We’re a tech company reimagining the future of digital fundraising for nonprofits – powerful, practical and free.
We saw a way to give nonprofits a boost and took action.
Nonprofits make the world a better place. They address tough challenges and complex issues like gender and racial equality, reproductive health and LGBTQ+ rights, social and environmental justice, education, domestic violence, immigrant services and more.
But they also face internal challenges. Fundraising tech can be costly, and appealing to donors in a crowded digital world is easier said than done, even as the number of donors giving online increases at an exponential rate.
So we set out to develop an intuitive and free fundraising platform that serves nonprofits’ needs and disburdens them of for-profit fundraising software. By providing our technology for free, we empower nonprofits to devote more funds to their missions.
We believe nonprofits shouldn’t sacrifice their means to satisfy their missions.
We are a philanthropist-funded, social impact–driven tech company, founded in 2015, that collaborates directly with nonprofits to forge fundraising tech and give it away to them. Our founders pay our operating expenses so that we never have to charge nonprofits or donors for use of our fundraising platform.
Our powerful and practical fundraising solutions are free for nonprofits and intuitive for donors. Nonprofits using Give Lively have raised more than $750 million for their critical work, saving $90 million in tech fees and charges since 2017.
We share the love – for free, forever.
Learn more about Give Lively at www.givelively.org/about.
Our commitment to nonprofits goes beyond their fundraising efforts.
We support values that inspire nonprofits to tackle tough challenges and complex issues like gender and racial equality, reproductive health and LGBTQ+ rights, social and environmental justice, education, domestic violence, immigrant services and more.
Our members use our platform and products to make the world a better place by elevating marginalized voices, striving to meet the needs of the underserved, imagining a safer future for their communities and advocating for equality.
A membership requirement
Importantly, we personally review every membership application to ensure every nonprofit applicant aligns with our values.
That review process ensures we preserve our membership for organizations that use our platform and products to:
The application review process does not apply to non-member nonprofits that benefit from our technology through partnerships like the one with Charity Navigator’s Giving Basket.
Cultural values
At its core, Give Lively believes in adaptability, joy, experimentation, integrity, urgency and empathy. This is amplified by our commitment to fostering, cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.
Learn more about our values at www.givelively.org/values.
We believe that nonprofits, no matter their size, should not sacrifice their means to satisfy their missions so we built and support a powerful and practical fundraising platform that's free for nonprofits and intuitive for donors.
Our founders understood that providing consequential and ongoing support to Give Lively is a strategic capital commitment, triggering ever-increasing value to nonprofits many times greater than our founders’ investment.
What does free mean?
Free means free. We do not charge nonprofits for use of our fundraising platform – no setup fees, no platform fees, no membership or subscription fees, no annual or monthly fees, no hidden Give Lively fees.
While we do not charge nonprofits for our tech, we do rely on third parties like Stripe and PayPal to power payment processing and disbursement. These market-leading service providers attach their small fees to every transaction, just as they do with all of their clients. Some fees may also be charged by third-party platforms available through integrations, like Salesforce and Double the Donation. We are fully transparent about all non-Give Lively costs, including how much they are and who must or may cover them.
How is free possible?
First and foremost, our founders are committed philanthropists. In keeping with their goodwill vision of digital fundraising, our founders cover our operating costs so that we don’t have to charge nonprofits or donors.
Measuring our success
Nonprofits using Give Lively have raised more than $750 million for their critical work, saving $90 million in fundraising tech fees and charges since 2017. This number grows every day as our active membership of 8,800+ nonprofits puts our platform through its paces.
Learn more about why we’re free for nonprofits at www.givelively.org/free.
Our founders identified an opportunity. They recognized a way to make strategic, efficient and impartial decisions about how to support the nonprofit community. They saw a mechanism for sustainably leveraging their resources to help meet the development needs of a very broad group of potential beneficiaries.
Give Lively helps our founders and the nonprofit community in three ways:
Ever-increasing impact
Our founders understood that providing consequential and ongoing support to Give Lively is a strategic capital commitment, triggering ever-increasing value to nonprofits many times greater than the investment.
An investment in efficiency
For our founders, in addition to acting as busy conventional grantmakers, they underwrite Give Lively and, in turn, our push to help a growing number of nonprofits maximize their own digital fundraising potential. Today, both our founders and our nonprofit member organizations spend more time focused on their missions and less time distracted by the cost and inefficiencies of digital fundraising.
Democratized tech for nonprofits
Our founders are only human. In a crowded space full of trending topics, charismatic leaders and disparate regional priorities, they make their giving choices through the lens of personal and professional interests, always with the knowledge that there are thousands of other worthy causes. Give Lively redresses any imbalances, throwing open the gates to more equal opportunity for a significant and growing group of aligned nonprofits. Now, no matter their size or digital fluency, all nonprofits that share our clearly stated progressive values can capitalize on our free technology.
Learn more about the Give Lively Effect at www.givelively.org/free#rationale.
David DeParolesa (he/him)
Chief Executive Officer
Before joining Give Lively in 2015, David spent four years at Food & Wine magazine, bridging his digital experience with the culinary world, and at Discovery Communications, where he led the initial product development of Discovery GO. David has been recognized in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, featured as a panelist at NTEN and other major trade conferences, and has shared insight for research published by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Brooke Currence (she/her)
SVP Marketing and Business Development
Brooke came to Give Lively in 2016 with over a decade of experience leading digital and partner marketing strategy at global Fortune 500 tech organizations like Softchoice and Hitachi Consulting. Brooke’s role at Give Lively is her perfect sweet spot: the intersection of marketing, growing a tech offering, leveraging innovative partner strategy and doing it all as a catalyst for the social movements she is passionate about. Brooke has also scaled Mt Kilimanjaro, become an aunt and Godmother, dances daily and participates in numerous activist movements.
Tim Lawrenz (he/him)
SVP of Engineering
Tim Lawrenz joined Give Lively in 2019 after gaining experience in the healthcare and fintech sectors as the chief technology officer of Map Digital: Meta Meetings and vice president of engineering at RubiconMD, among other mission-driven organizations. In 2011, he immigrated to the U.S. from Berlin, Germany, where he studied information technology before supporting multiple startups to the point of successful exits. After work, you’ll find Tim in a climbing gym or ascending a rocky crag.
Matt Connelly (he/him)
Director of Product
Matt Connelly joined Give Lively in 2018 after founding a startup in the ed-tech space. He brings his background in economics, math, data science and engineering to his role, plus his love of all things Marvel, Star Wars and Harry Potter. Having personally benefited from philanthropic programs in his youth and graduated from Macaulay Honors College in New York, Matt has a deeply instilled ‘pay it forward’ mentality he brings to his work at Give Lively.
Kelsey Marshall (she/they)
Director of Customer Support
Kelsey Marshall is a customer support professional with a history of growing support teams in the e-commerce, retail and technology industries. Previously, they worked with the nonprofit organization State Bags in digital strategy and support, served as the customer success manager at fertility start-up Kindbody and acted as a learning delivery specialist on the Casper Sleep customer support team. When Kelsey isn’t leading the stellar customer service team at Give Lively, they are a writer and have self-published a book of essays.
Through Give Lively, more than 8,800 active member nonprofits have raised $750+ million in donations from 3.1+ million donors.
Quality of service
I sing the praises of the Give Lively team every chance I get. Unbelievable the quality of service and partnership you provide. I spoke with one person and they thought it was too good to be true when researching Give Lively, but I assured them it’s even better than they think it will be. Why anyone uses anyone else I have no idea!
~ Wendy Durst, Director of Operations at Film2Future
Better results and huge savings
Give Lively’s platform is performing better than [our prior platform]. It's also free to operate, which is dramatically saving us money.
~ Catherine Graham, Humanity Road
Empowering nonprofits
First and foremost, we love Give Lively because it’s free. The best way to empower nonprofits is to give them affordable tools to help them leverage their story. Give Lively understands that fees undercut the primary goal of nonprofit fundraising – which is mobilizing and connecting to donors so that you can carry out your mission. Give Lively’s tools are polished, modern, and easy to use. Setup was a breeze and we were impressed by the on-boarding experience. We hope to use Give Lively for all of our campaigns moving forward.
~ Britt Board, Program & Outreach Manager, Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden
Exceptional experience
It was fantastic to integrate Text-to-Donate. We were using [a competitor], which offered next to nothing. We will be using all dimensions of your platform.
~ Matthew Leone, Co-Founder of Charity Bomb
A nonprofit-driven company
We heard about Give Lively from a number of other nonprofits recommending it. We explored all of our options and Give Lively was by far the best.
~ Hannah Orenstein, Director of Communications and Creative at MALALA Fund
A new standard for philanthropy
Give Lively is setting a new standard for philanthropy. Their approach is efficient, proactive, but most of all KIND. The employees truly care about the nonprofits seeking assistance. 10/10 recommend.
~ Emily Malinowski | Google review
Transforming communities
I simply cannot say enough about how Give Lively's technology has transformed the work of our volunteer-led community Dollars for Scholars scholarship organizations, in diverse areas where there are digital deserts and low technology use. Without the free and powerful online donation and event tools Give Lively offers, and the thoughtful and individualized support, our volunteer leaders would simply not offer the option to donate online. All along the onboarding journey, Give Lively worked with us to create a successful transition. Thank you, Give Lively team!
~ Despina, Director of Community Engagement and Partnerships / Posted to G2.com
By the numbers
Our platform has:
Give Lively’s free tech has subsidized the cost of nonprofit fundraising by $90 million since 2017.
A closer look
Notable nonprofits served
We offer integrations with several useful products for nonprofits.
Salesforce
Give Lively offers a Salesforce integration specifically designed to complement the Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP). Once installed, it automatically connects and syncs donations, campaigns, events and more directly into Salesforce on an hourly basis. Salesforce is a paid service, however our integration is free. Learn more about the Give Lively integration with Salesforce.
Zapier
Zapier is a software company that automates connections between apps, turning everyday tasks into effortless workflows. In our case, Zapier allows nonprofits to connect Give Lively to 5,000+ other web services. The automated connections are called Zaps, which consist of a trigger and one or more actions; the trigger automatically initiates the action(s) through Zapier. Zaps can be set up in minutes with no coding.
Double the Donation
Give Lively provides an easy integration with Double the Donation's 360MatchPro. This helps nonprofit organizations raise more money and improve donor engagement by tapping into the matching gifts programs available through donors’ companies. Double the Donation is a paid service, however our integration is free. Learn more about the Give Lively integration with Double the Donation.
Stripe
Stripe is an industry-leading payment processor through which Give Lively processes the vast majority of donations made using our technology. Stripe is the required payment processor to securely manage financial transactions between nonprofits and donors on the Give Lively platform. Stripe offers special processing fees for qualifying nonprofit organizations, helping keep costs low for Give Lively members. Learn more about the Give Lively integration with Stripe.
PayPal
PayPal is another popular payment processor that nonprofits may choose as an optional, additional donation-processing method when using Give Lively. PayPal has discounted transaction rates for confirmed 501(c)(3) charities. Learn more about the Give Lively integration with PayPal.
Give Lively has long held a belief in the power of partnerships with like-minded organizations – organizations that are committed to collaboration, fairness, transparency, and, most importantly, not charging the nonprofits who trust us to help them.
Charity Navigator partnership
The launch in 2021 of Charity Navigator’s new Giving Basket is the next leg of our promising new journey into deep collaborations.
After more than two years of collaboration with Charity Navigator, the world’s largest and most trusted nonprofit evaluator, we created and launched the new and improved Giving Basket, which empowers donors to easily support multiple nonprofits in one convenient checkout, while controlling how much of their personal information is shared with each organization.
The Giving Basket also enables donors to pay via credit cards, ACH or digital wallets, and donate within a wider range of dollar values – all directly on the Charity Navigator website. Additionally, the new Giving Basket delivers donor dollars to nonprofits faster than ever before and at the lowest available third-party payment processing rates.
Learn more about our commitment to collaboration, values and a better future.
