I love being involved in the community, serving on the board of non-profits and alumni groups, as a volunteer for clubs, and most recently as a room mother at my daughter's school.
Being a volunteer is both extremely rewarding and extremely frustrating. The tools and budgets available in the corporate world are usually not present in a non-profit. Last year when I started getting 20 replies for every email request for someone to bring cupcakes to a class party, inspiration struck on how to make an impact and lasting difference for everyone. Since my husband and I run a technology consulting company, we realized we could use our expertise and re-purpose it for use in philanthropy. We teamed with a business school classmate who had volunteered with me on an alumni board, and the result was Give2Network.
Give2Network is all about enabling and encouraging people to give to the groups they care about, specifically schools and non-profit organizations. Whether you want to give money, give your time, or both, we want people to engage others to be involved with philanthropy on a daily basis.
The first thing we did was team up with Yahoo! to direct some of their billion dollar advertising revenue back to schools and non-profits. We do this by giving free customizable toolbars powered by Yahoo! that supporters can use to help fundraise. With every click or purchase, money gets funneled back to your designated non-profit. Our free program enables people to give just by doing what they already do; because often times people want to give but do not have the time or money. With Give2Network all they have to do is use their group's toolbar to search and shop. If internet users are going to be searching and shopping online, why not have a non-profit receive a donation while you're at it?
Customized toolbar gives easy access to Yahoo search and shopping links, which provide donations back to non-profits. It also displays real-time announcements from the group so you stay connected with what's going on.
We want to provide much-needed tools to help these organizations do simple things like store and manage mailing lists, organize data, use e-mail, and plan events. It's our vision to develop complementary web-based tools for use by nonprofits that will simplify and improve the way they raise funds, organize their business, and communicate with their supporters. Give2Network gives free web-delivered software applications that most small charitable organizations otherwise couldn't afford.
We are passionate about getting people involved in the community and Give2Network makes it easy for volunteers to manage their groups so they can focus on more important initiatives. One example is our upcoming online sign-up sheet, which will allow event coordinators to manage volunteer sign-ups in a few easy clicks. No more passing a paper around at meetings or hitting "reply all" to all the email requests!
Although any nonprofit can benefit from Give2Network, we see an opportunity to help schools in particular. More than 90 percent of schools raise supplemental funds to offset funding shortfalls. Increasingly, public schools lack significant funds for academic necessities, and that gap has to be filled by parents, teachers and the community. We have developed a free and easy way for them to make money year-round. We estimate that each search or purchase can earn between a few cents and several dollars for a designated school or nonprofit. With hundreds of parents at a school, the funds could easily add up to thousands per year. I love the spirit of giving and the sense you get from making a difference in the world. I hope that through the Give2Network we can "pay it forward" and make it easier for others to give in a multitude of ways.
For more information or to download your group's toolbar, please visit www.Give2Network.com.