I don’t suppose I used to be dangerous at making donations to environmental charities, but it surely did really feel like one thing was missing. I constructed PennyLoafer to assist fill this hole.
Regardless of our greatest intentions, a whole lot of issues get in the best way of our charitable giving. Perhaps we don’t know the place to begin, or we don’t have time to do the analysis. We’re busy with college, jobs, children — with life. We could also be skeptical that our giving will really make a distinction, particularly on huge points like climate change and the psychological well being disaster. This was actually the case for me.
In the summertime of 2020, amidst a worldwide pandemic and racial justice motion, I took inventory of my giving habits. They appeared disjointed and sometimes reactive. I might donate when crises occurred, or requests got here my manner: a buddy’s charity run; a drive for my cousin’s classroom provides; or supporting an area meals pantry through the pandemic. To make sure, it at all times felt good within the second, however my donations as a complete, they felt impulsive and it was onerous to infer what I really valued.
For those who can relate to this, know that it’s human. Actually, donors rarely give as much as they intend to and sometimes have hassle explaining a constant method to the charities they select. One examine from the Heart for Superior Hindsight discovered that, on common, people want to give 2.5 times more than they actually do. This distinction between intention and motion obtained me curious.
I thought-about what it might imply to have a giving technique: What did I care about most? And the way may I do extra about it strategically and on an ongoing foundation?
From that got here the thought for PennyLoafer, a platform that makes charitable giving easy and extra strategic. We do that by creating ongoing giving methods round choose causes like climate change, with the objective of getting extra folks donating usually to causes they care about and studying alongside the best way.
Impression Made Straightforward – Eliminating Boundaries to Charitable Giving
PennyLoafer is designed to handle a number of widespread limitations to giving:
- Selection overload. There are greater than one million nonprofits within the U.S. alone. Determination paralysis is a standard pitfall. PennyLoafer helps you out by researching and vetting a various assortment of nonprofits so you possibly can merely begin giving primarily based in your priorities, and have one much less side of your life overwhelmed by decisions.
- Time. Accountable giving requires time to analysis points and charities. Persons are busy. PennyLoafer builds giving into your life, caring for logistics and conserving you knowledgeable alongside the best way.
- Feeling overwhelmed by points. We’ve all been there: What can one individual do to make a distinction, particularly for complicated points just like the local weather disaster? With PennyLoafer, our members be a part of different like-minded donors in a giving technique. Ten {dollars} a month won’t appear to be quite a bit but it surely rapidly provides up once we mix donations.
- Unclear affect. You’re not giving right into a black gap with PennyLoafer. We hold you up to date on the affect of your giving and engaged within the trigger by way of our month-to-month publication.
Retaining Donors Knowledgeable About Points
Maybe an important side of PennyLoafer is the month-to-month publication. I didn’t need this to be one other fund that individuals can donate to and by no means actually hear something once more. It’s essential to me that individuals really feel impactful with their giving, find out about completely different nonprofits and the varied methods employed to handle points like local weather change.
Donors obtain constant suggestions each month. The publication highlights the chosen nonprofit, together with its management, method, and why it was chosen. It additionally shares related information and details about the trigger. As an example, our local weather change publication may cowl a chunk of local weather laws shifting via Washington or fascinating information about renewable energy developments.
Since our launch in fall 2021, PennyLoafer donors have despatched hundreds of {dollars} to charities preventing local weather change throughout the nation. Within the course of, they’ve discovered about a wide range of organizations and other ways to handle the problem. From nationwide NGOs, equivalent to Carbon180, which works on federal insurance policies that improve funding for carbon removal, to smaller, grassroots nonprofits like Native Renewables, which is bringing solar energy to the Navajo Nation.
The Social Enterprise Mannequin
We made an intentional effort to be accessible and inexpensive. PennyLoafer doesn’t take a share of donations or cost platform charges. We accomplice with a 501(c)(3) charity, Charityvest, so that each one donations via the platform are tax deductible.
Donors can begin by giving as little as $5 a month, and alter their common donation or cancel at any time. Donors even have the choice to depart a tip to assist PennyLoafer cowl our working bills. At its core, PennyLoafer is constructed to get extra particular person donors meaningfully related to causes they care about, studying and feeling the distinction they make — irrespective of the quantity they can provide.
To be taught extra or begin giving usually to causes that tackle local weather change and different points, take a look at pennyloafer.org.
In regards to the Creator
Andi Thieman is the founding father of PennyLoafer. Her background is in nonprofit consulting and human companies. Her profession has centered on strategic planning, capacity-building, grant writing, and finest observe analysis for nonprofits and public businesses. She is a Pittsburgh native, at present dwelling in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
