RIP AmazonSmile. iGive Steps Up to Fill the Gap with Double the Donations
The originator of the shop-to-give model has always offered higher donations than AmazonSmile. Founder Rob Grosshandler says this is iGive’s moment.
Since 2013, more than one million nonprofits across the globe have benefited from donations through AmazonSmile, Amazon’s successful shop and donate program. With the company’s recent announcement that they will shut down the program, iGive, the original online charity mall model, is stepping up to fill the void for charities and philanthropic shoppers alike, helping both give and get more donations than with AmazonSmile.
A pioneer of e-Philanthropy, Chicagoan Rob Grosshandler designed the online charity mall model and launched iGive.com in 1997. iGive.com is the first online shopping mall where a portion of each purchase at thousands of stores is donated to charity. The company has one purpose — to turn everyday online shopping into donations for worthy causes, at no cost to shoppers or the causes they support.
Since its inception, iGive has grown to more than 350,000 members supporting 100,000+ causes and raised over $10 million. Members generate donations by shopping online at any of 2,000+ retailers. There are no added costs, obligations, or hidden fees to the shopper or the charity.
The advent of AmazonSmile slowed the expansion of iGive, even though its retailers offer a far greater percentage of money given back (up to 26%) created a meaningful difference for participating nonprofits.
“When AmazonSmile started, we were happy and a little sad. Happy that the world’s biggest store was fulfilling our dream of making every transaction help charities and sad because they sucked the air right out of our sails. We shrank and it took years for other stores to be able to compete with Amazon,” said Grosshandler. “To their credit, Amazon trained millions of shoppers to expect a portion of every purchase to benefit their favorite nonprofit. And now, Amazon’s competitors have upped their game, so it’s a much more level playing field. It’s our opportunity to expand iGive to fill the gap for our shoppers make an even bigger social impact.”
Consumers and nonprofits immediately jumped on board upon the AmazonSmile announcement, re-concentrating marketing efforts to push their communities towards iGive to ensure that they still had an easy way for people to give while shopping. For the same amount of shopping (the same “share of wallet”), an iGive shopper can double or better the amount that goes to his or her cause, at no extra cost to them or the cause.
“More than one million charities will lose a key funding source this month, and the iGive team is already seeing the scramble for financial stability,” says Grosshandler. “The loss of Amazon’s support was felt immediately by charities. Overnight, their concerns turned into a 600% increase in consumers using and signing up with iGive.”
A Career in Giving Back
After iGive, Grosshandler saw even more opportunity in helping consumers leverage their own economic power to help themselves. In 2015, he and his cofounders created iConsumer, the free loyalty program that makes shoppers shareholders in a publicly traded startup.
For Grosshandler, iConsumer was another way of making a social impact in a way no one had done before. iConsumer is for people who want to change themselves and the system while iGive is for people who want to benefit others. Most of iConsumer’s 85,000 shopper/shareholders have never owned stock in a public company, let alone participated in a startup. Each time consumers make a qualifying purchase; they receive shares in iConsumer.
“We started iConsumer for two reasons. First, because we think the world will be a better place if more people are involved in the fabric of our economy. Second, because it’s a really cool way to build a great big business where the people who really build the business, the members, share in the potentially great rewards. Instead of Wall Street or some faceless venture capitalist making the big bucks, it’s ordinary people who get the chance to win,” says Grosshandler.
Doubling the Impact
In an effort to ease some of the financial burden charities are facing with the AmazonSmile shutdown, 2000+ retailers on iGive are offering at least double the donation rate than those found on AmazonSmile through March 31, 2023.
Shoppers who use iGive will have a greater impact than those who used AmazonSmile. iGive donations range from .6 to 26 percent of the total purchase price, depending on the retailer. That’s compared to AmazonSmile’s flat donation rate of only .5 percent.
For example, using iGive, a $50 online purchase can generate $1.25 more in charity donations compared to using AmazonSmile. Over time, this adds up faster, creating a greater impact for small nonprofits.
iGive shoppers can make a purchase from retailers like Walmart, Chewy, Kohl’s, and Expedia, and choose from over 100,000 small and large nonprofits to which to donate. iGive shoppers have chosen to support tens of thousands of charities from pets to social services, religious institutions to schools and many others.
“It’s the small, hyper local charities that are hurt the most when funding dries up, so we’re eagerly racing to ease the donation transition for our more than 100,000 charity partners.”
To date, shoppers using iGive have donated more than $10 million with its proprietary shop-to-give software.
How it Works
To start donating with iGive, simply create a free account on iGive.com and begin browsing your favorite retailers and charities. On the iGive account dashboard, shoppers can save their favorite stores, see how much iGive shoppers have donated to their favorite causes, and view their total donation amount to-date.
Downloading the iGive browser extension or mobile app for free, makes searching, shoppng and donating to a cause even easier by allowing consumers to shop for items they want and automatically see which retailers are iGive participants and the percentage they give back. The mobile app allows shoppers to set a notification so you don’t miss a donation opportunity.
To learn more about how iGive works, check out the ‘How to Shop’ video.
