Social Donations

Goodworld channels $25K to charity in 1 tweet

Hashtag donate inspires the largest donation on Twitter ever

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but one tweet from Todd Hitt, Washington, D.C.-based Kiddar Capital founder, is worth $25,000 for the Alexandria-based Child & Family Network Centers of tuition-free preschools. Hitt tweeted out his donation with the help of social enterprise startup Goodworld, which offers direct donation to partner charities with a hashtag.

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"This is our biggest donation yet, the last was for $22,000," Goodworld founder Dale Pfeifer told DC Inno in an interview. "And it's a really really great charity."

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CFNC offers free bilingual preschool to families who might not be able to afford to send their children to a preschool otherwise. It's a charity that Hitt has supported before, but never with quite as much ease. That's a central part of the appeal of the company, which is based out of startup incubator 1776.

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"I think he sent the tweet from the airport before flying," Pfeifer said. "This is where things are heading. It used to be you would collect mailers all year and select a few to send checks too, but millennials look online to donate."

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Pfeifer makes a credible case about Goodworld's model representing where charitable groups need to look for new donors. Even though most people aren't giving in the five-figure range like Hitt, the fact that 63% of people who donate on Goodworld have never given to their chosen cause before represents quite a lot of potential giving. And bigger donors will take their cue from people like Hitt. That means even bigger numbers in the pipeline for some charities soon, and a bigger range of potential recipients all the time.
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"The more people use it, the bigger the reverberations will be," Pfeifer said. "It's a social tool and screening network where friends can support the causes each likes."