Over the past several months, what was previously a relatively unknown philanthropy startup with momentum, based out of D.C. tech incubator and seed venture fund 1776, has become a national starlet.
Let's make generosity go viral #GivingTuesday @92Y https://t.co/GQRRddR6Em
— HuffPost Impact (@HuffPostImpact) November 10, 2015
GoodWorld, co-founded by charismatic, New Zealand native Dale Pfeifer, is a social media-centric cloud software developer whose technology enables people to donate directly through Facebook and Twitter using a hashtag command. Founded in January 2014, the District startup has hired extensively, continues to develop new product features and has conducted talks with new partner social media platforms to expand its offerings across an ever-growing audience.
Last year, the local tech company stood at just three employees. But today, more than 15 professionals, spread across multiple divisions like marketing, development and sales, make up the team.
Meet GoodWorld, the startup revolutionizing online philanthropy @mariaaspan https://t.co/bv0YJGyy2V
— Inc. (@Inc) November 12, 2015
Angle
In the past, donations to various different recipients were primarily fostered through publicity tools like print and online outreach campaigns, like email. But today, social media stands as the most prominent avenue to both instill awareness and push donor dollar totals. According to 2014 Business Insider data, "Americans spend more time on social media than any other major Internet activity, including email."
The challenge for GoodWorld, of course, is in negotiating and establishing connections with powerful, potential platform partners, including policy and development executives at companies like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. These social media networks are, after all, the lifeblood that runs through every interaction that GoodWorld facilitates.
Fortunately, the 1776 startup's board of advisors is stacked with Silicon Valley royalty, headlined by a former PayPal CTO, a VP of Google Wallet and a Microsoft CFO, which can in turn introduce Pfeifer's team to valuable contacts.
"Our advisors and investors serve as an integral part of the company, and they bring an invaluable amount of expertise to the table. They act as an important sounding board for developing and refining ideas," Pfeifer told DC Inno, "for example, Kevin Roberts of Saatchi & Saatchi has really helped us sharply define our purpose, which serves as a huge rallying point for the company, and having the gravitas of Nyca Partners behind us has also been extremely helpful."
Direction
Since GoodWorld came out of its beta phase less than five months ago, they've seen almost 20,000 #donations on Facebook and Twitter from more than 10,000 individuals, Pfeifer told DC Inno. In addition, 20 percent of those donations have come from reoccurring users; a metric that the company believes could propel it towards mass adoption in the future. The goal, Pfeifer tells me, is thematically in "creating a culture of everyday giving and generosity" through a digital medium.
In terms of the company's short term mission, Good World is currently preparing for Giving Tuesday, which occurs every year on December 1. It is internationally recognized as a powerful, single-day catalyst capable of spurring donations to an array of non-profits, charities, NGOs, initiatives and other social good programs throughout the world.
Because GoodWorld is, in itself, a sort of auxiliary, add-on tool for giving, the company, Pfeifer explained, hopes to further encourage donations during Giving Tuesday by also offering a "game changing" promotion. Simply put, Pfeifer will be launching a million dollar challenge on December 1.
"We’re putting $1 million on the table and issuing a challenge for people to help us give it all away to causes they care about and inspire one million acts of generosity on social media. In other words, a viral giving movement that’s one million strong," she said.
Starting on #GivingTuesday, GoodWorld will give an additional $1 #donation for every completed #donation of $20 or more made to a partner nonprofit through #donate, up to a $1 million ceiling.
Sauce
So, broadly speaking, what is GoodWorld's "special sauce?"
Maybe you've heard of the concept of gamification in other product development efforts. It's a not so uncommon style used in other software categories, like education technology, but GoodWorld is sort of pioneering its use in the donation realm. Let me explain.
By catering to a public forum where activation requires a comment, GoodWorld donations are naturally displayed to other members within a shared network. The outward idea is that this dynamic can bring first time donors to the table, regardless of the social issue or organization, because of the innovative marketing model. By nature, the approach appears intuitive and in some cases, can even foster competition between individuals, because of each social network's public and continuously active content structure.
The socialization of donating remains a relatively new strategy, but perhaps its longterm affect will be in fueling cooperation. How or if GoodWorld decides to expand these aforementioned gamification elements is unclear.
Context
Importantly, GoodWorld is the only hashtag-to-donate technology provider on both Facebook and Twitter. And though the D.C. startup is also in loosely defined, ongoing negotiations with other social media networks, Pfeifer declined to mention specific brands during our discussion.
GoodWorld's revenue model is centralized around a micro-percentage fee per donation system. The cost is exactly 4.8 percent on every transaction plus a small credit card fee. Customers of the service include non-profits, charities, NGOs and other 501(c) organizations. For reference, GoodWorld donors pre-register a payment option which is activated upon use of the hashtag in an established forum. Very little manual information must be inputted per donation outside of typing "#donate."
The startup's clients are typically looking to leverage the audiences they've gathered on social media to stimulate funding. In just the last quarter, the company's user base (non-client) has grown a whopping 300 percent, Pfeifer told DC Inno in a previous interview. And that means big bucks for organizations that have previously struggled to capture a large donor pool.
Pfeifer, who co-founded the company alongside Charlie McGuire-Wien and John Gossart, was first inspired to build GoodWorld after she saw the story of a struggling Afghan educator while scanning her Facebook newsfeed. She wanted to do something to help but recognized that barriers existed, adding friction to the transaction/donation.
"In the beginning, everyone was a doubter because it’s an extremely tough nut to crack. However, I believed so much in the idea that I spent years refining the technology and getting it to its current form. For me, one of the most important things to keep in mind was making sure that we were lowering barriers and not putting them up. In other words, focusing on making the process as streamlined and accessible as possible," Pfeifer said.
In July, GoodWorld raised a $1.65 million seed round from NYCA Partners.
