Seattle startup supports West Seattle Food Bank & other nonprofits with one-stop shop for daily deals
Thu, 10/06/2011
Press release:
Gividend Inc., a Seattle-based company offering online donation and fundraising tools for nonprofits, has entered the daily deals industry with Gividend.com, a daily deals aggregator that allows people to support the local nonprofit of their choice with each purchase.
Gividend.com is organized in a way that helps people quickly find the most relevant deals for their lifestyle, and automatically donates a percentage of each purchase to community causes. Gividend partners with daily deals sites including GroupOn, BuyWithMe and Tippr to offer each company’s daily deals in one convenient location. Gividend saves time for busy individuals by consolidating the daily morning emails from a range of deals sites. Gividend supporters can filter the deals by category or location, further streamlining the experience.
"Everyone’s using sites like GroupOn and BuyWithMe to have fun and save money in this economy,” said Gividend founder and CEO Aaron Bird. "We saw an opportunity for people to explore their city while supporting a local cause.”
The service is free for nonprofits and supporters, while Gividend donates a minimum of 25 percent of the commission received from each daily deals purchase to the selected 501(c) 3 nonprofit partner. Supporters can increase the amount donated by sharing deals and inviting their friends through Facebook or Twitter. Additionally, supporters can see how much they have donated on the homepage.
For launch, Gividend has partnered with West Seattle Food Bank and iconic community-supported Seattle radio station KEXP, which is in the midst of their fall membership drive. Additionally, people can choose to support any of nine additional local nonprofit partners at Gividend.com. Gividend will be recruiting nonprofit partners in Seattle and the 28 other cities offered by the service in the coming weeks.
Bird was inspired to create Gividend after conversations with board members of Get Hitched, Give Hope, a Seattle nonprofit that raises funds for a carefully selected charity through an annual wedding products and services auction. “We believe the daily deal industry is a natural place to encourage community giving,” says Get Hitched, Give Hope board member, Ryan Barr. “It is practical and local, so we are able to leverage existing relationships to build a group of supporters on Gividend. We hope to have our best fundraising year yet.”
About Gividend
Gividend Inc. develops online donation and fundraising tools for nonprofits. Gividend partners with daily deals sites including GroupOn, BuyWithMe and Tippr to offer each company’s daily deals in one location. Gividend.com is organized in a way that helps people quickly find the most relevant deals for their lifestyle, and automatically donates a percentage of each purchase to community causes. Gividend partners with 501(c) 3 nonprofits of any size and with a range of causes. Gividend is based in Seattle, Washington.
Gividend Nonprofit Partners
-KEXP: Community-Supported Radio Station
-American Red Cross: Helps prepare communities for emergencies and keeps people safe.
-West Seattle Food Bank: Provides food and community connections to those in need.
-Get Hitched, Give Hope: Raises money through an annual auction of wedding products and services for a carefully selected charity.
-Puget Soundkeeper Alliance: Protects and preserves the Puget Sound by stopping pollution at the source.
-Seattle Children’s PlayGarden: Provides an inclusive play space for children of all abilities.
-Young Survival Coalition: Offers support for young women with breast cancer.
-Rebuilding Together Seattle: Provides repair services for low-income families in need to promote independence and safety.
-Seattle Works: Connects volunteers with opportunities and trains young leaders to work in the nonprofit sector.
-Western Lands Project: Works to keep public lands in public hands by monitoring federal land exchanges.
-NPower Northwest: Creates technology solutions for nonprofits.