Spotlight on: Giftfluence

Recently Ryan Charnov and co-founder, Mohammad Abou-Awad launched a crowdfunding platform, Giftfluence, which enables charities to raise money through online activity. They have already signed up over 100 retailers to donate a portion of their online sales to charities and have established relationships with other strategic partners (coupon websites, gift cards and ticket exchanges). Their goal is to raise over $1 Million for charity by the end of 2016. Lofty? We didn’t think so. That is why we jumped at the chance to help this young and upcoming company realize their social call to action for charities from retailers via their website.

Here’s how it works: Giftfluence allows charities to create a fundraising page where users can learn about the organization. Each page has a shopping section that’s broken down by department–like apparel, electronics, food and beverage, etc.–where users are then taken to the specific retailer’s site. Once a user is directed to the New Balance website, for example, Giftfluence’s technology tracks that user’s purchase, and NB will send a commission to the Giftfluence, who then distributes it to the charity after taking a small percentage of the transaction for itself. Users can also give back by purchasing discounted gift cards, printing grocery coupons, and searching the internet. Giftfluence allows users to give traditional dollar-amount donations through its site as well. The percentage retailers give varies, but it’s usually between 2% and 7%. Co-Founder Ryan Charnov said that during the 3-6 month campaigns non-profits can expect to raise between $500 and $1,000.

We encourage you to go out to Giftfluence and learn more about their strong appeal.