Giveunity: Giving on the Go

The Giveunity staff

Gone are the days of writing checks or handing over your credit card. No great intentions of wanting to give to a worthy cause and then forgetting or wondering whether an organization is really deserving of your hard-earned money. With Giveunity, you can donate to the nonprofit of your choice instantly.

Giveunity was conceived when co-founder, Carmin Moutinho, attempted to find and give to a local homeless shelter. After spending close to an hour doing research to find a shelter to donate to, he never ended up making the decision because the donation process was such a barrier.

“So we thought, ‘How can we make giving simpler, faster, and more immediate?'” says Daniel Graff, co-founder of Giveunity. What’s more immediate than the phone in your pocket and apps that connect you to the nonprofit organizations you want to support? That’s where the mobile app, Giveunity, comes in. “We work with nonprofits right here in our Greater Cincinnati communities to help them connect with donors,” says Graff.

Giveunity, based in Walnut Hills, consists of four staffers who built successful careers as designers, programmers and developers. However, their ambitions and personal goals go far beyond jobs, professional successes and financial stability.

“We wanted to make a difference, so we created Giveunity as a charitable organization. A giving community helps us all – those in need, the organizations who work hard to care for our neighbors, and those who want to make our neighborhoods and families stronger,” says Graff. “We want to inspire others to look around, notice what’s going on and to make a difference.”

Giveunity Inc. is a nonprofit corporation registered in the State of Ohio with an application pending before the Internal Revenue Service for 501 (c)(3) status as a public charity. As such, all money generated by Giveunity will be kept in the charitable stream.

Giveunity’s mission is to foster a giving community of people who are enabled to make a difference right here, right now, where we live, where it counts most. “Our goal is to empower local nonprofits, to educate potential donors and to streamline the donation process,” explains Graff.

For donors, the app is free to download and use. Nonprofits can also enroll to be on the app for free. This is based on a “Freemium” business model, where 95% of the features are included and are suitable for most organizations. They also offer paid subscription plans for premium features and benefits such as multiple app profiles. To download the free Giveunity iPhone or Android app and give whenever or wherever inspiration hits, visit www.giveunity.org/download/.

According to Graff, what makes Giveunity unique is that it is local-focuses and provides the fastest donation path possible. “The Giveunity app – a first of its kind – eliminates one of the greatest challenges of nonprofit fundraising – the time lapse between giver intent and confirmed donation by capturing donors in the moment,” says Graff.

When looking to the future, Giveunity is continually searching for new features for the app in order to be innovators in the nonprofit space. “We have an advisory board that helps us understand the needs of nonprofits and are reviewing plans for many new features,” says Graff.

They also have plans to take this platform to other markets. “In keeping with the local focus – we will create a different Giveunity app for each new community, such as Giveunity Indianapolis, Giveunity Columbus, and Giveunity Louisville,” Graff explains. Graff To learn more about Giveunity, visit www.giveunity.org or e-mail mikki@giveunity.org.