A Commitment to Collaboration, Values, and a Better Future

Hot on the heels of our best GivingTuesday and best fundraising year ever, we at Give Lively are in awe. The nonprofit community we serve benefitted from record-breaking philanthropy. Another year into pandemic disruptions and the resurgence of social and racial justice movements, Americans responded by giving more than ever to help those in need. According to the GivingTuesday Data Commons, on GivingTuesday 2021 alone an estimated 35 million people helped drive $2.7 billion in donations, a 9% increase over GivingTuesday 2020! And while full assessments are not yet complete, nonprofit fundraising in 2021 appears to have at least kept pace with the bountiful levels of 2020.

Although the funds that passed through Give Lively are just a fraction of that total, we too were heartened by hope-reaffirming increases. First, on GivingTuesday 2021, we saw approximately 50% growth in dollars raised through our tech, totaling nearly $7.5 million in gifts. That came via 50,000+ donations, a 27% increase over GivingTuesday 2020. Then, on December 31, 2021, our platform managed a one-day fundraising record of $12 million, bringing our full-year tally to almost $202 million, 36% more than 2020.

Charity Navigator partnership

One especially promising factor in that growth is the public launch of our partnership with Charity Navigator, the world’s largest and most trusted nonprofit evaluator. After more than two years of collaboration, we created a new and improved Giving Basket, which enables donors to contribute to multiple nonprofits in one convenient checkout, pay via credit cards, ACH, or digital wallets, and donate within a wider range of dollar values directly on the Charity Navigator website. Additionally, the new Giving Basket delivers donor dollars to nonprofits faster than ever before and at the lowest available third-party payment processing rates. 

Since 2015, the Giving Basket has raised more than $132 million for 42,000 nonprofits, and this year, on GivingTuesday, the new Giving Basket powered by Give Lively steered more than $1 million to 3,200+ organizations.
 

This advancement reconfirms our long-standing belief in partnerships with like-minded organizations – organizations that are committed to collaboration, fairness, transparency, and, most importantly, not charging the nonprofits who trust us to help them. In Charity Navigator’s case, nonprofits do not pay to be evaluated, ensuring that ratings remain objective. In our case, we do not charge nonprofits for use of our fundraising platform – no setup fees, no platform fees, no membership or subscription fees, no annual or monthly fees, no hidden Give Lively fees.
 

This is a huge win for both nonprofits and donors, enabling nonprofits to raise more money for their missions without sacrificing their means, all from donors confident in their chosen nonprofits’ integrity.
 

Leading with values

Give Lively places a special emphasis on pursuing our mission while staying true to our progressive values.

First, we have always believed in democratizing and leveling the digital fundraising playing field as a way to disburden nonprofits of for-profit fundraising software and enable them to devote more resources to their critical work. This is why Give Lively was founded. It is also a core component of our strategic approach to both product development and partnerships. Indeed, we view the Giving Basket as a deepening of our commitment to helping nonprofits maximize their donors’ generosity.
 

Second, we have made our values a decisive part of our Give Lively membership. We support (and are inspired by) nonprofits that tackle tough challenges and complex issues such as gender and racial equality, reproductive health and LGBTQ+ rights, social and environmental justice, education, domestic violence, immigrant services, and more. We personally review every membership application to ensure each nonprofit member aligns with our values, although this does not apply to non-members who benefit from our technology through partnerships like the Giving Basket.
 

Reimagining the future 

We believe that digital fundraising for nonprofits should be powerful, practical and free, just as it should be intuitive and joyful for donors. In keeping with this, the launch of the new Giving Basket is the next leg of our promising new journey into deep collaborations. Excitingly, with the success of the Giving Basket, the unwavering determination of nonprofits to make the world a better place, and the energy and generosity of millions of people around the world, we have wind in our sails.

Authored by Ethan Gelber, Senior Content Manager, Give Lively. givelively.org