How A New Crowdfunding Platform Garnered Overnight Success By Appealing To The Millennial Sensibility

Millennials are a largely untapped demographic for nonprofits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in today’s world. This generation is arguably the most tech-savvy and socially conscious of the generations, however, many current crowdfunding platforms are not engaging millennial and younger potential donors as much as they could. Enter Givebutter.While existing crowdfunding platforms all present a transactional experience, Givebutter presents donors with a personal touch that is currently not offered in this industry. Created by millennials for millenials, Givebutter is making headway in what many view to be an already dominated industry.Ari Krasner, Liran Cohen, and Max Friedman, undergraduate students attending The George Washington University (GWU), created this venture after realizing that young millennial donors were active in volunteering but produced a much lower representation when it came to donating online to a variety of causes.Now, you might ask, what is so special about this new start-up that had been built by a couple of roommates who have just entered adulthood? Well, six weeks since its inception, the Givebutter platform raised close to forty thousand dollars. The organization is currently working with, and are in discussion with several of the largest global organizations regarding assistance in running international fundraising efforts. These organizations include the International Federation of the Red Cross and United Way International.One unique quality that is not common in the crowdfunding platform industry is Givebutter’s intention to establish a strong presence on college campuses throughout the country. With this ‘brand ambassador program’ at a multitude of universities, Givebutter will be able to utilize the very demographic they aim to reach for marketing purposes. Additionally, they have now made their pricing transparent, explaining that the average campaign fee becomes around 1.5%, with the expectation that roughly 90% of donors cover the fee. This is subtracted from a ‘flat rate Givebutter fee’ of 5% and additional transaction fee.The different projects that have been, and are currently on Givebutter, serve as proof its power and effectiveness. For instance, a specific project aimed at raising money to bring a Kosher food truck to GWU, exceeded their goal essentially overnight, raising about sixteen thousand dollars in donations.When it came to transforming the idea of Givebutter into reality, Krasner commented that it was crucial to give social media and the spread of the messages of the campaigns proper attention. He and his co-founders decided to address this by “creating a truly engaging and fun platform that would encourage donors to tell their stories, and would allow them to be heard. We wanted to bring the beauty of offline giving back online.”Having only launched several months ago, this social venture has surpassed all expectations. Watch out, tech community…this millennial-led start-up is bound to revolutionize the crowdfunding industry.