![\"UG\"](\"http://pamelahawley.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/ug.jpg\" "\\"UG\\"")
UniversalGiving™ (www.UniversalGiving.org) is a social entrepreneurship non-profit whose vision is to “create a world where giving and volunteering are a natural part of everyday life.”™ Our web-based service helps people give and volunteer with exceptional organizations all over the world. Simply choose a country and an area of interest, and we\’ll get you started on your pathway to strategic giving or an enriching volunteer trip. We are the only international service that promotes quality giving and volunteering with our unique Quality Model ™, working through more than 200 nonprofit partners and a network of worldwide experts.
UniversalGiving\’s services are free to individuals and NGOs. In line with the UniversalGiving™ Standard, UniversalGiving does not take a cut on donations. We are committed to maximizing a donor\’s incentive to get involved and directly channel resources to where they are needed most. 100% of all donations given through the site go directly to the NGO or project of choice, differentiating us from other online services.
As an award-winning nonprofit, UniversalGiving™ has been featured in the New York Times, L.A. Times, Traditional Home Journal and is a 2006 Webby Award Honoree. Most recently, UniversalGiving has facilitated over $1,000,000 in donations and matched over 5,000 volunteers with our top-performing NGO partners
UniversalGiving™ has designed a unique Quality Model™. We work with trusted U.S. based and independent NGO (non-governmental organizations) partners. By working with international experts, UniversalGiving™ provides multiple levels of due diligence on NGOs: the most complete information in the industry. With our service, you can be sure that you are giving your support to reputable organizations and that your donation and volunteer efforts will make the greatest impact.
UniversalGiving™ also provides a customized service for corporations for their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, a service that generates revenue and contributes to our sustainability as a nonprofit organization. UniversalGiving Corporate™ (UGC) is a customized service designed for both multinational companies as well as domestic companies whose employees want to help our global communities. UGC provides due diligence and pre-qualifies NGO partners; facilitates global communications and marketing programs; and tracks results. Current clients include Cisco and BEA. UGC also offers a Disaster Response Plan for companies wishing to be proactive in addressing global crises. In addition to the corporate service, UniversalGiving™ provides customized models for Giving Circles.
We’re headed into an exciting area by helping companies manage their international giving and volunteer programs. Working with Cisco and BEA, for example, has allowed us to really scale *quality* giving all across the world. We help vet the nonprofits; enroll them in the corporate database, manage communications with employees and allow them to become involved.
At the same time, it contributes to UniversalGiving’s sustainability. We love this model of successful corporate services, which allows us to provide no cut on the donation — 100% goes to the nonprofit — so you the public user gets the service for free.
To us, this embodies true social entrepreneurship: Operating with business principles, we work with and sell into companies, generating revenue. But our “product” is the community. In this case our product is providing quality, vetted giving and volunteer opportunities all across the world. Since we generate revenue from the companies, the public user can give and volunteer through our site, for free.
I welcome your comments!
Sincerely Pamela