Charity tech news round up
Melanie May | 27 April 2021 | News
Three snippets of news on developments in the charity-related tech world, from Sustainably’s successful funding round, to the launch of match funding platform GiveMatch, and that of cloud storage service GoodCloud along with the announcement of its upcoming grants programme.
Sustainably sees successful funding round
Sustainably is planning to onboard 200,000 users to its donation app by the end of the year and generate an estimated £100m extra donations for the charities on it following a successful funding round.
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The investment raised will support Sustainably in marketing to new users and charities as well as improving functionality and launching a B2B platform. It has also enabled the founders to expand the team with three new recruits including two engineers and one growth lead.
Now supporting over 40 charities, including Macmillan, Shelter, British Heart Foundation, Social Bite and The Rainforest Trust, Sustainably is a free app that lets people give to their chosen good causes by rounding up cashless transactions and donating spare change automatically, every time they shop.
Loral Quinn, Co-founder and CEO of Sustainably explained:
“We created Sustainably to enable people to have a positive impact as part of everyday life. Partnering with some amazing causes Sustainably is powering a new income stream for charities to help them continue their great work and using technology for good making it easier for people to give on their own terms and see their impact.”
Using the app, individuals and corporates can set their donation limits and stop, start, pause or change them at any time, whilst also receiving charity updates showing them the positive difference that they have made through it.
Charitytech start-up Shamaazi launches Givematch platform
Fintech-for-good parent company Shamaazi has launched its fourth charity tech platform, Givematch.
Match funding platform Givematch has been designed to make match funding ‘ownable, gamified and social media friendly’. Givematch donors have their donations matched based on their referrals, so donors share their favourite campaigns with their friends through a personal link, and when two of their friends donate through it, they have their original donation matched. Friends donating do not however need to give to the same charity, or give the same amount. The tech can be embedded within a charity’s website and also exists on the standalone website Givematch.com.
Research conducted by Givematch in 2020 showed it that 88% of adults in Britain would be more likely to donate to charity if donation matching is offered while 92% said word of mouth is the biggest driver in donation choices. This led to Givematch building its tech to directly attribute match funds to donors to create a sense of individual ownership, and to make the experience “social friendly” to capitalise on a donor’s social influence.
During the beta launch last year with selected charities and match funders across the UK and US, across charity websites, 75% of donors opted to use Givematch and 50% of them completed their referral journey. The total donation tally accumulated a 4x return on match funds. As donors share their unique link across their social media networks to rally their followers and friends, approximately £4 is donated for every £1 in match funds.
Initially working with 6 different charities including Islamic Relief, PennyAppeal, Islamic Help, and Orphans In Need, and various match funders, the launch this April will be the start of Givematch’s global expansion.
Givematch is part of Shamaazi, a fintech-for-good parent company that builds culture-shifting technologies that empower people to make good of their money. Shamaazi’s collection of products have contributed over £16m in charity over the last few years, predominantly from MyTenNights.
Cloud storage service for charities, social enterprises & SMEs launches
A new cloud storage service GoodCloud, aimed at helping charities, social enterprises, and SMEs, has launched.
GoodCloud’s service allows users to manage and share essential marketing and business-related assets.
Subscriptions start at £19 per month for 250GB of storage with the first month free – and the first service that provides access to unlimited users. GoodCloud allows unlimited users for free and has a clear, easy to use interface to make it easy to organise and search for documents, without trawling through files and folders. It also has a Free for Life level available for individuals who need a way to share content.
Russell Marriott, GoodCloud Co-Founder and CEO, said:
“We wanted to create something that was easy to use, gave value for money, and basic but highly nimble. Our aim is to provide the charity and small business sectors with a scalable solution to their problem.”
GoodCloud has also announced that it will set aside up to 25% of its net profits each year for charitable purposes. Its new grant-making arm, The GoodCloud Foundation will distribute funding with GoodCloud trustees nominating registered charities that have applied. The scheme will come in two forms:
- Small Grants Programme – It is anticipated that the first grant round will be open for application in late Spring 2021 with awards being made in Summer 2021. From them, the grants will be made quarterly and will hold value for up to £12,500 each and available for both core and capital costs.
- Major Grants Programme – The major grants programme is scheduled for 2022 and will run alongside the small grants programme. Grants will be for both core and capital costs.
In addition, The GoodCloud Foundation will be holding a number of ‘Good Future Days’ across the UK. These seminars will bring together representatives of invited organisations to discuss and advise on potential grant-making within the third sector. The days will also be a networking opportunity, sharing good practice and having a voice in moulding the future grant programmes of The GoodCloud Foundation. Charities interested in the grants programme and seminars can register their interest on the foundation site.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.