By Michael Stein (a nationally renowned Internet strategist with 15 years of experience working with nonprofits, labor unions, and socially responsible businesses.)
TechSoup.org
October 11, 2000

JustGive.org Launches
An interview with the founder of a new nonprofit online fundraising service

Editor's Note: I did a double take when I saw the press release. A Web site launch event for an online fundraising service that's a dot org. A dot org? Surely that's a typo. It's not a typo. It's a serious, smart, ambitious effort by some very dedicated people to spur online giving to nonprofits, encourage volunteerism, and increase corporate philanthropy. This deserved a visit to founder and CEO Kendall Webb, fresh from her launch party in the Presidio National Park in San Francisco. -Michael Stein, October 2000.

Michael Stein: The most intriguing thing to me about JustGive.org is that it's a dot org. Also you're a new arrival in a space that is packed with startups and profiteers. Why now, why another philanthropy portal?

Kendall Webb: We wanted to bring Internet technology to nonprofits to do online fundraising but not at a cost to them. Nonprofits already have a lot of costs, and lots of educational challenges in terms of learning about the Internet, so what we wanted to do is consolidate that knowledge of the Internet world. Here's a technology that can really help the nonprofit sector. We talk about the digital divide between schools and technology, but no one talks about the divide between nonprofits and technology. Most people are doing this work in a for-profit way.

People were telling me from the beginning that "you can't do technology as a nonprofit," that it's an oxymoron. I took that challenge on personally. I had been part of the founding team of more.com so I had connections and experience in the Internet world. So I went around to the technology world, and said, "let's all give back." If everyone gives a piece, we can do something incredible.

We now have 15 service providers that have all given us pro bono support, two PR agencies, two advertising agencies, and we got our Web address donated. Even our moving company donated their services. We've gotten over 100 volunteers and skilled experts. We've really done everything from scratch. Everything fits together really well, we're treated like clients, because people are so passionate about this idea. I think we actually have a better business model than most dot coms. Dot coms have the challenge of getting venture capital money now in a market that's pretty challenging. We just continue to involve people and get them excited about the idea.

Our pro bono advertising agency is creating a TV commercial for us, so our marketing budget can be quite large with very little cash outflow. So instead of spending a million dollars to raise a million for nonprofits, which was the thing that I really wanted to avoid, we've now managed to spend very little and then we can pass through everything.

Michael: What's new and different about JustGive.org?

Kendall: We're going to be more comprehensive in the sense that we're truly a gateway for all services that a donor would be interested in, with a high donor focus, and a terrific guide to the issues that donors are interested in. Also, we're the only nonprofit online giving portal that offers 100 percent pass through of donations.

Michael: How can you afford a 100 percent donation pass through? Kendall: The costs for a transaction alone is 2 to 5 percent. Our strategy is corporate sponsorship to cover that transaction fee. So it's paid by a sponsor. We've matched up sponsors not just with the information and also with the transaction costs.

Michael: What is the corporate sponsor getting in return? Kendall: They get visibility that they're helping and giving back, and a lot of them want that. Instead of just saying we're sponsoring this event, they're actually saying we're helping you the donor get this 100% percent.

Michael: Has it been hard finding corporate sponsors?

Kendall: Not at all. Oracle is sponsoring the Education area, Nike is sponsoring the Sports and Recreation area, we have Aveda for Environment. We try to match up our corporate sponsors with issues, and be sure that they're either doing work in that area or that their products represent that area. All of our corporate sponsors are excited about the concept. Most have offered to email their employees. For example, Providian Bank - which is sponsoring the Children and Youth area - is going to email all their employees to do promotion on our behalf. Other companies will set up a link on their site.

Michael: You're a dot org, that unusual in this field, other than egrants.org or helping.org. Why did you found a nonprofit rather than a for profit? Are there advantages for you in being a nonprofit?

Kendall: Our mission is pure and simple: to increase giving. It's not to increase giving while making money for ourselves. Being a dot org allows us to stay very focused on our mission. It's also made it easy for us to get partnerships. And in the future, it will help us seek foundation support.

Michael: How are you introducing yourself to the nonprofit community?

Kendall: We've already started talking with a lot of nonprofits over the past year. Their input has been tremendous for us. We're sending out a letter to people in our guide and offering them a free "donate button." We're speaking at conferences, and doing lots of interviews!

Michael: So you are offering a donate button? I didn't see that on your Web site.

Kendall: We will have a donate button very shortly, within weeks. Our test trials are already under way.

Michael: You talk about being a content portal. What is your vision?

Kendall: The vision for the content is that the more you educate, the more you'll excite people to do something, plus it's a way to get people to do more. In the Guide itself we have a lot of information, with content in each area, plus we have "signs of hope," to show what people have done in the past that's been positive. We show what dollars can buy. We're going to continue to grow that content. In addition we're partnering with The Foundation Center to disseminate news about the nonprofit sector. We're also going to get freelance writers to cover social issues of importance to donors and others.

Michael: You mention on your Web site that "future sponsorship and offline philanthropy programs will provide ongoing revenues for the organization." What do you have in mind?

Kendall: We're going to go to foundations to try to get grants and sponsorships for our site. We're thinking of setting up educational events for corporations and individuals. We also want to educate and encourage young dot com companies on how to set up philanthropy programs and charity matching programs.

Michael: How could a private foundation support JustGive.org?

Kendall: They can support our many off-line programs, of which "Just Give Experience" is a great example. Here's an example of how it works. We currently partner with Career Resources Development Center in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. They've been training all kinds of people: homeless people, foster moms, refugees, people who are very economically challenged. They get trained on computer skills, basic office skills, writing a resume, and more. But they have a really difficult time getting placed in the workplace. We recently took in an intern, she's amazing, a 17 year old, single mom, we gave her experience by putting her to work in our office, and she's still with us. And of course our goal is to expand beyond that one center.

I should clarify that Just Give Experience is a program that we are reaching out to any and all corporations to participate in, not just our sponsors. Another off-line program that we have is about advising corporations. We want to have a national conference to educate corporations on responsible philanthropy. People don't have enough parameters of what they should be giving. Average giving is currently 2% pretax. The Independent Sector is pushing for 5%. Paul Newman, for example, is trying to set and raise standards for corporations. We want to put together an organized and effective program. We're going to do that through conferences, through technology for corporate intranets, and then help personally set up volunteer days.

Finally, we want to get new, younger donors to discover philanthropy. It's clear that many people are inclined to give, but just don't know where or how. We're founding a "Social Entrepreneurs Series," and Ashoka is one of our partners. Our goal is to bring social entrepreneurs in contact with potential donors. On the first Thursday of every month, we want to hold a party, in Silicon Valley, New York City, Washington, DC, and beyond, and bring people together to learn about philanthropy. We're thinking about a panel of 3 to 5 speakers to talk about the issue areas that we focus on.

Michael: What are volunteer days? Kendall: Our staff volunteers once a week on Wednesday afternoons. We've done Project Open Hand, we've done a mentor program. We basically close down our office for part of a day and go volunteer. It exposes us to what nonprofits are doing. Corporations are saying, "Great, can we encourage our employees to go along with you?" We want to formalize those kinds of relationships. Michael: What do you need from people out there?

Kendall: We need help from people with expert skills. We especially appreciate volunteers. For example, we have a former CNN reporter helping us with our press releases. We need help from people with skills in business development, marketing, and public relations. We also need feedback on our Web site, and ideas on how to spread the word. Finally, we also need donations to support our work directly. Direct financial support is incredibly appreciated to help us further develop the services that we are offering. Michael: You also need Web traffic. Kendall: We need lots of traffic. Just Give us traffic.