Moving Beyond Crowdfunding
I’ve been very fortunate to be involved as an investor in numerous companies that truly do well by doing good. When I first met the founders of GiveForward, I was inspired by the magnitude by which this company was making a social impact, raising millions of dollars for people in need. Today in America, 1 in 3 bankruptcies come as a result of medical expenses. Imagine at a time that a person is most in need of love and support to fight a life threatening medical condition, they are also on the verge of financial ruin. This is all too common in our country and GiveForward was created to help. On this premise, I was delighted to lead GiveForward’s seed financing in 2012.
Yesterday, GiveForward announced a major evolution in their service and made a surprising admission—crowdfunding isn’t enough.
People come to GiveForward when times are tough and rely on the service to help them raise the money they need for surgical bills, IVF treatments, adoption expenses, pet emergencies, and the costs of living during a crisis. And it’s been successful having raised over $170 million dollars for people in need since coming out of Techstars in 2010.
But over the years, the team at GiveForward realized that fundraising is only a part of what’s needed. During times of extreme stress people don’t just need money, they need a community that’s acting on their behalf and a central rallying point to get things done. Caregivers have been hacking together solutions with spreadsheets, phone calls, and Facebook Groups, but GiveForward felt strongly that hacking something together during a crisis shouldn’t be necessary and set out to build a single cohesive product.
Crowdfunding has been largely transactional business. It’s not uncommon to donate money to a friend in need and then never return to the site. It’s likely that most people don’t even pay attention to which site they’re on when they donate. With its new product, GiveForward gives supporters a reason to go beyond a transaction and show support in various way to those they care about over time.
By providing a centralized service—a sort of mission control—GiveForward has empowered those in need and their closest supporters to build engaged communities that can help with everything, from coordinating meal delivery, sharing information with far-flung friends and family, purchasing necessary items on wish lists, and of course, contributing money to a fundraisers.
This new model helps people through the entirety of these major life events and opens up the door for incredible partnerships and additional revenue streams. For GiveForward, it means more monthly active users and more frequent transactions. For their users, it’s a lifeline during trying times.
It’s an exciting time for GiveForward and I’m more thrilled than ever to be a part of this. On a personal note, I’ve seen firsthand the very real impact they make. A close friend of my brother, Oren Miller, was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer. Oren was a well known dad blogger and penned a very moving piece about his diagnosis and his hopes for after his death. Oren’s friends and family rallied to raise over $40,000 on GiveForward. The money was helpful, but the outpouring of love and support was incredibly meaningful to Oren. With the new GiveForward, this outpouring will be so much more powerful for those who need support like Oren did. The new GiveForward is poised to improve the lives of so many more people.
GiveForward has a big vision: to be the first place people turn to when someone they love is in need. The entire culture of the company is built around this vision. The whole team rallies around it. What’s more, the decision to embark on this new path has helped GiveForward attract key new executives, like new CEO Josh Chapman, and transformative partnerships, like our new integration with Fortune 100 insurance leader Nationwide.
GiveForward combines the humanity of the best charities with the kind of connection and coordination that can only be achieved by a tech-enabled business. Doing well by doing good is hard, but I have confidence they’re on the path that will thoughtfully combine social purpose and startup scale.