Nonprofit fundraising teams often work with a handful of tools: a CRM, an email platform, maybe a team chat. One of the most common things we hear is how frustrating it is when those tools can't talk to each other. But with Every.org's Zapier integration, your donation data can sync automatically with all of them.

Zapier connects Every.org to over 7,000 apps without any coding. Anyone on your team can set it up, no developer needed, and no paid Zapier account required for most workflows. You configure it once, and it runs automatically in the background every time a donation is completed.

Which tools does Every.org integrate with?

Every.org connects to any app available in the Zapier directory. That includes most of the tools nonprofits already use:

• Donor CRMs: Bloomerang, Little Green Light, HubSpot, Salesforce
• Email marketing: Mailchimp, Constant Contact
• Team communication: Slack, Gmail, Microsoft Teams
• Productivity and automation: Google Sheets, Airtable, Notion, and thousands more

What you can do with it

Each workflow starts with the same trigger: a completed donation on Every.org. From there, you choose what happens next. Common setups include:

• Sync new donors to your CRM automatically, so your donor records are always up to date
• Add donors to your email lists the moment they give
• Notify your team via Slack or email when a donation comes in
• Trigger thank-you or stewardship workflows without any manual steps

Pre-built templates are available for the most common integrations (including Bloomerang, Little Green Light, Mailchimp, and Constant Contact) so you don't have to start from scratch. And because Zapier's free plan covers straightforward workflows, most nonprofits won't need a paid Zapier account to get started.

Getting started

If you're already on Every.org: Go to the Integrations tab in your admin dashboard, generate an API key, and connect it in Zapier. Our setup guide walks through each step.

If you haven't created your nonprofit profile yet: Every.org is free for nonprofits. Create your profile to get access to the Zapier integration and the rest of our fundraising tools.

Questions? Reach out at support@every.org.

The Every.org donate button gives your supporters a fast, simple way to give from your website, your emails, or anywhere you share a link. When someone clicks it, they're taken straight into Every.org's donation flow, where they can choose their payment method and complete their gift in just a few steps. Every.org provides a link you can place anywhere, as well as a button you can add to your website.

Every.org accepts a wide range of payment methods (card, bank, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, crypto, stock, mutual funds, DAF, and gift cards) so donors can give the way that works best for them. Every.org handles tax receipts automatically.

Here's a look at what the donate button does, how to set it up, and a few ways nonprofits are using it.

How to set it up

You don't need to know how to code. Every.org has a no-code button builder built into your nonprofit dashboard that walks you through everything.

From the button builder, you can:

• Set a fixed donation amount or let donors choose their own
• Set the donation frequency (fixed at one-time, monthly, yearly, or donor's choice)
• Set a minimum donation amount
• Add suggested donation amounts
• Add a designation label (e.g. "General Fund," "Scholarship Program")
• Match your nonprofit's brand colors
• Decide whether to collect donor contact information, and whether it's optional or required
• Choose which payment methods to offer (or offer all of them)

All of your settings are saved into the link the builder generates. If you want to change the configuration later, just use the builder to create a new button or link. You can also email the configuration to yourself or a colleague so you always have it on hand.

For teams that want more control, advanced customizations are available through the Every.org Charity API.

How nonprofits are using it

Here are a few common use cases worth knowing about.

An all-in-one giving button for your website

The simplest use case: one button on your website that opens the full donation flow. Donors choose how much to give, how often, and how they want to pay. Organizations like Project CETI use a simple, all-in-one donate button on their site to send supporters straight to the giving experience without any friction.

Highlighting specific payment methods

Many donors don't realize they can give crypto, stock, or through a donor-advised fund. Creating dedicated buttons or links for each payment method — and placing them prominently on your donate page — lets supporters know those options exist. 100 Humanitarians International does this well, surfacing separate giving pathways so donors see exactly what's available.

Memberships, sponsorships, and recurring giving

If your organization offers membership tiers, program sponsorships, or fixed recurring gifts, you can create separate buttons for each one. Set a fixed amount, lock the frequency to monthly or annual, and add a designation label to make it clear what the donation is for. For example: a "Family Membership" button set to $100/year, or a "Sponsor a Student" button set to $500 as a one-time gift.

Get started

One thing worth keeping in mind: the button itself won't do the work of getting it in front of people. Once it's set up, add it to your website, include it in your email newsletters, and share the link on social media. The more visible and accessible your giving pathway is, the more likely supporters are to use it.

Already have an Every.org nonprofit profile? Head to your dashboard, open the Donate Button tab, and use the button builder to create your first button or link. It takes just a few minutes.

New to Every.org? Create your nonprofit's profile for free and start accepting donations with support for more payment methods than almost any other platform.

Questions? Reach out at support@every.org.

Crypto donations are not just for major donors. They are for all donors, including everyday donors.

At Every.org, our goal is simple: make it easy for donors to give in whatever way they choose. That means supporting a wide range of payment methods — from credit cards and ACH to donor-advised funds, stock, PayPal, Venmo, and crypto. Because we process so many different kinds of gifts, we are in a unique position to observe how donors actually behave across these payment types.

When we first began processing crypto donations at Every.org in December 2020, we assumed crypto gifts would be rare, massive, and driven almost entirely by ultra-wealthy donors.

An analysis of five years of data on crypto donations on Every.org tells a different story — one that is far more nuanced and encouraging.

Since its inception, Every.org has processed 4,269 crypto donations totaling $66 million. These donations have come from 1,865 donors supporting 1,144 nonprofits. Growth has been dramatic, especially in the past two years.

In 2023, crypto giving dipped significantly during the bear market and post-FTX fallout. In 2024, it rebounded sharply as markets strengthened and institutional confidence returned. This kind of volatility is not unique to crypto philanthropy. It is consistent with all asset-based giving. Stock gifts fluctuate with markets. So does crypto.

The key for nonprofits is not to fear fluctuations, but to be ready for them. This is what we call infrastructure readiness.

The growth over time is impressive, but that wasn’t the most surprising part. Here’s the real question: if I asked you to guess the median size of these gifts, what would you say? $10,000? $100,000? Maybe even $1,000,000?

It’s $140.

Crypto philanthropy is not just billionaires making enormous gifts. It increasingly includes ordinary donors giving appreciated assets in the same way they might donate stock.

And that matters for nonprofits that still hesitate to add a crypto donate button.

Looking at the overall distribution, a small percentage of donations account for a large percentage of dollars — just as in every form of fundraising. Crypto follows the normal rules of giving; it doesn’t create new ones. In fact, 65% of crypto donations on our platform are under $1,000.

Nearly 45% of all crypto volume occurs in Q4, and December 31 alone accounts for 4.3% of all-time giving. In this way, crypto donations behave exactly like other non-cash assets, such as stock.

Not only are crypto donors more modest than many assume, but the nonprofits receiving these gifts are not just national brands. Many have budgets under $5 million. Crypto donors are supporting faith communities, animal welfare groups, global health organizations, local nonprofits — the full spectrum of mission-driven work.

Adding a crypto donate button is not a gamble; it is a practical step toward making sure your donors can give in the ways they prefer. It ensures that when a donor experiences a liquidity event, reviews year-end tax planning, or simply feels moved to give, your organization is ready.

And in a moment defined by urgent need and constant crises, making generosity easier is not optional. It is a responsibility.

Today we are releasing the Relational Fundraising Playbook with an accompanying article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

The playbook outlines a new approach to online fundraising that we call Relational Fundraising at Scale (more on this below). In essence, it aims to make every donor feel like a million bucks! You can download the full playbook for free below.

Nonprofit organizations regularly live with a high level of uncertainty and financial stress. However, nothing in the history of our civil society rivals this moment when federal grants are being frozen and canceled without warning. Thousands of nonprofit organizations are reeling from the loss of grant funds that were a fundamental part of their budgets. The Urban Institute estimates that 67% of nonprofits are at great financial risk with the loss of federal grants.

Many nonprofits will now turn to everyday donors, people giving less than $500, to try and make up for the shortfall. Asking a lot of people for money online is easy. However, doing it well to create a sustainable revenue stream isn’t. That is why we created this playbook.

This work is based on content we developed for a bootcamp we facilitated last summer with nine smaller organizations. We are grateful for the input, guidance and wisdom of Dana Britto, Beth Kanter and Rhea Wong for their contributions to this work. We are also appreciative of the Fidelity Charitable Catalyst Fund’s support of this work.

Relational fundraising is an opportunity to be in conversation with donors and treat every donor as an individual with their own unique strengths, gifts, social networks and, of course, financial capital to contribute. It is only possible at scale because of digital tech to segment donors but also the smart, responsible and strategic use of AI to customize stories and messages.

The playbook provides concrete ideas for beginning to become more relational with your donors. Some of the ideas, like creating a campaign specifically aimed at asking donors to become monthly donors, you can implement today on Every.org. Others, like using AI to help segment your donor lists, require outside help.

You can use your Every.org account to create campaigns on our platform, focus on gaining more monthly donors, and have your ambassadors create their own campaigns on your behalf today. And we are building more functionality on the Every.org platform to help you become better storytellers and create matching campaigns instantly. We will keep you informed when we have new features.

Relational fundraising takes time to do well. Time talking to donors. Asking them how they feel and what they want. Time crafting great stories to tell (with which generative AI can help.) Time that will feel better doing things that are more aligned with your organization’s values. However, getting off the hamster wheel, focusing on storytelling rather than constantly asking for donations and learning to use AI well will free up time to be in conversation with current and potential donors.

Yes, you will need to prospect for new donors, and yes, you will need to ask for donations, but this approach will get you off the frantic, hamster wheel of transactional fundraising and save you money by reducing the number of mailings and emails you send. The ultimate goal is to enable you to connect on a more human level with your donors in order to increase your donor retention rates.

Thank you for everything you are doing to make the world safer, healthier, and more joyful. Please email me at allison@every.org if you have any questions.

Best,
Allison

(This blog first appeared as part of the Fidelity Charitable series Transforming Philanthropy: Harnessing AI for the greater good.)

Death and taxes are the only assured things in life, the old adage goes. I would like to add time to that list as well. We can make time appear to go faster, keeping busy instead of watching a pot boil, or slower, staying present in pressure-filled situations, but we can’t actually make more of it.

Talk to nonprofit staff members of any size organization and the one constant refrain you will hear is that they don’t have enough time to do all the work. The world is coming at us at a thousand miles per hour, they say, and we are playing a continual game of whack-a-mole just to keep up. This contributes to the sky-high burnout rate of nonprofit executives who do their real work—strategizing, thinking, and planning, not just batting back emails—late at night and on weekends.

The last chapters in digital technology brought us email and social media. These have made the wheels of organizations spin faster, and louder and more publicly. All of this speed and activity has created even longer to-do lists. There are more questions from the public to answer. More files and data on shared drives to store and find. More reports to create. More content to create. It has been estimated that staff members can spend up to two full days every week of their time on administrative tasks.

What if there was a technology that could do most of that work for you? There is, artificial intelligence (AI).

Right now, AI is best at doing time-consuming administrative tasks. A chatbot can answer the same questions that get asked every day (“Is our donation tax-deductible?”) Generative AI tools like ChatGPT can craft the first draft of social media content and other communications. AI built into HR software can do the first pass at screening resumes. An AI assistant like Microsoft Copilot can find information stored on a shared drive.

Of course, integrating AI into organizational systems and processes needs to be done responsibly and ethically. It is important to ask and answer questions like these: What does it mean when first conversations are with chatbots instead of people? How do we make sure that people always check communications before they go out into the world? How can we mitigate the bias built into software to make sure that we aren’t screening out resumes from women and people of color?

Using AI to do these tasks is not the real return on investment, however. Using AI strategically and well creates something organizations have never created before: free time. This isn’t more time—there are still only 24 hours in a day—but time freed up from administrative tasks. This is the “dividend of time”—time to do something different, something better, time to do things that only people can do well.

Time to fix the leaky bucket problem.

Sixty years ago, companies selling magazine subscriptions and catalogs created direct mail fundraising. They created enormous lists of potential donors, mailed them solicitations, and expected, or hoped for, a 3% response or so. This was expensive, but don’t worry, these companies said, these donors have a high lifetime value and will be with you for years.

The reality is that donors do not stay with organizations for years. Many studies have shown that nearly 80% of them give one gift and leave. Organizations lose money on the original acquisition mailing (or emailing or texting) and then lose money every year after. This is the leaky bucket. In a panic, organizations do this year after year to try to keep the bucket somewhat filled. Rinse and repeat, in an annual cycle of desperation.

The panic makes transactional fundraising seem necessary and justified as even more appeals get sent to donors in a “spray and pray” approach. It contributes to the burnout rates of nonprofit staffs. It also is hated by donors. So far in this century, 20% fewer people give to an organization than in the year 2000.

Transactional fundraising is a choice, not a necessity.

There is an alternative: relational fundraising at scale that will make every donor feel like a million bucks. We are beginning to pioneer this next chapter in fundraising at Every.org with the aim of ensuring that each donor feels great about and is well-thanked for their contribution, wants to tell their friends about their contribution and the organization, and, most importantly, wants to give again.

Here are the steps to getting started:

1. Use your dividend of time with intention.
This gift of time should not be squandered doing the same tasks as before. Organizational leaders need to be intentional about what new kinds of activities can be prioritized to increase the donor retention rate.

2. Customize stories and thank-you messages.
Stories about an organization’s impact can be customized to individual donors based on their past activities and preferences. The American Cancer Society used AI to determine the best ways to communicate with donors for the channel and messages. The result was an astounding 400% increase in the donor conversation rates.

3. Pick up the phone.
Using AI to handle administrative tasks enables us to be more human than ever before. We can spend more time asking donors why this cause is important to them. More time asking for advice and input (that is actually used instead of being window dressing). More time building community.

Getting off the hamster wheel of transactional fundraising is a leadership challenge, not a technical challenge. The dividend of time can be used to reduce the sense of loneliness and disconnection that so many people feel. When used carefully and thoughtfully, the highest purpose of AI is to help us become more–not less‒human.

Part 1: Basics and Overview
Part 2: Risks and Considerations
Part 3: Best Ways to Accept Donations

There are many ways for your 501(c)(3) nonprofit to accept cryptocurrency depending on the level of control and the features you need. Directly accepting cryptocurrency into your own wallet will require your organization to manage the transaction history, create your own checkout flow, transfer to brokerage to sell for cash, and take extra care around security.

Platforms like Every.org, The Giving Block, and Engiven make it easy for nonprofits to accept top cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), convert to cash, and issue receipts. We will cover the differences between these platforms in this article so that you can make the best decision for your organization.

Now let's get into the details of each platform and review the defining features.

• Defining feature: As a nonprofit, no platform fees and handles accounting/legal risk. Set up in seconds for over 1M+ nonprofits.
• Pricing: No set-up or platform fees. Third party brokerage fee of 1%.
• Example: https://every.org/givedirectly/donate/crypto
• Recommended for: Nonprofits that want to get started quickly and easily without investing a ton of time and money.

The main difference from Every.org and other options is that as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Every.org handles accounting and legal concerns of accepting crypto donations. The donations are made to Every.org which in turn grants nonprofits in cash, similar to a DAF. Nonprofits never take custody of the crypto and only has to interact with cash.

The Giving Block, Engiven, and other for-profit options are a payments processor that handle the technical challenges but the nonprofit will be taking on the risks involved. They also allow the nonprofit to have their own wallet to hold crypto over the longterm, which Every.org does not provide.

Over 1 million nonprofits are already crypto-enabled and can generate a free and easily embeddable button or link in seconds here by disbursing through our partner, Network for Good or learn more at every.org/crypto.

• Defining feature: Ability to embed the full donation widget on your site and educational resources.
• Pricing: Undisclosed, anecdotally includes set-up fees and transaction fees that may vary depending on your organization.
• Example: https://www.thegivingblock.com/donate/Save-The-Children
• Recommended for: Nonprofits that want a more guided, in-depth experience to accepting cryptocurrency donations and building a community around crypto donors.

Launched in 2018, The Giving Block is the most established platform that helps nonprofits accept cryptocurrency. In addition to the technical solutions available, they invest in their educational content to promote crypto donation awareness in the nonprofit sector, such as uniting partners for a #BitcoinTuesday fundraising day. They have a rich library of webinars and documentation for nonprofits wishing to accept crypto donations.

• Defining feature: Ability to add multiple program designations and most currencies supported out of the box.
• Pricing: 3% flat rate fee. No set-up fees.
• Example: https://platform.engiven.com/give/107/widget/64
• Recommended for: Nonprofits who want to offer donors the choice to select which programs the donation should go to.

Engiven allows a drop-down box that allows donors to specify which program they want their donation to go to. The donation pages come equipped with a thorough FAQ for curious donors. Their featured nonprofits consist mainly of faith-based organizations, so the network may be of interest to aligned organizations.

Other Options

Behind the scenes, all of these platforms use a cryptocurrency brokerage or exchange like Coinbase Commerce or Gemini. Technically savvy nonprofits may consider building their own donation widget using these services.

Coinbase Commerce especially makes it easy for nonprofits to get started with a widget of their own (see The Life You Can Save for example), but will not include additional services like donor support, conversion to cash, or automated receipts.

Many DAFs accept cryptocurrency now, so your donors may already be equipped to donate cryptocurrency through their DAFs.

Conclusion

There are many ways to accept cryptocurrency donations, and the choice between the options depends on the level of involvement and control your organization wants to have around the cryptocurrency.

For over 1 million 501(c)(3) nonprofits, you may already be able to receive support in cryptocurrency without additional legal/accounting burdens using Every.org. To get started in seconds or schedule a demo, check out https://www.every.org/crypto or get in touch with us by emailing nonprofits@every.org.

← Prev: Risks and Considerations

Disclaimer: These posts are for informational purposes only and not intended as legal or financial advice. Please consult a professional (accountant, attorney, tax advisor) for the latest and most accurate information. We make no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or timeliness of the information contained herein.

Introduction

Myriad USA is a 501(c)(3) public charity and fiscal sponsor dedicated to promoting effective gift-making and philanthropy overseas. As part of its mission, it provides core services to more than 1,200 nonprofits in Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and beyond including helping these partners raise money from supporters in the United States. We chatted with COO, Ellena Fotinatos, about the organization’s journey and how switching to Every.org as its primary fundraising platform last year has helped it streamline operations and better serve its extensive global network.

The Challenge

Myriad USA knew a change was needed. Their fundraising platform was fine but hadn’t changed with the times. "It was the same one we had onboarded with ten years prior, and in ten years, it hadn't changed. It hadn't improved or offered more solutions," says Fotinatos. Payouts were infrequent. Partners had begun to abandon the fundraising platform and seek out alternatives. Costs increased, technology support was scattered in multiple directions, and Myriad USA’s staff was faced with an administrative headache.

The Solution

Fortunately, Myriad USA discovered Every.org through a partner organization that was using the platform to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency donations. Impressed by the initial experience, Myriad USA expanded its use of Every.org to include credit card donations. It wasn’t long before the organization decided to migrate over 1,200 of its projects to the platform. Fotinatos says that Every.org's customer service and the seamless integration process were critical factors in their decision to adopt the platform entirely. She loves the flexibility of Every.org, which allows each Myriad USA partner to manage its online profile page, have a hosted dedicated donation page of its own, create fundraising campaigns in minutes, and access real-time donation data, all of which enhance their fundraising efforts.

Implementation and Onboarding

Fotinatos describes Myriad USA’s transition to Every.org as remarkably smooth. She highlighted the ease of onboarding and the platform's ability to mirror existing systems, which allowed partners to update their pages without starting from scratch. "It was so smooth. We really appreciated how much Every.org supported us and could mirror what we already had in place." This migration process saved their team considerable time and effort, making what would have been an impossible lift an efficient and stress-free process.

Connecting International Partners With U.S. Donors

One of the standout features of Every.org for Myriad USA has been its flexibility in catering to both large and small partner organizations. "We have partners using Every.org to get one or two donations a year because they're focused on larger donations…But we also have folks for whom their Every.org profile effectively serves as their U.S. website, and they've built it out," she explains. This flexibility is crucial for smaller international organizations, and it allows them to connect with U.S. donors more easily. "They love that they can control their Every.org profile URL. That's so important when it comes to communications," Fotinatos adds.

Safer, More Efficient Transactions

While Myriad USA's largest donations still come through traditional methods like wire transfers and checks, the platform has significantly increased the volume of smaller credit card and ACH donations. This shift has been particularly beneficial given the rise in check fraud, making digital transactions a safer and more efficient option. "We've noticed a higher volume of credit card and ACH donations, as many everyday donors are now giving through Every.org," Fotinatos shared.

“10 out of 10” for Customer Support

Fotinatos praised Every.org for its exceptional customer service, rating it a “10 out of 10” for availability and helpfulness.

“I've worked with many other platforms, and I truly appreciate your responsiveness and the direct access our partners have to your Support team. It takes the pressure off of us as a fiscal sponsor to have a direct line to solve any challenges swiftly.”

Impact and Results

For Myriad USA, the partnership with Every.org has provided substantial qualitative returns. In just two years, Every.org has platformed 1,200 of Myriad USA’s fiscally sponsored partners and has facilitated more than $5M in donations. The platform's ease of use, cost efficiency, and ability to offer innovative solutions at a fair price have strengthened Myriad USA's ability to serve its partners effectively. This has, in turn, allowed the organization to keep its fiscal sponsor fee structure low and focus on its mission. "Every.org is a wonderful solution. Our partners are happy. It's easy and cost-efficient.”

Conclusion

Myriad USA's partnership with Every.org has been transformative, enabling the organization to offer robust, flexible solutions to its partners while streamlining its operations. Fotinatos highlighted how Every.org's continuous improvement has been a significant advantage: “The way that Every.org is continuously improving is something we truly appreciate."

With a shared commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction, Myriad USA and Every.org expect to make an even more significant impact in global philanthropy in the years to come.

Hi, I hope you are enjoying the first notes of autumn. As we move toward the giving season, we thought it was time for an update on what’s been happening at Every.org.

The short version of our progress is “Wow!” but here is a longer version:

Growth. We are growing at an incredible pace. Our key performance indicators for 2024 year-to-date are up by 80% or more compared to the same time period in 2023. Here’s a quick snapshot:

• Total donated: $18.4M (+91% YoY)
• Active nonprofits: 1,212 (+81% YoY)
• Active donors: 17,323 (+107% YoY)
• Micro-donations (tips) to Every.org: $157K (+164% YoY)

Micro-donations are essential to keeping our platform free, so we’re encouraged by recent product improvements that are increasing these contributions.

Partnering for change on Give to Women and Girls Day. We have been selected as the official giving platform for Give to Women and Girls Day on October 11, 2024. Hosted by Amplify Her Charitable Foundation and the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, with partners including Pivotal, The Asia Foundation, the National Women’s Hall of Fame, and Giving Tuesday, this day aims to galvanize awareness and funding to offset the inequity that only 2% of all philanthropic funding goes to support women and girls. We’re honored to play a role in closing this gap and anticipate helping to raise millions of dollars for this cause.

Welcoming fiscally sponsored projects. Every.org is the first online giving platform to take a strategic approach to onboarding fiscally sponsored projects, helping them overcome unique challenges they face in gaining visibility and funding. Fiscally sponsored projects use the tax ID number of their sponsors, which has made it difficult for them to be found on giving platforms like ours and Charity Navigator or through a donor-advised fund. With support from the Gates Foundation and Fidelity Charitable Catalyst Fund, we’re making it easier to find and give to these projects. We started by bringing Myriad USA and its projects onto our platform, and we are currently onboarding fiscally sponsored projects of the Tides Center.

Relational fundraising bootcamp. We recently wrapped up a quick training effort with nine smaller nonprofits to help them increase their donor retention rates by creating opportunities for them to get to know their donors better. We have been working with renowned experts Beth Kanter and Rhea Wong to teach and support organizations as they move away from transactional fundraising practices (“chip in $5 today or the sky will fall!”) to more relational practices such as asking donors how giving to their organizations made them feel. We don’t just mean taking a large donor out for lunch; we want organizations to do this at scale so that every donor feels like a million bucks! This is possible with a shift in mindset, a good plan, and the smart use of artificial intelligence (AI). We will share reflections on this bootcamp later this fall.

Innovating with artificial intelligence. Speaking of AI, we have very exciting plans to use AI to increase the “stickiness” of our site for donors. This means making donors feel thanked and appreciated for their donations through storytelling and timely updates that encourage them to give again. Curious about our plans? We’ve got a great deck outlining exactly how we will do this. We’d be happy to share it with you! Just ask.

Finally, a reminder of why we do this work. LifeStraw Safe Water Fund is a B corporation that sells innovative products to turn any kind of water into drinking water. They have added our donate button to their website. When you click on the button, you go to their page on Every.org.

LifeStraw won’t be the largest fundraiser on our site, but they are incredibly important to us. We are values-aligned with them in wanting to use technology to make the world safer, healthier, and more equitable.

We are sometimes asked why we’re a nonprofit organization. There are companies that do this work. Why don’t we just make some money for ourselves? LifeStraw is why, and so are Black Sisters in STEM and Washington Heights Community Choir. These organizations might not have the name recognition or budget of larger nonprofits, but making fundraising easier and less expensive for them is why Every.org exists.

Thank you for your interest in Every.org and your support and enthusiasm for our work. I invite you to reach out with questions or to learn more about what’s next for Every.org. Drop me a note at allison@every.org.

Onwards!

— Allison

I recently sat down with my friend Rhea Wong to discuss the future of fundraising on her excellent podcast, Nonprofit Lowdown. We dug into how and why the current system of fundraising is broken and where we go from here. Go ahead and take a listen to our full conversation here.

Here are a few highlights of our discussion.

The Problem with Transactional Fundraising
For decades the nonprofit sector has been devoted to a transactional model of fundraising. You know exactly what this system looks and feels like: the constant barrage of email and direct mail requests that make donors feel unseen and unheard. And you can also feel the results: high donor fatigue and even higher staff burnout. A system created aiming for a 3% response rate is fundamentally broken.

The system was created decades ago to sell magazines and catalogs. It morphed into direct mail fundraising and later email fundraising. It’s a constant, spinning hamster wheel that orgs jump on because, well, everyone else is on it.

But that’s just the beginning of the problem.

The Leaky Bucket
Lots and lots of new donors need to be added to the donation hamster wheel because very few of them make a second donation (even though the system was created to live off of those renewals.) The reality is that orgs lose money on acquisition, and then lose over 75% of those new donors before Year 2. So, what's the response? Do it all over again. Orgs are caught in this cycle of very expensive acquisition with no longevity of these donors. This is the leaky bucket.

The leaky bucket, and resulting internal panic, is exhausting for development staff who have extraordinarily high burnout rates.

Embracing AI to Humanize Fundraising
Rhea says on the podcast, “Let the robots be robots. Let the humans be humans.” I couldn’t agree more! I am inspired every day here at Every.org by the ways advanced technology is transforming fundraising and engagement with donors.

AI should take over the administrative heavy lifting, giving us the chance to focus on what's truly important, connecting with our supporters. By automating the mundane, we can dedicate more time to understanding our donors' needs and values, which is crucial for long-lasting relationships. Can you imagine freeing up 10-20 hours a week? This new time, the dividend of time, can now be spent picking up the phone, going out to lunch, talking to donors, and getting to know them. Hearing them tell their stories. Now we’re talking! Literally. That gives us a much better chance of increasing donor retention rates.

How to Experiment With Relational Fundraising
It’s hard to pivot from being transactional to relational in your fundraising. And it won’t happen overnight. So start small. Here are three ways to begin:

1. Community-Building Events: These are small-scale, informal gatherings like coffee meetups for donors within the same zip code. These are not fundraising events but rather opportunities for donors to connect over shared interests, strengthening community ties and fostering a sense of belonging.
2. Storytelling and Feedback Sessions: We all need to leverage our digital platforms to share more personal, impact-focused stories from our community and invite donors to share their feedback. This two-way communication not only informs our strategies but also makes our donors feel valued and heard.
3. Donor Empowerment Projects: By inviting donors to engage directly in problem-solving sessions, organizations can transform them from passive contributors to active participants. Why not ask donors to offer insights and solutions, deepening their investment in our work and our mission?

A Vision for the Future of Fundraising
Speaking with Rhea reaffirmed my belief that the future of nonprofit fundraising lies in our ability to be more human-centered. By leveraging technology wisely and prioritizing ethical practices, we can transform the way we engage with our supporters and, ultimately, how we achieve our missions.

It’s time to get off the hamster wheel! Let me know what you think of the podcast.

We are opening applications today for a free training/education effort to help your organization increase its donor retention rates.

Most nonprofits are in a constant race to find new donors because fewer than 25% of all donors give to an organization a second time. If you could increase that retention rate to, say, 30% (or even more!) then so many things become possible and easier for your organization.

We believe you can do that by pivoting away from traditional transactional fundraising (e.g. asking for donations in every communication) and developing real, meaningful relationships with donors at every level of giving.

We get that this may sound impossible. You don’t have any time to spare now. How are you going to build relationships with donors giving $25? That’s where our bootcamp comes in! It begins by debunking the conventional wisdom around fundraising, including the way your board measures results. And it includes the use of AI to free up time for you and your team to actually talk to donors and get to know them.

Applications are now being accepted for the summer cohort, which will include up to ten small nonprofit organizations. Interested nonprofits should apply here by June 12, 2024.

Organizations selected for this cohort will be open to experimentation within their organizations and with us (we are piloting this effort for the first time). If you’re curious about what is possible when donors are no longer seen as ATM machines but as real, interesting, whole individuals, please learn more and apply below.

This program is for you if:

• You would like to spend less time constantly asking for donations and more time getting to know your donors and raising more money.
• You are ready to rethink your donor retention strategies, particularly for low-dollar (below $1,000) online fundraising.  
• You are wondering how AI and data can be used to make your organization more human (really, it can!).
• You are open to ideas like your donors getting to know one another rather than just being connected to your organization.
• You want to contribute to an active learning environment around online fundraising with peer organizations.

In particular, this program will help organizations:

• Better understand why current fundraising practices and norms are often counterproductive or even flat-out wrong.
• Build an understanding of what a deeply relational approach to fundraising looks like when instituted.
• Gain a greater understanding of the capabilities and risks tied to generative AI for productivity in the context of fundraising and how it can be used as a tool to facilitate more human-centered fundraising.

Program Components and Timeline
The bootcamp will consist of four 90-minute virtual workshop sessions over a 3-month period between July and September 2024. Your team must participate in all of these workshops:

• Aligning Values With Online Fundraising
  Thursday, 7/18/24   11:00 am - 12:30 pm PDT
• Defining & Operationalizing Relational Fundraising
  Thursday, 8/8/24    11:00 am - 12:30 pm PDT
• Understanding & Applying AI to Advancing Relational Approaches
  Thursday, 8/29/24  11:00 am - 12:30 pm PDT
• Sharing Your Experiments and Learnings
  Thursday, 9/19/24   11:00 am - 12:30 pm PDT

In addition to the workshops, each participating organization will have access to up to 4 hours of coaching to apply workshop content and craft experiments to test more relational approaches to fundraising.

Meet the Facilitators

Program Eligibility
This program is specifically designed for organizations who fit the following criteria:

• Are US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
• Have an operating budget between $1 and $5 million
• Have an operating history of less than 10 years
• Have a strategic focus on maintaining and/or building a larger, more sustainable individual donor base
• Are considering or are in the process of executing an individual donor campaign
• Have struggled to maintain and/or increase their donor retention rate

Expectations for Participation
To participate in this program, organizations will be expected to:

• Complete this short online application by June 12, 2024.
• Be willing to participate in a short interview (~30 minutes) between June 5th and 21st.
• Have at least 2-3 members of your organization attend every virtual workshop. Ideally, we hope your team includes your Executive Director, staff fundraising lead, and one Board member.
• Be willing to implement small experiments within your organization aimed at reducing administrative overload and reorienting your fundraising efforts from transactional to relational approaches.
  

Stipend
Assuming participants meet these expectations, each participating organization will receive a stipend of $2,000 total, with $1,000 paid after being selected for the program and the remaining $1,000 paid after completing the program.

How to Apply
If your nonprofit would like to participate in the summer bootcamp, please complete this short online application. Our hope is that this process will take you no longer than 15 minutes to complete. Applications are due by June 12, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. PDT. Organizations selected to participate in the summer cohort will be notified in late June.

About Us
Every.org is a tech nonprofit whose mission is to help nonprofits raise more money and strengthen their relationships with donors in order to create lasting change. Our platform makes modern fundraising accessible to every nonprofit, and online giving meaningful for every donor. Since 2020, we have facilitated $55 million in donations to more than 5,500 nonprofits.

Thank you to the Fidelity Charitable® Catalyst Fund
This program is made possible thanks to financial support from the Fidelity Charitable® Catalyst Fund, which provides grants to intermediaries like Every.org to help open more doors for small to midsize nonprofits, connect them to more philanthropic training and resources, and provide more collaborative spaces for nonprofits so they may learn from each other. The Catalyst Fund is led by the Fidelity Charitable board of trustees and is a separate program from Fidelity Charitable’s donor-advised fund work.

Have questions?
Please contact Dana Britto at dbritto@cultivarconsulting.com.

We know the holiday season is filled with joy and social gatherings and, sure, a bit of booze. It’s also filled with gifts and we have a wonderful one for nonprofits and gift givers to share. Our Every.org gift cards (https://www.every.org/gift-cards) are available to spread generosity during the holiday season (actually, during any season!)

Here’s how it works:

1. Choose the value of each card and the number of cards to purchase
2. Click Next to make a donation for the total value to Every.org.
3. Share your gift card with family, friends, and colleagues. They'll be able to redeem those cards for Every.org credit that they can use to support their favorite nonprofits.

Simple, right?  There are over a million nonprofits and dozens of causes a gift card holder can choose to donate to from our site.

If you raise money for a nonprofit, we encourage you to tell your supporters about our gift cards and encourage them to help spread the word and use them as gifts to their friends.

If you are a donor, consider giving Every.org gift cards to your friends and family as holiday gifts. It’s a perfect gift for your neighbor who watched your cat when you were away in August. Or for the fourth night of Hanukkah and your whole family can discuss what causes you want to support. Of course, Every.org gift cards aren’t just for use during the holiday season, but you can make this holiday season incredibly meaningful by providing the people you care about an opportunity to support the causes and organization’s they love.

One more thing: as we enter this holiday season, we want to thank all of you for the work you do to make the world a better place, for your generosity, for your willingness to share your causes and encourage others to give as well.

This work would not have been possible without a generous grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We would like to extend special thanks to Sophie Snowden for continued advice and support in building and testing this giving infrastructure, as well as the Better Giving Studio teams for facilitating initial work on the Giving Commons concept. We also would like to thank our team members who worked to bring this project to life, including Rahul Gupta-Iwasaki, Dave Sharp, Santiago Hernandez and P22 Studio.

Introduction

As the world moves online and the face of wealth gets younger and younger, philanthropic behaviors are shifting. Today’s donors expect a streamlined, high-touch interface that rivals their favorite consumer brands’ digital user experience, which places a new generation of tech-savvy donors at odds with an antiquated giving industry.

Innovative solutions to our most pressing problems exist within the nonprofit sector, but they are often under-resourced. Increasingly, nonprofits struggle to keep pace with the private sector’s renewed emphasis on customer experience. Furthermore, while focusing on their mission, many nonprofits aren’t able to experiment, run tests, analyze data, and ultimately raise money efficiently from today’s donors.

This means that nonprofit executives are caught in an unending feedback loop where they have to spend more time and more money acquiring new donors, and less time on programmatic outcomes. This, in turn, reduces the organization’s overall ability to achieve impact, making gift renewals from difficult-to-find existing donors even harder to come by. It’s a flywheel that’s rotating in the wrong direction.

Countering this trend will require innovative new giving experiences that meet donors where they are, that speak to the new ways in which people learn, consume, and relate to each other and the organizations they care about.

The problem is that there’s a high barrier to entry for people and organizations that do want to build digital giving experiences. Especially at the startup stage, access to data and the cost and complexity of implementing new ideas and complying with regulatory requirements around giving can be prohibitive, stopping people from ever even trying to create something new and stifling innovation.

Every.org experienced this problem firsthand - while we started building the platform in the early months of 2019, it took our team of 4 engineers over 6 months of work tying together various data sources, building integrations, and understanding the regulations before we could accept a single donation.

And, this was the problem that Every.org and several other players in the philanthropic space sought to answer when we met at a brainstorming workshop led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Better Giving Studio in mid 2021.

After several days of sharing our experiences, our working group came to the conclusion that we needed a shared infrastructure to create a common and openly accessible layer for giving - what we called the Giving Commons. Rather than every new giving product having to reinvent the wheel and build the same giving infrastructure as everyone else before even beginning to implement their unique idea, we could create shared infrastructure to reduce the cost to startup and help nurture more innovation.

As a not-for-profit whose mission is building accessible giving infrastructure, Every.org wanted to explore this concept of the Giving Commons further. Over the last 12 months and with the generous support of the Gates Foundation, Every.org has been working on building an open toolkit of embeddable components and API endpoints to make giving easier. We call this toolkit the Every.org Charity API. In the rest of this post, I’d like to share more about the API itself, exciting projects that people have been able to build, and key learnings for giving infrastructure going forward.

The Every.org Charity API

For this pilot of the Every.org Charity API, we decided to focus on facilitating 3 core actions in the giving loop:

1. Search for a nonprofit to support
2. Learn more about a given nonprofit
3. Easily and simply donate to a nonprofit

We felt that these actions are essential to most giving flows, and together they form a versatile core that can be easily remixed into new giving experiences without being overly prescriptive on what those experiences could look like.

These actions were enabled by open-source embeddable components as well as API endpoints all powered by Every.org’s existing infrastructure and data. We provided access to both the components and the endpoints for free to reduce the barrier to using them as much as possible.

All together, the elements of the toolkit were:

• Easy-to-use donation links and buttons and a webhook to share donation information
• API endpoints to search, browse, and learn more about nonprofits
• A documentation website
• A self-serve dashboard for provisioning API keys
• A donation disbursement service

Easy-to-use donation links and embeddable buttons

To help people building new giving experiences enable their users to easily give to a nonprofit, we built donation links and embeddable buttons that let those partners take advantage of the donation flow that we’d already built for the Every.org website. First, we shipped an update to the donation flow that let partners create custom links to shape the donation experience. Parameters like amount, first_name, and email let API users pre-populate information about the donation or donor that they might have already collected in their own app, while parameters like success_url let them redirect the donor back to their own app after completing the donation.

Then, we created an open source donate button which paired the customizability of the donate link with a pre-styled donation button that API users could embed directly into their websites.

The link provides flexibility for more advanced users in terms of where and how a donation call-to-action appears, while the embeddable button lets users create a good looking and branded button as simply as copy-pasting some text.

We also released a webhook which notifies API partners whenever their users create a donation, closing the loop to enable them to use information about completed donations in their own apps.

API Endpoints

In order for API partners to help their users figure out where to give, we built nonprofit search, browse, and “learn more” API endpoints.

For those unfamiliar with API endpoints - they are the building blocks via which digital products communicate with each other, and our API endpoints enabled API users to ask questions of Every.org’s extensive nonprofit dataset, rather than having to do the work to create one themselves.

The search endpoint uses machine learning to return the most relevant results to an API partner based upon the query they provided.

The browse endpoint lets API partners surface relevant nonprofits based upon Every.org’s nonprofit categories which include both more general buckets like “Health”, “Education”, and the “Environment” to more specific interests like “Women-led” nonprofits or those focused on “Disease Prevention”.

Finally, the “learn more” endpoint gives API partners access to more in-depth information about a given nonprofit, including a longer description and logo and cover photos.

Documentation

To reduce the friction for developers as they built on top of the API and enable us to support more API partners, we launched a website for our API documentation which made information on using the API freely and easily accessible. And, as the documentation is itself open-source, API users can themselves submit feedback and improvements to better the service for all users.

Self-serve dashboard

Also in the vein of reducing friction for developers - to enable them to start using the API without needing to email or otherwise interact with us, we launched a self-service portal to provision API keys (the passwords that enable access to API services).

In the first roughly 9 months of the project during which API partners had to email us to request an API key, we granted 39 keys, while in the 2 months since launching the self-serve dashboard, we granted another 35 keys. The doubling of the pace of new keys without any new marketing around the API shows the power of simply reducing the friction to get started.

Disbursements-as-a-service

The final element of the Charity API that we built was disbursements as a service. It wasn’t initially planned as part of the pilot - rather, it came in response to requests from early API partners that we help them disburse donations they’d collected to nonprofits. Instead of facilitating the donations through the every.org-built donation flow (which the donation button and link do), they wanted to only process and disburse the donations through Every.org on the backend so that they could fully control the frontend that their users experienced.

Given the complexities around processing disbursements for third parties, disbursements is the only part of the API that we haven’t made openly-available yet - those who want to use the service need to contact us at partners@every.org. However, even with limited access, the disbursements feature has facilitated roughly 1 million dollars in donations.

What they built

When we first proposed running this pilot in late 2021, our goal was to test the toolkit with three integration partners raising at least $500,000. Since then, we’ve had 60 API partners request 74 api keys and raise over $2 million. API users ranged from individuals looking to build a personal project, to researchers who wanted to build real giving apps to test their hypothesis, to startups looking for a way to launch and iterate quickly, to some of the biggest players in philanthropy looking for help prototyping new features. Here are some of the highlights:

Giving Multiplier

GivingMultiplier was the first external partner to use Every.org’s giving infrastructure - starting even before we began the Charity API pilot. Indeed, much of Every.org’s work during the Charity API pilot was transforming the infrastructure that we’d built for GivingMultiplier from a one-off integration into components and services that could be easily be used by and scale to many others.

Led by Dr. Lucius Caviola and Professor Josh Green of Harvard University, GivingMultiplier was looking for “ways to help people get more effective at their altruistic efforts” and found promise in the idea of “donation bundling” - i.e. letting donors pair a donation to one of their favorite nonprofits with a donation to a select group of highly effective nonprofits as judged by independent charity evaluators.

Noted Dr. Caviola, “We didn't just want to write a paper… we also wanted to do something that's actually practically useful,” so they approached Every.org for help providing the infrastructure to enable their donation bundling concept. Using Every.org’s infrastructure, they were able to:

1. Let donors search for and select a favorite nonprofit
2. Make a tax-deductible donation
3. Split that donation between their favorite nonprofit and their selected effective organization
4. And collect donations statistics for their research on the efficacy of the intervention.

Since launching with Every.org in September of 2020, GivingMultiplier has raised over $1.8 million for charity from over 4,600 donors, including over $1 million since the start of the API pilot in October 2021.

Said Dr Caviola about partnering to use Every.org’s API:

We almost couldn't believe our luck. It was the perfect partnership for us. What we needed was the ability for our users to select the charity of their choice and then donate to it. We needed a partner to help us do this. After all, we are not an official non-profit organization but just two academics working at Harvard. Every.org offered exactly the functionalities that we needed. Another advantage is that Every.org deals with the logistical and financial side of donation processing. This also includes handling the receipts and tax deductibility of donations, etc. We wouldn't have been able to do this ourselves. So it's fair to say that without the help of every.org, our project might not have worked out.

CryptoZakat

CryptoZakat is a project started by Amin Eddebbarh and run by volunteers that aims “to promote a culture of giving amongst American Muslims who own cryptocurrency.” CryptoZakat helps Muslim donors find organizations to fulfill their Zakat obligation to donate 2.5% of their wealth and learn about the tax benefits of donating appreciated assets like crypto.

With help from a volunteer from Gaza Sky Geeks, Amin was able to launch the CryptoZakat website in just a couple of weeks to capture giving interest associated with Ramadan, leveraging Every.org’s nonprofit search endpoint and donation links to facilitate crypto donations via Every.org to eligible nonprofits.

Andres and Tracy’s Wedding Registry

Andres and Tracy wanted to have a charitable wedding registry rather than a more typical one with housewares. However, in addition to listing charities they wanted to support, they also wanted to be able to track the donations that were made so they could thank donors later.

After researching a number of options, Andres chose to implement their registry on top of Every.org’s Charity API to get set up quickly and easily:

As I was researching around I stumbled on Every.org and what you were doing. And I was like, wait, this is perfect! Because I can just build the front end and then call your APIs to actually do the payment…

I basically created a very simple website on Squarespace that says, ”Hey. We'd love for you to donate. Here are three charities” and they can click on each of them. And I give a bit more detail on the charity…and a click here to donate…It then calls the API.

The API was really easy to implement, the documentation was good, and staging allowed me to play around and get the user experience to work well.

Andres was able to focus on the frontend and leave the complexity of managing giving to Every.org, using the Charity API’s donation links and webhooks to facilitate gifts to nonprofits and record how much people gave.

What we learned

After 12 months of the Charity API pilot, tens of API partners supported, thousands of API requests handled, and over $2 million dollars donated, two key learnings stood out:

1. Accessible giving infrastructure does enable more innovation in giving - and cost is critical
2. Many projects don’t pan out - and that’s okay

Accessible giving infrastructure does enable more innovation in giving - and cost is critical

Every.org’s hypothesis was that the creation of an open and accessible giving toolkit would significantly reduce the amount of work and associated legal and operational complexities required to build giving experiences. As a result, we would see an acceleration of organizations integrating giving into their new and existing digital products and ultimately, increase global giving.

Especially for the smaller organizations and individuals that used the API, being able to access high-quality nonprofit data and facilitate donations to nonprofits without complex integrations or costly setup fees was the difference between their project being feasible or impossible. While there are existing solutions providing access to nonprofit data and disbursement infrastructure, they often charge thousands of dollars and ongoing fees for access. For established players that process millions of dollars in donations those fees may be manageable, but for new initiatives they can be a significant hurdle to getting started and reaching scale.

Of the organizations that responded to our request for feedback on the API, over 50% indicated that they would not have been able to build their product without access to the Charity API. If that ratio holds across the 60 or so organizations that requested API keys during the pilot, then that would indicate 30 projects that might not have been built without the Charity API.

Even for for-profit startups, the cost of figuring out giving infrastructure can be a significant barrier. Noted Hedado’s Viren Tellis:

[Without Every.org -] yes, we could have done it… [but] it would've cost us more… if we got really, really big, it wouldn't be that much more… but it would've been a barrier to getting started.

While it may not be a revelation that reducing costs helps spur innovation, the reality is that in the philanthropy world, many existing fundamental infrastructure services require significant upfront investments of time and money. This hurts startups and constrains the pipeline of ideas that can improve how people give. Just as many for-profit tech infrastructure platforms offer zero-cost startup plans and focus on the onboarding experience, Every.org will to continue to focus on making it as easy as possible for those with the least resources to explore new ideas.

Many projects don’t pan out - and that’s okay

While stories like that of GivingMultiplier, CryptoZakat, and Andres and Tracy’s wedding registry are exciting examples of how the API can be used, it is also important to note that a majority of the projects did not end up with significant API usage. The median duration of use (i.e. time between first and last query) was only a quarter of a day, indicating that many users likely acquired a key just to try things out. Out of the 74 total keys distributed, only 25 were in use for longer than a week.

How should we interpret a majority of the projects using the API ending up abandoned within a week? The fact that so many of the projects could afford to test out the Every.org API, learn from it, and indeed fail, is a testament to how an accessible giving toolkit can make it cheap enough to enable experimentation and thus innovation in how people give. Notes Darden School of Business Professor Edward Hess:

Failure is a necessary part of the innovation process because from failure comes learning, iteration, adaptation, and the building of new… models through an iterative learning process.

If people can’t afford to fail, then they also can’t afford to try new ideas with uncertain payoffs.

Of the 25 keys that were used for more than a week, most still appear to be in use, and 11 of those keys have made more than 1,000 queries to the API. Overall API usage continues to climb as more and more people are given the room to try something new and change the way we give for good.

Conclusion

In October 2021, we set out to create a common layer for giving that would reduce the costs associated with building new ways to support the nonprofits people care about. Since then, we’ve built and launched the Every.org Charity API, an open and accessible toolkit that provides components and services that enable discovering and supporting nonprofits. Over 60 projects have requested API keys, making hundreds of thousands of requests, and while not every API project facilitates donations, those that do have raised over $2 million.

As we wrap up this pilot, Every.org is excited to keep looking forward to a future where builders can bring their ideas for a better way to give to life quickly and easily. Giving infrastructure shouldn’t be the hard part - there are enough challenges in meeting donors where they are and helping support nonprofits. If you’re excited to bring your vision for philanthropy to life, reach out to us at partners@every.org and we’d be delighted to help you get started.

Learn more

Read our API case study on facilitating easier DAF donations with Chariot.

Chariot began as a passion project among friends who had all committed to donating 10% of their income to charity. They wanted an easier way to track and manage their giving. At first they started building a banking app that automatically stored a percentage of one’s income for charitable purposes. But as they got deeper into the world of philanthropy, they realized there was more exciting potential working with Donor Advised Funds (DAFs).

Donating with DAF usually involves contacting your DAF provider and giving them the information for the nonprofit so they can make the donation. This is cumbersome for donors and requires them to leave the nonprofit’s donation page. Chariot saw an opportunity to cut out the multi-step process donors of contacting their DAF to initiate a donation. It could be as easy as a few clicks.

We realized that…the payment infrastructure for [DAFs] is pretty broken. And so we're like, why don't we, instead of competing with them, fix their biggest pain point, which is the payment infrastructure. 
-Salomon Serfati (Chariot CEO)

So they started building a platform that would provide an easy online giving experience for any DAF. Nonprofits could then add DAF payment buttons to their website so donors could use their DAF in just a few clicks.

Nonprofit search from Every.org

One of the key elements of making this project work was being able to search a full database of every nonprofit in the US and the ability to get their EIN. The options they found at first were prohibitively expensive for a brand new startup trying to get their first version launched. Fortunately the nonprofit search capabilities of the Every.org API were a perfect fit.

We knew about other organizations like Candid and GuideStar. That sort of provide that…but it was very expensive for something that we thought was pretty simple. I think it was $2,500 [per year]. And all we wanted was to be able to search nonprofit data. Every.org’s API was more of a fit, especially when we were a young company…we just wanted to get off the ground.
-Salomon Serfati (Chariot CEO)

We built this API because we wanted to spur innovations in online giving. The high startup costs for existing nonprofit search and payment processing platforms are a huge hurdle and prevent many good ideas from getting off the ground. Since launching the API we've seen a lot of great new projects like Chariot building new services and experimenting with ways to improve the online giving experience.

Chariot integration on Every.org

Chariot and Every.org are also working together to bring Chariot’s easy DAF donation capabilities to the Every.org donation flow. Keep your eyes open for it as an option with every donation on our platform.

Learn more

Read more about our process and learnings from this pilot in our post: Building a Common Infrastructure for Giving.

Nov 13 Update - All matching funds have been unlocked, thank you so much to all the generous people who helped make this year's #FallGivingChallenge a success by helping nonprofits achieve longterm, sustainable impact through recurring giving! Keep an eye out for a metrics post on our blog and remember to keep those recurring donations active as all the new donations that were matched in November will be matched in December as well.

Starting November 1, new recurring donations will be matched up to $50 while funds last. Each person can create matched monthly donations for up to 3 different nonprofits. To grow the match fund donate here. Funds currently remaining:

This November, #FallGivingChallenge has returned with a new format entitled The Monthly Match to encourage sustained giving. All 501(c)(3) public charities are eligible and automatically enrolled. Let people know that they can donate on Every.org to double their donation during the #FallGivingChallenge - The Monthly Match.

To learn how to amplify your mission and impact to encourage donors to support your nonprofit on Every.org, check out our Activation Toolkit on ways to engage and excite your supporters.

How it Works

Generous donors have raised enough funds for a $50k match pool for  nonprofits on Every.org to take advantage of during our #FallGivingChallenge - The Monthly Match. From Nov. 1 - Nov. 30, or until funds run out, any donor who sets up a monthly donation to your nonprofit will be matched up to $50.00 of their monthly donation for the first two months. This must be a new monthly donation and not one that is currently active. This recurring donation will be automatically charged to the donor's payment method every month and matched another $50.00 for the month of December as well. In total, donors giving $100 ($50 in November and $50 in December) will have $100 matched ($50 in November and $50 in December). Donors who set up a monthly gift in December are not eligible for this match.

If you are a nonprofit:

1. If you haven’t already claimed your nonprofit profile you can do so at: every.org/nonprofits/get-started. This optional step will allow you to view donation information in real time and allow you to add a bank account to eliminate the 2.25% disbursement fee.
2. Copy the link to your profile and email it to your donors using the language and assets in our Activation Toolkit. Share on social media with #FallGivingChallenge, send out a press release, and utilize the other assets for enhanced promotion.
3. Update your website to link to your Every.org profile. Continue promoting your work and impact throughout November culminating with #GivingTuesday on November 30.

You can see the amount of matching remaining in real time at the top of this post.

Matching funds are provided by generous donors who contribute to help amplify grassroots giving. If you would like to contribute to future campaigns like #FallGivingChallenge, you can donate at every.org/matching.

No Platform Fees

Every.org is a nonprofit building accessible giving infrastructure supported entirely by donors including Camp.org and Gates Foundation; we do not charge any platform fees of our own, and 100% of the matching funds will go to nonprofits. Donors have the option to add a tip to support our mission, but it is 100% optional.

Fees charged by third party vendors will apply. For all donations using a bank account, 100% reaches nonprofits. Other payment methods have varying third party fees, usually 2.2% + $0.30 for Visa, Mastercard, or PayPal and if applicable 2.25% for disbursements through Network for Good. By default, we will mail nonprofits checks through our partner Network for Good, see details here. See more details about third party fees.

For questions around the opportunity or if you’re interested in chatting with our team please email us at support@every.org!

About Every.org

Every.org is a 501(c)(3) charity building an accessible giving infrastructure to help every person and organization use technology for good. We build free online fundraising tools for nonprofits.

Hi, friends; I want to introduce myself and tell you why I am thrilled to join the Every.org team as the new president!

A little bit about me:

I have spent my entire career in the nonprofit sector. My first chapter was as the founder and executive director of Innovation Network (InnoNet), a provider of program evaluation services. It’s a wonderful organization that continues to help individual organizations and entire fields from movements to advocacy efforts measure and improve their efforts.

My second chapter was at the intersection of technology and social impact. I have written four books on the ways that digital tech can better connect organizations and supporters, how to shift from broadcasting messages to being in conversation with people, telling stories, asking for help solving problems, using all of the gifts people have to help serve a cause and solve social problems.

And now, I have the great fortune to begin a third chapter as the president of Every.org!

Every.org brings together all of my passions and experiences in one fantastic platform. We believe wholeheartedly that by making giving easier and more joyful, we can unleash a tidal wave of generosity. We believe that by focusing on creating a deeply relational and meaningful experience for donors that they will continue to give to nonprofits over time. And we believe that digital tech, used well, is the key to unlocking our generosity by connecting us to one another and to causes.

What initially drew me to Every.org was its people, of course. What a great team of really smart, creative, tech savvy social change makers!

And then there’s the platform itself. It’s a brilliant idea to have a nonprofit dedicated to moving every kind of financial capital (banks, cards, stocks, cryptocurrency) to other nonprofits as friction-free as possible. Every.org takes care of all of the paperwork and accounting for accepting donations, particularly crypto and stocks, lifting an enormous burden of time and regulatory risk from organizations. Plus, we do not charge any transaction fees and are not selling products and services. Instead, we are supported by philanthropy and voluntary tips.

But wait, there’s more! ☺

Our mission is to create a more generous world. So, in addition to making it easier to donate, we are going to help nonprofits build stronger relationships with their donors. Imagine that every nonprofit is holding a bucket of donors. Every year, over three quarters of those donors leak out. This creates a frantic, annual process of filling the bucket back up with new donors. At Every.org, we are going to create relational models of fundraising with nonprofits to help increase the donor retention rate. This will be absolutely transformational for nonprofits; it will align with their values of being relational, reduce the frantic requests for donations and, perhaps most importantly, reduce the sky high burnout rate of staff.

As the giving season begins, I want to encourage you (or any nonprofit folks you know) to set up a profile on Every.org to receive donations, and/or to create a personal account and start making donations. It's really easy, and it’s fun!

I look forward to sharing more with you soon about the amazing ways our nonprofit partners are serving people and solving problems. In the meantime, feel free to reach out to me at allison@every.org, or find me out in the world sharing stories of the amazing nonprofits and donors connecting via Every.org!