Up until April 1st 2015, merely one lunar month away,‘Giving’ will have been predominantly confined to challenge donation event fundraising. JustGiving own 85% of the online giving market, and this is their bread and butter.
Lets break it.
Giving is so, so much more than this. Donation potential is vast and incomprehensible; as deep as our compassion and a infinite as our imaginations.
Digital content is soaring. 30 billion pieces of content are uploaded each and every month on Facebook, 300 hours of YouTube video every minute , 55m of us update our staus’ every day, the number of hours we spend on technology per day now exceeds how long we sleep (8hr 41 vs. 8hr 22).
We share more and more, and mobile use of the internet has long overtaken that of desktop.
What we share is becoming increasingly emotive, it becomes a snapshot of our views and our beliefs. Sharing is an indigenous characteristic of our online behaviour. We’ve never yet had the means to connect the two .
The power of this phenomena can, is and should be harnessed for good. We are instinctively System 1 beings; we need things now, instant gratification is a must. Whether that’s wrong or right is another thing, but we need things, or at least we think we do, now.
With Givey, you’ll soon be able to connect the source of your emotion or empathy, anything at all thats moved you on the web, and intrinsically link it to a donation to any charity you want to help as a result. It synthesises content with a cause. No more screen-shots when you need to prove you’ve done the philanthropic activity connected to an Ice Bucket Challenge; they will be inextricably linked. Its putting real weight and meaningful connection behind what we share.
Non of this is to say you can’t fundraise for a challenge fundraiser with the new iteration of Givey; it would deb more engaging and interactive than ever. You could film a video of your and your friends detailing why you’re taking part, how much you want to raise and for which charity, and we’ll total how much ha been raised as a result of that video. Oh, and WE’RE STILL 100% FREE FOR CHARITIES AND USERS!
I was thinking about the types of challenge events I’d taken part in over the past few years; from abseiling down Newcastle Civic Tower for the Percy Hedley Foundation, to canoeing across the width lochs of Scotland for Teesdale and Wear Search & Rescue Team, rowing Lake Windermere dressed as Ben & Jerry’s cows for Grocery Aid, Oxfam’s 100km Ghurka Trailwalker challenge – they were wonderful events with fantastic memories. But the power of empathy I could have harnessed both for the causes themselves but the physical challenge itself, would have been phenomenal had I had a tool like Givey. The very final image is of a charity music night I used to run for TWSRT long after the challenge fundraiser. I had built a deep and long lasting connection with the work that they had done, and wanted to help promote and support it – something which again Givey will help facilitate.
We just need that simple, initial connection between cause and supporter backed by real empathy. Its personal; the charity or project can share more images and videos of the work they are undertaking, you can support particular projects and learn how they are developing and improving thanks to your direct contribution. Gives me tingles, it really does.
I see Givey breaking apart and shattering our common perception of what it means to fundraise. Its a way of opening up the world, your world, and making and inspiring change whoever an whenever you want more than just empathy; when you want to take real action.
“With so much powerful, impactful digital content being created and shared by passionate people everyday across news feeds and social networks, there can often be a desire to respond but until now there’s been no practical and immediate way to take action.”
And people literally beg for this gateway into giving…
Well folks, its almost upon us….
Watch this space!
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