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Nick Summers
Nick Summers is a technology journalist for The Next Web. He writes on all sorts of topics, although he has a passion for gadgets, apps and Nick Summers is a technology journalist for The Next Web. He writes on all sorts of topics, although he has a passion for gadgets, apps and video games in particular. You can reach him on Twitter, circle him on Google+ and connect with him on LinkedIn.
Better The World, a provider of technology for fundraising and social responsibility programs, has announced the closure of a Series A funding round worth $2 million today. The opening round was led by iGan Partners, with participation from the MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF) and a group of private investors.
The investment will be used to develop FlipGive, the firm’s recently unveiled business-to-consumer digital marketing platform.
A beta version of FlipGive, which the company says “uses the power of people and community fundraising to guarantee sales, drive widespread social media promotion and create positive social impact for national retailers and consumer brands”, is set to launch in October.
Sam Ifergan, CEO of iGan Partners said:
“We fundamentally believe that FlipGive is a game-changer for retail and brand marketers. It’s a risk-free way for marketers to get guaranteed results and do good.”
FlipGive was created following the development of other social responsibility platforms tailored for specific companies such as TD Bank, Pearson Publishing and Candian book retailer Indigo.
Indigo has already signed on to use FlipGive for its Adopt a School 2012 program, which aims to give disadvantaged children in Canada access to more books in their school library. Take a look at the video below to see how it all works:
In this case parents, teachers and Indigo store staff can sell digital Indigo gift cards through any online social network using the FlipGive platform. Whenever a card is sold, it triggers a donation to their chosen school, indirectly driving traffic and customer interest towards Indigo.
Better the World has a pretty extensive team and set of partners, although the ones to watch out for are Chief Financial Officer Ken Rowbotham, Product Manager Nicholas Lee and Social Innovation Strategist Steve Croth.
We’ll no doubt hear about more FlipGive partnerships in the run-up to its beta launch later this year.
Image Source: BiblioArchives/LibraryArchives
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