This article was published on March 1, 2012

New social charity site Everyone Gives has raised nearly $500k in its first week


New social charity site Everyone Gives has raised nearly $500k in its first week

Online charitable donations are becoming commonplace with tools like Twitter and Facebook helping passionate individuals spread the word about their charity of choice. By being able to broadcast your passion for a deserving non-profit, tools to support that charitable giving are popping up left and right.

A new service called Everyone Gives invites you to create a “giving tree” which allows you to focus on a cause of your choosing and share it with your friends to get them to donate as well.

Since the site launched on February 22nd, over $490k has been pledged to 1,369 charities in 453 cities around the world. That’s an extremely impressive feat, and the site has some big names backing it. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has his own non-profit that is raising money using Everyone Gives, and is also asking others to get involved:

Measure your own impact

All you have to do to get started is create your own tree which serves as a “seed” for your fundraising campaign. You can then choose the charity that you’d like to benefit and then start sharing the tree on Facebook, Twitter, and anywhere else you can think of. Donations can be made directly through the site, which gives the money directly to the charity and takes no cut whatsoever. As your tree grows, you’ll be able to track how much money has been raised and who has participated:

The site also tracks global giving throughout the site, letting you know which cities getting charitable support by users of the site. Clicking around on the map to see the global impact of Everyone Gives is quite fascinating, and sheds light on which areas need more support than others:

You’ll notice that charities in 61 countries have already received donations thanks to people using Everyone Gives in just a week since its launch. It’s clear that the site has struck a nerve and rather than focusing on the singular nature of any one charity, Everyone Gives is shedding light on how huge a collective community’s footprint can become through giving just a few dollars.

When all is said and done, it doesn’t really matter how you choose to give to a charity, as long as you do. What Everyone Gives shows us is that sharing your passion about giving is almost as important as what you actually give to the charity.

Everyone Gives

Check out another donation platform called Givey that is also harnessing social media to raise money for charities that need it.

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