Last week I pitched Giving Jar at the Hatching, a local startup contest to encourage entrepreneurship in the Lansing area. I didn’t win the judge vote but I got a ton of applause and support from the audience.

I walked away feeling like Giving Jar needs to happen and I’m determined to give it my all to see that it does.

What is Giving Jar?

Have you ever bought something at a store and been asked to donate to charity while checking out?

Take that model of charitable giving, put it online and let the consumer choose the charity. That’s Giving Jar.

There are millions of purchases made online every year and it just blows me away that there isn’t a good way to encourage this form of donation online yet!¹

But Wait, There’s More!

Giving Jar is much more than another button you see when buying something online. It is a personal charity management service.

Imagine being able to research charities from one place and create a jar for each one that is the right fit for you. When shopping at Store A you can donate to one of those charities and at Store B you can donate to a different charity. After you turn on donations through an online store your setting is saved and future donations will happen automatically until you choose to opt out.

Donating online should be easy!

Media Time

I’ve embedded the slide deck that I used to present at the Hatching.

I will also try to get the video of my presentation. It would be handy for me to see as well because that whole five minutes was a blur but I’m also happy to share it with all who are curious!