Max Friedman is the Co-Founder and CEO of Givebutter, an innovative fundraising platform that empowers anyone to set up a fundraising campaign for free. Givebutter serves over 10,000 great causes.
In addition to Givebutter, Max is a board member of Humans for Education. He is also a content contributor to Forbes, as well as Fast Company‘s Leadership section.
1) What is Givebutter’s origin story, and what differentiates it from other fundraising platforms?
I started Givebutter in 2016 in our college dorm room with my two co-founders (roommates at the time), Ari Krasner and Leonard Cohen. We were trying a bunch of different ideas, and Givebutter was the one that actually worked. Though we had been raised to make giving a part of our lives from an early age, we actually didn’t originally set out to build a nonprofit fundraising platform. We had a friend starting a nonprofit who wanted to raise money online. They pitched us the problem that there’s not a lot of transparency with fundraising platform fees in this space, and many of the solutions available at the time lacked basic features.
We took that information, built a prototype for a new kind of giving experience, and then built the Givebutter brand around it. We said, “Let’s make online giving fun, social and transparent. Let’s make it something that’s actually enjoyable.” When we were doing our research, we also heard a lot of feedback from people who disliked whatever fundraising platform they were using. This disconnect seemed so strange to us because the process of doing things for charity should only feel good. So we kind of wrapped up all those ideas into Givebutter and had a quick win with our friend who raised $13,000 using the brand new software, surpassing their goal in 24 hours. Then we were off to the races.
What sets us apart? I think it is summarized by the fact that we are the only fundraising platform with a mascot. That speaks to our personality and what we’re all about. We believe nonprofit fundraising deserves all the same tech tools, UI experience, and modern development as any hot tech start-up – having a mascot demonstrates that commitment to the product itself. More fundamentally, though, we are building a better way to give. The name Givebutter is a play on words: Givebutter, give better. You hear that, and a lot of people think of giving as donating. Like, “I’m giving something,” and not necessarily getting anything in return. But giving is more than fundraising; it’s volunteering, lending your voice, and advocating for a cause. The Changemakers driving these causes are really at the heart of what we do. You may start as a donor, but then maybe you become a fundraiser, and then maybe you start your own nonprofit. We’re trying to build a brand that speaks to all those things in a positive way. Something that empowers you in whatever way you want to give. Givebutter’s a place where you can create your impact.
We offer fundraising pages, events, donation forms—and now, a CRM and a marketing platform too. You can send emails and texts to your supporters all in one place. And the whole platform is free. All of our revenue comes from tips and platform fees that donors cover. So, you don’t pay for the software, and donors cover most of our operating costs. That is what sets us apart.
2) A video from your website makes the assertion, “giving should be fun.” Science backs the “why” of this claim. How can one make giving more fun? Fill us in on the “how.”
The number one way you can make giving more fun is to make it social. When you think about having fun and doing fun things, they’re usually with other people. The more social you can make giving, the more you can bring people into what you’re doing, or find people who have shared interests, the more enjoyable of an experience it will be.
In the context of giving, there are many ways you can do that, whether it’s a giving circle, peer-to-peer fundraising, or encouraging folks to donate to a cause that you care about as part of a larger campaign or initiative. The most fundamental example of this on our platform is the donation feed. We spend a lot of time developing the feed to be as engaging as possible, encouraging donors to post GIFs or drawings, and enabling people to Like and Comment on Donations—almost like another social media feed. So donors are not just giving once and then losing sight of the cause, but they are becoming active members of the community around that cause. It makes the entire experience more fulfilling and supports greater donor retention.
Another example of this is hosting “—athons,” like a marathon or a danceathon, just physical challenges and fun ways to get people involved that bring groups of people together to give. It’s been hard during COVID, but Givebutter pioneered a virtual event platform where you can stream to your fundraising page and virtually interact with your community. We’re on Zoom all day, and not everyone wants to clock out of work and then get on another Zoom call; but we try hard to make it fun, engaging, and meaningful for people to do that. Those kinds of things are ways that you can make it more fun.
3) One problem sometimes found with being a changemaker is the ability to sustain your resolve given all of the world’s ills. In fact, burnout among philanthropists can be worse than that of workers because of one’s sense of duty to a cause. Since you live in a world of changemakers, how do the best ones maximize their impact while still maintaining the level of self-care needed to play the long game?
I love this question, and it’s something that I didn’t know until starting Givebutter, that philanthropist burnout can be higher than employee burnout, but it makes intuitive sense to me. I don’t think it’s that different, though, in terms of combating burnout.
A key solution for me around this problem is surrounding yourself with mentors who have been through what you are going through. Having people who’ve been there before, whether they’ve gotten burnt out themselves or not, but just people you can lean on when you are feeling burnt out, “Hey, how did you handle this situation? What did you do with that? Can you connect me with someone who’s done something similar?” Those are the people who have been lifesavers when I don’t know what to do, or I’m at the end of my rope. When I’m unsure where to turn or facing a challenge that feels too big, mentors have always been where I’ve gone—where I turn more than any other thing.
The other strategy: find something that makes you happy and just do that multiple times a week. Something that it is not work. For me, that’s intramural sports. I had this idea that I needed to go to the gym because that’s a thing that people do to be healthy, right? Well, I hate going to the gym. So, if you like it, good for you, that’s awesome. But for me, I love sports, and I like competition, and I have made it a priority to try to do that three times a week, which makes me happy. I check out from work. I do that. I come back, reset. I look forward to it every week.
4) Similarly, what advice do you have for someone eager to make an impact but just getting started? What are some strategies for gaining momentum and some pitfalls to avoid?
This is one of those counterintuitive things where failure’s often a prerequisite of success. You can’t be afraid of failure, or you’ll never get started. You’ll never get to where you ultimately want to be. So it’s this weird paradox where you have to be comfortable with that. I think a lot of people put up barriers to entry that may or may not be real: “I don’t have enough time. It seems hard. I don’t think I have the right skills.” And those things may be true to a degree, but you’ll never know if you don’t get started. You have to be okay with failing, so you can learn from your failings and grow—grow to ultimately get to a place where you can make the impact you desire.
So, my advice is to knock down some of those mental barriers to getting started. That’s the most important thing for someone who’s like, “I want to make an impact. I care about this thing, but X, Y, Z,” inserting all these “buts” as a form of self-sabotage. I think there are always things that you can do to move yourself forward. Get comfortable with the challenges and understand that failure is an option, and that’s okay.
5) Science supports the idea that contribution is more impactful when you make it social. What are some of the best ways you’ve seen that at play? And how do you best support the group you invite in, either through making things enjoyable or any other effective tactic you’ve seen?
We’ve seen peer-to-peer fundraising not only be one of the most effective, but also the most enjoyable ways to support a cause. Of all the reasons out there, the number one reason people donate to a cause is someone they know asked them to do it. It’s kind of a funny thing. If you were to say to me right now, “I want to fundraise for Ukraine. I really care about what’s going on right now. And I want to make an impact on that issue. I want to raise a thousand dollars.” How are you going to go about doing that? Intuitively, you will text, email, and reach out to people.
A lot of people are like, “I need to do this whole social media campaign.” They make things complex, but actually it’s pretty simple. You reach out to people who know you and trust you, who believe in you and want to support what you care about. Then, you make it easy to support you in something you care about and bring them into that cause. Many people are afraid of making the ask, but it’s one of the most effective ways to raise money. It makes it a lot more enjoyable when people you know participate in something you also care about. Peer-to-peer fundraising is the industry term for that, but “team fundraising” is what we always called it at Givebutter. It’s still one of our most popular and most effective ways to fundraise. And I think it is so successful because it works, and people love it.
One thing that we launched recently is the ability to send emails and text messages through the platform. So once you’ve got someone who’s given, you can send updates and keep them posted on your progress. Then if you ever want to run another campaign in the future, you can easily reengage that audience again.
