michelle (@mkzm) will be running the Chicago Marathon in Lauren’s name.

We think this is so cool, and we’ve actually been noticing over the last few months that more and more of our users seem to be taking this same (physically impressive) approach. Take, for example, the Run For Mike 2010 fundraiser, which recently ended with more than $6,800 in donations, or the Running for Mae fundraiser, which ends later this week but has already surpassed its goal of $1,000.

It really is inspiring to see that so many people are willing to go the extra mile (or 26) for their friends and family.

We here at GiveForward are flattered to have been mentioned honorably in Greg Ferenstein’s (@Ferenstein) latest article on Mashable.com. In the piece, Greg outlines “some of the most useful ways to raise money for your charity or creative project.” He was kind enough to give us an honorable mention in the “Cause” category.

Crowdrise, the site he gave top billing to in this category, was started by actor Ed Norton and has done work with comedic mega-star Will Ferrell. I’m still a week away from starting my next class at The Second City, so we can’t be mad at an honorable mention. Plus, they’re doing some wonderful things over there; check them out. Thanks for the love, Greg!

GiveForward Co-founder Ethan Austin was recently interviewed by Michael Dunlop (@MichaelDunlop) of RetireAt21.com fame. Those of you who are curious about the thought process behind our site or are interested in what we strive for should definitely give this a read.

Michael was kind enough to call GiveForward “one of the finest examples ever of Young Entrepreneurs making a real difference in the world.” During the conversation, he asked Ethan about a variety of subjects, including his path to GiveForward, his views on business, and the future of him and the company.

There’s a lot of really interesting stuff in here that even I didn’t know. And I know everything. Except for how to talk to women. Which is why I would like to pitch a sister-site to you if you’re reading this, Michael: LonelyAt22.com. You set it up, I’ll provide the content. Deal? Seriously. E-mail me.

The GiveForward team is proud to be featured in the Summer 2010 issue of Women magazine, a publication designed for female cancer patients. In their “Spirit House” department, Women gave us a lovely little write-up about how to raise money online for a friend with cancer. Also featured were two other fantastic services – Spirit Jump, which provides patients with cards and gifts through a network of volunteers, and Magnificent Marvelous Me!, a therapeutic activity book that is being sold to raise money for the nonprofit organization Art With Heart. I challenge you to sell something cooler than an activity book to raise money for a nonprofit. You can’t.

Unfortunately, the article isn’t available online, but we encourage you all to buy the issue if you see it on newsstands, or become a subscriber by checking out their web site.

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.  

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GiveForward was featured in the June issue of Fitness magazine as a tool to use for fundraising in conjunction with running a race. Fitness suggests creating a “DIY fundraiser” by registering for a race and then logging onto GiveForward to create a fundraising page for a cause of your choice. Then, you can easily share the link with your friends and family. It’s a great way to give your race running a purpose!

Pick up a copy of the June issue and check us out yourselves!

GiveForward was recently profiled on Mashable for our efforts in making connections with the fundraising users on our site. Co-founder and Second Banana Ethan Austin explains how these users become, as Mashable says, “super-users.”  Meaning, the personal connections we make with our users benefits not only them, but us as well.  Ethan says that by showing our users that “we are listening, and that we care” we are able to “inject humanity into the conversation and win over a customer.” read more…

Co-founder and Second Banana Ethan Austin was recently on Making a Difference Radio discussing new fundraising methods, such as online donations, that reinforce the idea of people giving to people. Ethan joined Barbara Talisman (@BTalisman) of Talisman Associates, Inc., a consulting firm working with non-profit organizations, and Kristina Carlson (@kristinacarlson) of Ketchum, an organization that works to help non-profits fundraise. Kristina noted that GiveForward is unique in that is allows people to give to someone immediately–”friends don’t have to wait for a nonprofit letter asking for support.”

To listen to the entire podcast, please visit Barbara Talisman’s blog.

Co-Founder Desiree Vargas was recently interviewed by Metro Green Business about the success of GiveForward, and since that interview we are excited to announce that we have raised just over $1.3 million dollars!

In the article, Desiree talks about how she decided to start GiveForward and discusses how our first success story positively affected our site.  She also talks about the evolution of our site becoming primarily focused on medical fundraising. 

MetroGREEN+Business (@MetroGreenBiz) is a comprehensive information website for green and sustainable business and real estate throughout the metro New York area.

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