Upon visiting Give Lively’s website, the message is clear; “We build better fundraising tech and give it away for free.” That’s quite the promise to live up to but Give Lively stands by it. In fact, the website also boasts that Give Lively will forever be free. A nonprofit organization interested in the software may wonder what the catch is. According to Media and Communications Manager, Molly Trerotola, there is no catch. Give Lively is fully philanthropist funded which allows the platform to be free for all 501(c)(3) nonprofits and charities in the United States. In Use:
Give Lively enables nonprofits to use the free online fundraising platform. According to Trerotola, Give Lively is “equipped with features such as unlimited fundraising pages, embeddable widgets, event ticketing and registration, peer-to-peer fundraising, text-to-donate with live display, video storytelling and more.” She also stressed that it is important to the philanthropists who fund Give Lively that nonprofit organizations have access to free technology they can utilize to meet their fundraising needs. The backers of Give Lively hope that with this software, nonprofits can overcome technological and monetary barriers that hold them back from reaching their goals.
One of the standout features of Give Lively is that donors can give in the moment through tools such as “Text-to-Donate” and “Peer-to-Peer” fundraising. If a nonprofit is hosting an event, potential donors can text a number and donate to the organization. Under Give Lively’s “Forever Free Pledge”, a charity can create unlimited unique text codes for their campaigns and events allowing them to track where each donation originated from.
An organization can also create a landing page on Give Lively to start a fundraising campaign. The landing page can be mobile-responsive and charities can customize and brand it. In fact, Trerotola stated mobile-responsiveness was a priority when first developing the technology. With more and more people opting to use their phones over a computer, it’s important now-a-days that websites are aesthetically pleasing when viewed on a mobile device.
A charity who already has a website can instead embed a widget on their established website that allows supporters the option to donate without leaving the organization’s website.
Technology Used:
Nonprofits who want to try the platform are able to sign up online and have their membership approved within 24 hours. Once approved they will have access to the Admin Portal where they can view and export donor data and get started on fundraising initiatives. Donors interested in giving, can make their donations through Apple wallet, fundraising pages, or text donations.
Once a charity has gained access they can use any aspect of Give Lively. They can opt to use one of the tools or all of them without any added fees.
Ease of Use:
With all technology there is a learning curve. A nonprofit can’t expect to sign up for a software and be an expert within hours. Give Lively understands this and assigns each nonprofit to an account manager to help answer any questions an organization might have. Organizations can also access the FAQ on Give Lively’s website for answers on how to get started as well as how to use all of the tools the platform offers.
Recap:
Give Lively is a fully philanthropist funded online fundraising platform that enables nonprofits to fundraise online for free. Trerotola adds, “They don’t charge for use of the technology and never take a cut of donations per their “Forever Free Pledge”. With capabilities such as Salesforce integration, event registration, and fundraising campaign pages; charities of all sizes, but especially those who might not have been able to afford to invest in technology, can use Give Lively for fundraising initiatives. Over the past few months Give Lively has continuously rolled out new tools for their organizations to utilize such as Peer-to-Peer fundraising in November and event ticketing in October.
Advantages:
Why pay money for an online fundraising platform when you can use Give Lively for free? Nonprofits should focus on helping their constituents and shouldn’t have to worry about how they are going to pay for software. Give Lively is a new software that began in 2017. Since it started they have added numerous tools that enable nonprofits to fundraise and spread their message in real time.
