30+ Social Giving Sites that Connect People to Causes and Nonprofits

With so many social media sites, tools, and technologies on the internet, we have more access to causes and nonprofits than ever before. The convergence of social media and activism has given rise to a new wave of “social giving” sites that are helping people discover, engage with, and support the causes and nonprofit organizations they care about.

From the lone activist to large nonprofits, social giving sites present organizations of any size with an opportunity to discover new, exciting ways to expand their online presence, increase awareness, mobilize volunteers, and garner support and donations from multiple fronts.

Here’s a look at more than 30 social giving sites that are revolutionizing the way people and nonprofits connect:

30+ Social Giving Sites

(in alphabetical order)

Social Giving Site	About
	ActiveCause — ActiveCause, The Social Giving Network™ brings together nonprofits, corporations and individuals to form vibrant, self-activating communities. Has a host of innovative features and tools to empower philanthropists to spark change where it’s most needed.
	Amazee — A platform that empowers individuals and organizations to initiate and promote their ideas and plans in groups, to find like-minded people and raise funds.
	Betterplace.org — Large online donation platform connecting organizations in need of support with people who want to help, one-to-one, worldwide.
	Bring Light — Connects donors and charities to create a way for more informed and effective online fundraising. On Bring Light, approved Charities describe specific fundraising needs. Donors can then make donations via credit card or they can establish a Donor Account.
	Causecast — Gives nonprofit organizations an effective and aesthetically-pleasing forum to promote their ideas, raise money and increase awareness on the internet. Has slowly evolved into an inspired community of leaders and individuals, news and media, and tools used to take action like donating, volunteering, petition-signing and creating original content.
	Causes — Positions itself as the world’s largest platform for activism and philanthropy. Empowers individuals to create grassroots communities called “causes” that take action on behalf of a specific issue or nonprofit organization. Since 2007, Causes has brought together 140M users, raised $30M for over 25,000 nonprofits, and helps 500,000 user-created causes.
	Change.org — Start, join, and win campaigns for social change. Campaigns can be about anything, from supporting curbside recycling programs to fighting wrongful deportation. Change.org members start campaigns around thousands of different issues.
	Changents — Connecting the people that help the world (change agents) to the people that help them.
	ChangingThePresent — Connects people to more than 1500 meaningful charitable gifts offered by nonprofits worldwide. Lets you browse by cause or nonprofit name; members can also create charitable gift wishlists.
	Citizen Effect — Gives “Citizen Philanthropists” the ability to choose a project, leverage their social networks, and communicate directly with a partner community. Partners actively manage projects so they can seamlessly share information with Citizen Philanthropists and directly report on the impact projects are having on the ground.
	Crowdrise — Crowdrise, a unique blend of crowdsourcing, social networking, and other incentives, is all about online fundraising, event fundraising, volunteering and having the most fun in the world while doing it.
	DeliverGood — Builds efficiencies into the charitable giving process by connecting charities and non-profits who need stuff with people and companies who have stuff to give.
	DoSomething.org — One of the largest organizations in the US connecting young people to the causes they care about by creating a culture of volunteerism through web, TV, mobile and social media.
	FirstGiving — Partners with nonprofits to allow them to plan, execute, and measure successful online fundraising campaigns with FirstGiving’s fundraising software. For individual fundraisers, makes raising money online easy, effective, and fun.
	Getinvolved — Matches you to volunteer opportunities that are right for you based on your interests, causes you care about, and the skill sets you have to offer.
	Givealittle — A New Zealand based site, Givealittle exists to make good things happen. Part of a wave of online ventures worldwide figuring out ways to use the web to create a real difference offline. Members can donate to hundreds of online charities, and nonprofits can create member pages to increase awareness and collect donations online.
	GiveMeaning — An online fundraising site emphasizing creative fundraising ideas and other unique forms of charity donation.
	Givology — Partners with leading grassroots nonprofit organizations, local communities, and schools to sponsor education grants and innovative community-based education projects.
	GlobalGiving — Connects you to over 1,000 pre-screened grassroots charity projects around the world. Project Leaders post their causes and details about what they need, giving donors an inside look at the project’s unique needs and work being done.
	idealist.org — Users can search for volunteer opportunities, events, and other concrete ways to get involved. Organizations can create profile pages to advertise their presence and recruit people to the cause by connecting with volunteers, donors, and supporters.
	Jumo — A social network connecting individuals and organizations who want to change the world. Leveraging connection technologies, Jumo enables people to find, follow and support those working toward solutions on the ground in their community and in regions across the globe.
	Network for Good — Secure, convenient donation system that makes it possible to give to any charity, anywhere, anytime online. Processes donations for over 1.2 million charities via DonateNow.
	Philanthroper — A giving site with an interesting twist: think “Groupon”, except donating instead of buying. Every day, Philanthroper features a different nonprofit/charity on its ad-supported site and invites visitors to donate just a single dollar. Philanthroper takes no cut from donations.
	Pifworld — An online charity platform where your donation goes directly to personally selected projects. Via video updates, you can see the change made possible. On the website you can donate to projects you like and act to make a change.
	Piryx — Makes fundraising easy by connecting people with the causes they care about online; charges a small transaction fee to cover donation processing.
	Razoo — Search for and donate to nearly 1 million officially registered nonprofit organizations; set up a fundraiser for a charity of your choice in minutes; your donation or fundraiser can be shared with millions who believe in you and your cause.
	SixDegrees.org — Support your favorite charities by donating or creating fundraising badges — as well as check out the favorite causes of other people, including celebrities. You can also pay it forward with “Good Cards” - gift cards for charity that can be redeemed as a donation to more than 1 million charities.
	Small Change Fund — Empowers you to make big change with small change. Discover, share, connect with, and support grassroots projects in communities across the country – projects that need just a small amount of money to make a real and significant impact in the world.
	Social Actions — Connects you to the issues and causes you care about via subscription alerts to “action packs” grouped around popular causes, such as health care, human rights, and the green movement.
	VolunteerMatch — Makes it easy for good people and good causes to connect. Offers a variety of online services to support a community of nonprofit, volunteer and business leaders committed to civic engagement. Welcomes millions of visitors a year and is a preferred internet recruiting tool for more than 76,000 nonprofit organizations.
	YourCause — Uses personalized web pages to leverage member’s voices, networks, and spheres of influence to improve the lives of others and connects their causes to relevant charities. Offers more than 25 nonprofit categories and boasts over 1.2 million registered nonprofits.

Do you know of any other great social giving sites? Tell us about them in the comments below and we’ll consider adding them to our list!

10 Comments »

1. TisBest Philanthropy invented the Charity Gift Card in 2007, allowing a gift giver to make a charitable donation and a gift recipient to choose a charity to receive the donation. TisBest Charity Gift Cards are used by consumers and businesses alike, as an alternative to giving “more stuff.”

     Comment by Erik Marks — March 4, 2011 @ 4:07 pm

2. Thanks for this wonderful list of great resources for giving and volunteering. Another good one is UniversalGiving (http://www.universalgiving.org). They have opportunities in more than 70 countries, and all nonprofits appearing on their site have to pass their unique Quality Model, so you know you’re finding the top-performing nonprofits to give to or volunteer with.

     Comment by Cheryl Mahoney — March 4, 2011 @ 5:10 pm

3. Thanks for adding our company: LiveGiving.tv

   Get your own Video Site for non-profits
   You have 50 or more videos appearing on a video sharing site?
   Own your Own Video Channel to increase views and donatiions to your videos.
   LiveGiving gives you for free a simple solution for publishing your videos, increase views and and get donations from your own Video Site.
   All the best
   Mel

     Comment by Mel Borenstein — March 6, 2011 @ 3:15 am

4. Here’s a brand new one that looks very promising: http://startsomegood.com/

     Comment by Rebecca — March 7, 2011 @ 2:17 pm

5. Great list, thanks for compiling!

   Here’s a new site, launching soon, that will also live in this great social fundraising sphere: http://www.karmagoat.com

   Baaaaa.

     Comment by Jonathan — March 22, 2011 @ 6:22 am

6. Sorry for second post, but the link didn’t appear in the precedent comment: http://livegiving.tv/
   Thanks

     Comment by Mel Borenstein — March 27, 2011 @ 3:59 am

7. I would appreciate your kind assistance, I am trying to recall the name of an online giving website that matches donors to individuals in need.

   Examples of help rendered on the site is matching donors to people who need one off assistance (paying their rent, getting their cars fixed or their credit card bills paid).

   Money is not given directly to the recipient but rather to a creditor or to the person performing a service for them.

   Thanks in advance for your kind assistance.

   Best Regards,
   Connaught Black.

     Comment by Connaught Black — May 16, 2011 @ 1:11 pm

8. Just launched our Beta version of our social enterprise social giving site. Would love any exposure or feedback you may have!
   Thanks, Dan/Founder Wishfrogs

   Wishfrogs gives you the edge to raise money for charities in 3 simple steps. Wish. Share. Give.

     Comment by Wishfrogs/Dan — March 30, 2012 @ 4:56 pm

9. Thanks so much for featuring us in this AWESOME post (sorry we are a bit late on the thanks - just discovered this article!) shoot us an email if you have any questions about the site ([email protected]). Keep on giving on…

     Comment by Getinvolved.ca — May 23, 2012 @ 3:07 pm

10. Thanks for putting this list together. Any recommendations as to which site(s) best enable a group to raise funds for specific non-profit causes?

    Also, active cause and Amazee appear to be disbanded or not working…

    Thanks!

      Comment by Scott — June 27, 2012 @ 3:24 pm

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