5 years ago we saw a shift in the consumer mindset take place-- the best price, deals, and discounts were no longer the only things that we, as the consumer, looked for. We were becoming agents of change and demanding that retailers align with our values and do more than turn a profit.
However, it is not accessible or easy for retailers to participate in social impact and cause marketing. Historically, the retailer puts the burden of the donation on the customer, by asking them to contribute their own dollars or round-up on purchases. If the retailer wants to give back based on the purchase amount, otherwise known as cause marketing, there is another set of hindering factors. Regulation and consumer protection laws tack on a heavy cost burden. All the while, brands must manage this while also aiming to create an authentic impact. They often make an educated guess in choosing a nonprofit that is aligned with their consumer, which can then be perceived as inauthentic. All of this, in addition to the difficulty of measuring impact against the bottom-line, makes it challenging for retailers to shift more dollars or add incremental budgets.
This is why we created ShoppingGives, a social impact commerce platform. We are democratizing social impact, making cause marketing accessible for retailers of any size to give to any nonprofit, and enabling the retailer to include the customer in the decision process -- a native and frictionless experience in the customer journey. We do this by providing a turn-key solution that manages all regulation and enables the customer to support the causes that are most important to them. This provides the retailer with invaluable insights on what matters most to their customers and makes social impact measurable against their bottom-line.
Today we're proud to announce we've raised $5.5M in a Series Seed to expand The Giving Economy, in the pursuit to enable every transaction to create positive social impact by connecting retailers, customers, and nonprofits with our seamless donation process.
This investment, led by Caffeinated Capital with participation from Tuesday Capital, SciFi VC, Background Capital, Red Dog Capital, 20VC, Global Founders Capital, Big Future Fund, Rogue Capital, Night Capital, Manresa Ventures, Sugar Capital, and other strategic investors in the eCommerce and fintech space, positions us to expand our team, solutions, and ultimately social impact.
As a Certified B Corporation, our goal at ShoppingGives has always been to align profits with impact. Our business is built on a strong foundation of values, which drives our team to create solutions that integrate as part of our merchant partners' core business. By incorporating our solutions throughout their marketing and customer journey, retailers are not only creating massive impact, but creating higher-converting customer experiences, building more authentic relationships, and building a more loyal customer base as well.
Our Impact to Date.
The Giving Economy has grown to 1400+ integrated partners this year.
Through our network of merchant partners, these retailers and their customers have selected over 5,500 nonprofit organizations to benefit from their purchases, which resulted in providing over 8,000,000 meals to families in need, supplying medicine to 170,000 individuals in crisis, housing for 2,000 LGBTIQ+ individuals during COVID, planting hundreds of thousands of trees, and creating countless, unquantifiable moments of impact for thousands of causes.
We do not shy away from the idea that if we can enable our merchant partners to make more, we can enable them to give back more. Our retail partners have seen Conversion Rate Increases of 19% and Cart Value increases as high as 28% when customers opt-in to create impact. Doing good can and should mean doing well.
Tomorrow, Today.
One of our core values at ShoppingGives is "We invest in Tomorrow, Today" Understanding that change is a marathon, not a sprint, we invest in the future through solutions and strategies that help us to continuously improve ourselves and our products to best serve our customers and the world.
COVID was unexpected, no one could have planned for this - and yet, what we built was exactly what the world needed. We were and are here to support retailers through this transformation, and we have taken on the responsibility as a team to enable customers to vote with their wallets, and we will continue to enable nonprofits of any size to gain access to funds otherwise inaccessible.
We're dreamers and doers. We're ever-evolving, and always grateful. The one thing we stand behind is the idea of constant change and being uncomfortable. We move fast, and we don't know all the answers, which is why we will stay committed to constantly collaborate, ask our community and each other for help, and ask questions even when it's not easy. Our mission stays constant, our execution contains flaws, yet always with conviction and passion we are learning, growing, and evolving.
With these new investments, we will grow our team of Impact Agents at ShoppingGives to further expand our vastly growing network of incredible merchant partners. We will expand our technology to further enable frictionless giving with every transaction -- both online and offline, partnering with the world's leading financial institutions and systems.
You truly have the power to change lives, own your outcomes, and drive the future We welcome you to join us in The Giving Economy.
To the Galaxy with gratitude,
Ronny Sage & The ShoppingGives Team