Philanthropi Founder Dr. Keith Leaphart is looking to significantly scale his Philadelphia-based philanthropic startup.
Launched in 2019, Philanthropi allows users to set up personal foundations and give to the charities of their choice.
Since raising a $4 million seed round last year led by Amex Ventures, the venture arm of American Express, Leaphart has grown the startup's staff from 19 employees to 25, expanded to about 2,000 users and built a database of more than 1.2 million nonprofits.
Now Philanthropi expects to significantly raise its profile and increase its user base with a new pilot program that builds on its existing partnership with American Express. The startup and its lead investor have teamed up to launch Amex Round-Up, a new feature that allows certain cardmembers to effectively round up to the nearest $1, $5 or $10 on a purchase, with the additional money going into a Philanthropi Impact Account for future giving. Donations can then be made to the charity or charities of their choice once the roundups reach $25.
While only American Express card members are eligible for the new program, it’s a concept Leaphart said he’d like to eventually expand to the general public. He expects the Amex pilot to increase Philanthropi's user base tenfold over the first six months.
Describing Philanthropi as a “401(k) for philanthropic giving,” Leaphart aspires to make philanthropy more accessible to the individual consumer. The startup allows users to set aside a portion of their paychecks for charitable giving, much like saving money for retirement with a 401(k).
“You don’t need to be Bill Gates to have access to your own personal foundation,” Leaphart said.
Philanthropi, headquartered at 2400 Market St., then allows its users to contribute to a range of charities including colleges, arts organizations and food pantries. People can donate funds online by way of an Impact Account, or a hardship relief fund, which was created during the Covid-19 pandemic to help employees in need of aid.
The global public health crisis also shed light on the philanthropic industry as a whole, making the launch of Philanthropi particularly timely.
“There was an increased interest in nonprofits and different causes so this created a very ripe market for companies like Philanthropi to make it really frictionless and seamless, and it’s just, how do you really find innovative partnerships to take the … perceived pain potentially out of giving and really break the barriers to those giving?” he said.
Americans donated $471.44 billion to philanthropic causes in 2020, 5.1% more than in 2019, according to Giving USA's annual report on philanthropy. Individual contributors made up the majority of that statistic at 69%.
The future of giving is bright, with Leaphart stressing that younger generations are “the most active group in philanthropy" with 80% involvement from millennials and 66% from Gen Z.
“And it’s not that they have more money than anyone else, but they have a mindset to make a difference,” he said. “They want to make an impact.”
Leaphart said he’d like to raise a Series A round early next year and explore other ways Philanthropi can work directly with organizations.
“I think in the future we’re going to be a real value to nonprofits,” Leaphart said. “That’s actually what we built this for to create community to make it easier for nonprofits actually to connect with their donors, the everyday giver.”
