Give Forward

GiveForward is excited to be participating in midVentures25 competition– an event that brings together 25 tech start-ups, all competing for the chance to win valuable prizes.  We will be among the “best investor-ready early-stage start-ups” Chicago has to offer.  Win or lose, the event is a great opportunity for GiveForward and the other start-ups to pitch our businesses to over 400 investors and attendees.

Judging the competition are online innovators such as Andrew Mason, CEO for Groupon, and Chuck Templeton, the founder of OpenTable.  The top 5 finalists will get the opportunity to do a 3 minute pitch for the audience and judges before the ultimate winner is chosen. 

Grand Prize includes hosting from SingleHop, software development consulting from Pathfinder Develoment, tech consulting from midVentures Group, legal services from Pasky IP, online advertising TheNextWeb,  an HP Business Netbook from ChicagoMicro, and $1,000 cash from Inventables.

midVenture25 was founded by Geoff Domoracki, CEO of midVentures, a technology based consulting firm and Jonathan Pasky, a patent attorney and founder of boutique Intellectual Property firm, Pasky IP.

The Demo Day and Conference takes place today, March 11th from 5:00 to 10:00pm at 200 S. Wacker Drive.  The event is open to the public, (with an admission fee of $10), and we encourage you to come out and support GiveFoward! 

For additional information on the event and midVenture, please click here.  For tickets, click here.

I hope everyone’s holiday celebrations have been great.  I decided to take a little time away from planning my new year to tell you all about our great new interns here at GiveForward.  They have all taken some time away from their work to give me information I’ve been badgering them for.  Since we usually save the best for last, I’m going to start off by telling you a little about myself.

My name is Rob Vizza, and I work with Public Relations and Marketing for GiveForward.  I am currently in my fourth year at DePaul University where I keep busy with my fraternity (Phi Kappa Psi) and play for the Men’s Rugby Team.  I love Arnold Palmer’s, Italian food, the Chicago Bears, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, rock music, Kevin Smith Movies, and going on random nightly adventures.  I can’t stand cheese, low ceilings, and Nicholas Cage’s acting.  In my free time I like to do community service, write screenplays, play sports, and just have a great time with my friends.  I got involved with GiveForward through a meeting I had with Ethan about doing fundraising for my fraternity.  He informed me that he was looking for interns, and I was excited to work with GiveForward.  This experience has been great.  I have never worked in a more positive environment.  Enough about me, lets meet Leigh.

Leigh Johnston grew up on the east coast in Stafford, VA—a small area that can’t seem to decide if it wants to be part of the Washington D.C. city life or not. She went to school in Blacksburg, VA at the ever-fabulous Virginia Tech, and then earned her Master’s in Pennsylvania at Carnegie Mellon. Despite being an east coast girl for so long, Leigh isn’t sure how she ended up in the Midwest, but is okay with being here. “My favorite things in the whole world are zombies, diet coke, sushi, Neil Patrick Harris, pumpkin spice-flavored berry chill, good paperbacks, stellar concerts, Threadless t-shirts, and my cat. Oh, and my fiancé. I like him too.” Leigh said.  In her free time Leigh likes to watch zombie movies, drink diet coke, eat sushi, swoon over Neil Patrick Harris, eat berry chill, read books, go to concerts, buy things at Threadless, and throw cat toys for her cat.  Leigh chose GiveForward because Ethan’s craiglist ad for a social media maven required burrito-eating skillz, and she figured there’d be a lot of Chipotle involved in this internship. So far, she hasn’t been disappointed. Leigh said, “GiveForward is doing great things and I’m stoked to be a part of it.”  Leigh is our Social Media Maven here at GiveForward  Next is our Fundraising Coach Extraordinaire, Erica Trzeciak.

Most GiveForward users know Erica as the girl who sends them all those nice emails.  As our fundraising coach, Erica works to make sure users get the most out of their fundraising experience and guides them on the road to a successful project.  Erica grew up in La Grange, IL.  She graduated last year from the University of Massachusetts with a B.A. in Psychology.  She is currently studying for the GRE’s to go to grad school next fall for Forensic Psychology.  Erica loves the color green, football (Go Bears!), finding new music, watching karaoke (not participating), gummi worms, gummi bears, and gummi peaches.  She watches the travel channel with hopes of one day visiting every continent, maybe even every country if her future finances allow it.  She is a terrible liar, but admits to reading the Twilight series multiple times and seeing New Moon in theaters at 3:15A.M.  She can’t stand Miley Cyrus, claiming that evens out her Twilight obsession.  She loves Christmas music, and is very critical of tacky Christmas decorations. “I chose GiveForward because I wanted a new perspective on giving back to the community.  I’ve done so much work with philanthropy, community service and fundraising on my own, that it’s nice to be helping on a large scale now.  Helping other people help the causes they care about so much is more rewarding than I could have ever imagined,” said Erica.  Lastly lets meet Sarah Seely.

Sarah grew up in Wrentham, Massachusetts.  She is currently studying sociology at DePaul University where she is putting the super in super senior.  Sarah likes incorporating guacamole into every food she eats, listening to trashy rap music, and wowing people with her extensive football knowledge.  When Sarah isn’t working at GiveForward she enjoys watching Cash Cab, starting but not finishing books, smiling at babies and dogs on the street while completely ignoring the adults attached to them, and constantly ignoring the pile of dirty dishes in her sink.  When asked how her experience with GiveForward has been Sarah said, “I love GiveForward!!!! Ethan and Desiree are awesome bosses, we’re like one big happy beer and burrito loving family.  It’s wonderful to help people and organizations that are doing awesome things.  It warms my heart everyday.”  I hope you all find our GiveForward Interns as awesome as we do!  Good luck with sticking to your new year resolutions!

-Rob

Remember that sweet Yelp! party I posted about a couple weeks ago? Well now you don’t have to take my word on how awesome it was—we’ve got visual evidence! See3 Communications created this great video of the event. They do videos specifically for nonprofits. If you need this for your nonprofit, or you know of a nonprofit that does need this, definitely contact them!

On my second day at GiveForward, I was lucky enough to work the GiveForward table at Yelp’s October 15 event—Community: Causes for a Party! By work, of course, I mean eat some free spring rolls, hand out chocolate, explain GiveForward to any interested person, and award scavenger hunt prizes!

That’s right, we had a scavenger hunt—but instead of finding objects, we had our participants discover facts about some of the other nonprofits at the party. We gave out cards with questions about organizations such as Imerman Angels, Climate Cycle, Open Books, Clearbrook, Chicago Inner City Outings, etc. and when participants came back with three correct answers, they could choose a prize from our lovely, colorful, sticky note prize board of awesome.

One super awesome GiveForward enthusiast won a $350 8 bottle wine tasting at PRP Wine—congratulations, Lisa Center! You can bring up to 12 people for your private wine consultation—or less, if you don’t like to share

Other winners weren’t quite as lucky. Prizes ranged from gum to Giveasaurus t-shirts to GiveForward coozies to Sticks & Twigs (it’s a snack food, I swear). One player won our only set of Energizer Bunny foam ears. Other equally lucky participants won instant grits, cans of soup, and “vintage” (circa March 2009) GiveForward t-shirts! Only one awesome winner managed to choose the right sticky note and left with the highly coveted Giveasaurus tee.

Our next event is on December 5, the ever-fabulous Ugly Sweater Pub Crawl, so if you’re just dying to get some more GiveForward SWAG, be one of the first people there and receive a sweet GiveForward Santa Hat. For more information, check out uglysweaterpubcrawl.com!

On Saturday August 22nd, GiveForward sponsored our first ChasePoint challenge in City Chase Chicago!  Stationed at the Blues Jean Bar on N. Halstead, our challenge asked contestants to trade either a GiveForward pen or a sticker for a non-perishable food item to be donated to the Chicago Food Depository.  There were two rules: 1. The item had to be bigger than the size of your fist, and 2. There had to be photo documentation of the transaction.

Runners hit the streets, asking passerby, visiting restaurants, and even knocking on people’s doors to make the trade–and they came back with some pretty strange stuff!  As if pork rinds, beef sticks, and gigantic tins of baby corn weren’t enough, donations also included pigeon peas, canned escargot, and my personal favorite: pickled cactus.

Overall the event was a big success, and we were able to collect about 100 lbs of food to be donated to the food depository.  We’re looking forward to continuing our partnership with City Chase next summer and keeping our event focused on charity.  But don’t worry–the challenge changes every year, so we’ll be sure to have a surprise in store for next year’s participants.

In the September issue of Mindful Metropolis (a monthly magazine connecting Chicago’s conscious community), GiveForward was highlighted as one of five social entrepreneurs making a difference in Chicago. The article, written by freelance writer and editor Christina Galoozis, focused on bringing transformational change to the city–one donation at a time. We are so thrilled to be a part of it! Check out our section of the article:

Where $5 Funds a Kidney Transplant

Desiree Vargas, 27 & Ethan Austin, 28

I told a friend about my idea for GiveForward, a website that connects worthy causes with everyday donors, at a Super Bowl party last year, and she surprisingly knew someone with the same idea. Ethan and I immediately hit it off on the phone, and he moved from California to Chicago a few months later to launch the business with me.

As an intern at a non-profit during Hurricane Katrina, I recognized the desire of average Americans to donate directly to afflicted families, and not through large organizations like The Red Cross. At the same time, Ethan had reached $6,000 through a personal fundraising Web page for his first marathon sponsored by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. With these personal experiences in mind, we wanted to give everyone with a credible cause–from transplant surgeries to mission trips–a place to collect small donations, even as little as $1, and reach their goal.

To start, Ethan and I were able to pool $50,000 in capital, which we spent entirely on site development, and GiveForward.org first went live on Aug. 14, 2008. We now generate revenue through the 3 percent fee charged to every fundraiser once they reached their goal, as well as Google Ads. People are generally honest, but we police the site for fraudulent behavior.

So far the site has done amazing things. The largest contribution has been $5,000 to help fund a local woman’s kidney transplant, which we’re happy to say was recently granted by the hospital for a reduced rate. Her sister raised a total of $32,000 on our site. We also sponsor “Run for a Reason,” where runners can raise money through GiveForward for any cause and run the Chicago Half Marathon and 5K together on Sept. 13.

Like our donations, we started out small. Our ultimate goal is to become bigger–like the eBay for giving.

Here at GiveForward we’re all about making philanthropy fun. So on September 10, we’re giving the community another reason to party. Get a sneak peak of Old Town Social before its grand opening at GiveForward’s “Party for a Reason.” As an awesome pre-race shindig, we will be celebrating the runners and charities involved in “Run for a Reason.” (our fundraising competition and effort to connect with local charities by bringing together runners to participate in the upcoming Chicago Half Marathon & 5k.)

See what Party for a Reason has to offer with two hours of open bar including specialty cocktails, vodka drinks, beer, and appetizers while mingling with young professionals who know how to have a good time.  Doors open at 7pm, and Party for a Reason tickets keep you enjoying the club sans cover for the rest of the night, with a raffle and prizes you won’t want to miss. (Yes, we are offering more than free shirts! Although our shirts ARE pretty cool.) And the best part: ticket proceeds go to various charity partners of GiveForward, including organizations like Chicago Children’s Charities, Chicago Inner City Outings, and Midwest Young Artists. Now who would want to give up the chance to drink and feel guilt free? Party for a Reason promises to be a hangover you can be proud of.

Details of the event:

Where: Old Town Social 455 W. North Ave (on the El: just West of the Sedgwick Brown Line stop)

When: September 10, 2009, 7PM-10PM

Price: $25 for 2 hours of open bar (remember, it’s for charity!)

Purchase your tickets online at Party4aReason.com!

What happens when “Fear Factor” meets the “Amazing Race?” You get a taste of City Chase Chicago, a scavenger hunt style sporting-event taking place this Saturday, August 22. As City Chase describes, it’s time once again “to turn the windy city into an urban playground.” And they mean that quite literally. For most of the afternoon, teams of two attempt to complete ten challenges. They will run, walk and use public transit to navigate their way throughout the city, while calling family and friends for help, accessing the Internet and even employing assistance of total strangers. Last year, you could find teams milking a cow in the middle of the city, completing a boot camp, racing horses in Grant Park, and even stuffing a snake down their shirts. (SNAKES? That’s where I draw the line.) It may sound ridiculous, but hundreds of teams have registered to participate in what’s now “The World’s Largest Urban Adventure Series,” and the chance to advance to the North American Championships, taking place from September 3 to September 5 in Quebec City, Canada.

And the best part? GiveForward is going to be a part of all the City Chase madness! We’re partnering with City Chase and sponsoring one of the event chase points. (Chase Points are the challenges scattered in unknown locations throughout the city. The challenges are supposed to “test mind, body and spirit.”) We’ve designed our own challenge, but since it’s top secret, we can’t exactly tell you what the GiveForward chase point entails. Let’s just say in the spirit of charity, it involves obtaining non-perishable food for the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

If you’re a brave soul that’s feeling up to the challenge, it’s not too late to register! For more information go to City Chase and check it out.

City Chase may not be a Chicago marathon (we do those too), but it’s a whole new game of endurance that we’re so excited to be a part of!

One fundraising strategy that many of our users have found really successful is offering prizes to their donors to create a little extra incentive to donate.   Often times, this can be great way to reel in potential donors who are sitting on the fence about donating. (i.e. those people who may have overlooked your emails in the past or may not have donated otherwise).

Although you many think this tactic too closely teeters on the border of bribing, the reality is that in most successful fundraisers, people donate for a number of different reasons. Sometimes people donate because they feel really connected to your cause. Sometimes they donate just because they want to support you as a friend. And then other times, people donate because they want to win a prize.

If it helps, think about it this way: you are fundraising for a great cause, your friends want to help you reach your goal, and someone along the way gets an iPod, gift card, etc.  I’d say it’s a win-win-win situation all around!

So, here’s how to create your promotion:

• Inform your contact list: Send out an initial email/Facebook message to your contact list informing them that anyone who donates over a certain amount will be entered into a raffle for an ipod or any cool thing you have lying around the house (autographed tissue, extra pair of moon-shoes, just a couple examples).  Make sure to follow up with subsequent reminders as the promotion moves along to keep people interested.

• Create a sense of urgency. People are more likely to donate when there is a sense of urgency, so to help get donations coming in you should structure your promotion within a short time frame or on a first come first serve basis.
• Time period: Anyone who donates within a certain time period (e.g. two weeks) is entered into a raffle to win the prize
• First come, first serve: The first X amount of people that donate (e.g. first 25 or first 50) will be entered to win the prize.

Timing of the campaign

• As far as when to begin such a campaign, it’s probably best to wait until your first or second round of donors have made donations- this being your closest friends and family first, then all your other circles of friends, co-workers, former dog-walkers, etc.  When the donations start to slow down and you think you have received all the donations you will get from these people (like when you know its time to take the bag of popcorn out of the microwave because there are 5 seconds between each POP), it’s a great time to start this little campaign.

Remember to have fun with it.

• The strategy above is just one example. But there are many ways to go about implementing a prize promotion and you will have to find a way for it to fit your fundraiser and personalize it.  If you’re real hard up for an idea or the funds to back up a good prize, simply offer your services.  If you’re a great photographer, offer to do a family photo shoot for free; maybe an oil change if you’re mechanically inclined, or something as simple as an extra hand around the house.  Be creative and make it work for your fundraiser and your friends.  You never know who will turn around and surprise you.

My favorite status quo that Gen-Y is challenging is in the fatter pocket department. While bottom lines, quarterly reports and profits are important to Gen-Y startups and entrepreneurs, there is something brewing that is gaining more popularity in Gen-Y companies: changing the world. From proceeds based on profits to community involvement and helping each other grow, Gen-Y is fundamentally under the impression that the world will be a better place if we grow together. Helping our friends, neighbors and those in less fortunate situations create jobs and stimulate their economies can impact the world and help everyone grow their bottom line.

Companies like Kiva (on the cusp on Gen-Y) are using crowdsourcing technology to connect investors with business entrepreneurs (yes, young and old) in developing countries to get off and running. Kiva now finances loans in 48 countries and in June 2009 supplied over $4.6 million in loans.

Others, like GiveForward, a privately held social venture (i.e., not a non-profit) are focused on helping existing non-profits and organizations find funding and make donating a better experience. Co-founder Desiree Vargas says, “Generation Y has the opportunity to live their entire career spans expecting to work for companies that treat their employees well, give back to their communities, and create a product or service that brings value to the world.”

New Gen-Y business values are helping to make the entire world a better place to live and do business.

Gen-Y has a long way to go to reach the heights of the mega-conglomerates that occupy the current Fortune 500. But changes in technologies and communication have allowed young people to find needs and niches and provide solutions for the problems they face in ways that are very exciting for the growth of global business. Gen-Y is learning first hand that climbing existing corporate ladders does not mean building a better company and that technology will allow them to stay small yet powerful, informed, and in touch.

What status quo can we shatter next?