This Fourth of July, America turns 250 years old. It's a major milestone – a quarter millennium of a democratic experiment that, whatever its contradictions, has inspired civic energy, invention and generosity. It should be celebrated!

And yet, the celebration itself has become another point of division in divided times. Events marking the signing of the Declaration of Independence, usually nonpartisan, have been reframed. The July 4 National Mall ceremony, once a "Tribute to America,” has morphed into a political rally headlined by the president and carrying his name. Many performers have withdrawn, seeing the events more closely aligned with the White House than with the nation at large.

Elsewhere in Washington, the loudest claims to patriotism have centered on spectacle: major renovations, monumental building projects, a 600-ton steel cage on the White House South Lawn, a fireworks display featuring 40 times the typical number of rockets and lasting double the usual time. Biggest. Loudest. "Most historic."

Looking elsewhere

We understand the impulse to mark this anniversary with grandeur. A semiquincentennial only happens once. But at Give Lively, we've been looking elsewhere for what makes this country worth celebrating.

We find it in the smaller, quieter moments. The food pantry that stays open during a heat wave for families with nowhere else to go. The immigrant services organization helping people navigate a system designed to confuse and even punish them. The reproductive health clinic, the LGBTQ+ youth shelter, the environmental justice group fighting for a community written off by industry. The volunteer-taught classes using free technology to help kids get to college.

These are the people and organizations that, in our view, faithfully embody what July 4 is about. Not the rockets' red glare, but the underpinning premise that all people are created equal, that their dignity is worth protecting and that those with resources have obligations to those without.

Standing for something

Give Lively's platform is free for nonprofits that make the world a better place. They elevate marginalized voices, advocate for equality, strive to meet the needs of the underserved and imagine an inclusive future for their communities. 

That's not an accident or empty marketing. It's a deliberate choice, because we believe that technology built for social good really has to mean something. It must make choices, no matter how uncomfortable that is right now (and keeping in mind that not choosing is still a form of choice, not careful neutrality).

The values we and our member nonprofits hold dear – gender and racial inclusiveness, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ dignity, environmental justice, support for immigrants and the historically underrepresented – are not abstractions. They’re potent policy questions being contested in courts, in legislatures and in executive orders.

The nonprofits actively upholding these values are not operating in a favorable environment. Many are stretched thin, underfunded and exhausted. Some serve populations that are actively being targeted by the government of the very country whose birthday we're celebrating.

And yet they persist. We see that persistence as the most powerful form of patriotism – much more spectacular and enduring than any rally, wrestling or fireworks show.

Built strong with quiet confidence

We believe nonprofits shouldn't sacrifice their means to satisfy their missions. Eleven years ago, that belief led our founders to pioneer an unusual business model: paying the operating expenses of a nonprofit fundraising platform so that the platform itself could be free for nonprofits. Not free with asterisks, not a freemium ploy, but free, no strings attached. 

Since our founding in 2015, nonprofits using Give Lively have raised more than $1.5 billion for their critical work, saving more than an estimated $125 million in tech fees and charges that might otherwise have gone to for-profit companies. Instead, every dollar saved on software was put toward a meal, a legal defense, a scholarship, a chest binder for a trans teenager to feel safe in their own body. 

That is the Give Lively Effect. It’s not spectacular in the pyrotechnic sense, but it compounds quietly, transaction by transaction, campaign by campaign, mission served by mission served. And over time it has added up to something real. Just like the United States of America, where a leveled playing field can give a two-person nonprofit team in rural Appalachia as much access to digital fundraising infrastructure as a major urban institution.

We personally review every membership application to ensure member nonprofits align with our values. It's a process that takes time but reflects what we believe deeply: who nonprofits are means everything. The civic sector is not neutral, and neither are we. We’re proud of that.

Honoring real heroes

So this July 4, we'll skip the biggest-in-history superlatives. Instead, we're taking a moment to honor the hundreds of thousands of nonprofit organizations doing the daily, unglamorous, irreplaceable work of keeping the promise of American democracy alive, providing services for people to whom the American dream has not always been extended. 

These are our real heroes. Domestic violence advocates. Climate organizers. Public health educators. Animal shelter volunteers. Disability rights attorneys. Food bank staffers who fed more people in 2025 than at any point thus far. Because needs have risen while the political will to address them has withered.

Their work is the story of America at 250 that we want to tell. Not because it's the easy story – it most decidedly is not – but because it's the true one. Independence, at its best, has never been about any one person's celebration. It has been about expanding the circle of who gets to celebrate.

We remain committed to that expansion. And we’re awed by and grateful for the nonprofits and their teams who carry it forward every day.

Give Lively is a philanthropist-funded tech company that provides free fundraising technology to more than 55,000 nonprofits across the United States. Learn more at givelively.org.