We had a great year at ShoppingGives and we’re grateful for everyone who played a role in our achievements in 2021. We saw amazing growth all around— we welcomed new merchant partners to our Giving Economy, grew our team exponentially, continued to innovate and discover new ways to live by our values, and above all else, created the most impact that our Giving Economy has ever seen! Let’s take a look at our year in review.
Our Company Doubled in Size
We were privileged to have brought on new, amazing talent to our continuously growing team! At ShoppingGives, our team is made up of dreamers and doers who show up each and every day to help create a positive impact. This past year we brought on positions like Account Executives, a Director of Partnerships, a Product Manager, a Head of Social Impact, Software Engineers, and so many more!
Each member of our team helps us work towards our vision of creating a positive impact through everyday transactions and each individual is like a piece of the puzzle to help us get there. The team members that joined us in 2021 are helping ShoppingGives deliver new features, enable our merchant partners to expand their social impact initiatives and support them throughout their impact journey, innovate to ensure our partners’ experience with our technology is as seamless and enjoyable as possible, continue to grow our Giving Economy, and so much more.
This year, we devoted ourselves to personal development and invested in resources to help our team become the best versions of ourselves through continuous learning. We’re ever grateful for each member of our team’s commitment to innovating and growing with us, and we cannot wait to see the great things we will accomplish together! In 2022, we’re committed to continue growing our team and we’re hiring even more great individuals to join us! If you or someone you know is interested in making a positive impact everyday, check out our open roles.
We Launched the First Donation App for Shopify POS
We are so proud to have created and launched the very first donation app for Shopify POS! Through this integration, Shopify merchants are empowered to extend their online giving to their in-store customer base to create a positive impact wherever their customers choose to shop with them. Utilizing Change Commerce for Shopify POS is a great way for merchants to support causes that are meaningful to their local community as well as encouraging shoppers to convert when shopping in-store.
Anatomie, one of our Dedicated Impact Partners, utilized Change Commerce for Shopify POS for one of their pop-up events. Through their pop-up store in Westport, Anatomie utilized charitable giving at the point of sale location to extend their online giving initiatives to their in-store customers to create an even more engaging shopping experience. Through this activation, Anatomie supported No Kid Hungry on every purchase that was made at their Westport pop-up location.
We Hosted Exciting Events
We love being able to connect with others to discuss all things social impact and we had so much fun participating in and hosting events throughout the year. We kicked off the year with the Covid Effect on Brand-Charity Relationships and Predictions for 2021 webinar, had a great time at our RetailX cocktail hour, hosted our first-ever Agency Partner Showcase, discovered great insights at our eCommerce Essentials: Your Perfect Tech Stack for the Holidays webinar, partnered up with Shopify and ShopAF for the Shopify & ShoppingGives Presents: Omnichannel Holidays Social Impact 101 webinar, and partnered with ShopAF to participate in their unique marketplace pop-up events in Boston and Brooklyn! Here’s a deeper look into some of the events we had in 2021:
The Covid Effect on Brand-Charity Relationships and Predictions for 2021
We partnered with DTC Magazine, Sakara Life, MiiR, and Feeding America to discuss how 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic shifted the relationships between brands, consumers, and nonprofits. As a panel, we dove into what changed in 2020, how social impact shifted buying behavior pre-Covid vs post-Covid, The pressure for value-alignment from consumers on brands and what they are doing to keep up, and how incorporating authentic social impact is driving the future of commerce.
Shopify & ShoppingGives Presents: Omnichannel Holidays Social Impact 101
We partnered with Shopify to sit down with a panel of industry experts as they shared powerful insights on how Shopify brands could maximize their holiday efforts through social impact. We were joined by leaders from Shopify, American Field, Blind Barber, and Anatomie as they discussed how their businesses have found success in boosting AOV, conversion rate, and customer lifetime value by integrating social impact throughout their customer journey.
ShopAF x ShoppingGives: Boston & Brooklyn
We partnered with ShopAF to create unique marketplace pop-up events where direct-to-consumer merchants could combine commerce and donations. At these events, customers could shop for home goods, fashion, gifts, and everything in between, all while creating charitable donations with their purchases. For merchants who participated in these pop-up events, they were empowered to create more authentic and engaging experiences for their customers while sharing their amazing products.
We Supported Impactful Coalitions and Campaigns
At ShoppingGives, everything we do is centered around creating a positive social impact for charitable causes. In 2021, we partnered with some incredible nonprofit organizations to curate impactful coalitions that enabled these organizations to continue working towards their missions. Here’s some of the coalitions and campaigns that ShoppingGives was a part of this past year:
Global Green: Our Cities Coalition
We are proud to have been able to support Global Green and the City of Ojai in creating the Global Green: Our Cities Coalition— a partnership to build the first Global Green Community. This Global Green Community is an 8-acre Climate Park around Ojai’s City Hall that will serve as an educational center to teach the global community how to prevent global warming and live a completely eco-friendly lifestyle, all in a physical demonstration park.
Breast Cancer Awareness Coalition
We partnered with the National Breast Cancer Foundation to create the Breast Cancer Awareness Coalition, where we brought brands together to raise awareness and to fight for a world without breast cancer. As the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States, about one in eight American women will develop breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
Fighting Hunger Coalition
Launching on World Food Day, we partnered with Feeding America, Heifer International, Rise Against Hunger, and Food Bank for NYC to create the Fighting Hunger Coalition. Around the world, as many as 811 million people still go hungry, and food insecurity has soared globally because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this coalition, brands were able to raise funds for organizations that are tackling food insecurity each and every day.
Trans Awareness Campaign
We partnered with Trans Lifeline to create the Trans Awareness Campaign. This campaign brought brands together to support trans lives and futures by fundraising for Trans Lifeline, an organization that is working to interrupt cycles of transphobia and violence against trans people.
We Brought Home Some Great Awards and Nominations
We’re always proud of the accomplishments that our team is working towards each day, but it’s even more fulfilling to see those accomplishments noticed by others as well! In 2021, ShoppingGives received great recognition for our hard work and we couldn’t be more ecstatic to have our social impact efforts honored.
This year, ShoppingGives was named Best Integration Partner for the Yotpo 2020 Partner Awards, we were recognized as a 2021 World Changing Ideas honoree from FastCompany, we were included in the 101 Top Illinois Social Companies and Startups of 2021 by BestStartup, our Change Commerce app was featured as a Shopify Staff Pick for the third time, we were the winner of the Best Emerging Technology category for the 2021 SIIA CODiE Awards, we were selected as a Top 100 Finalist for the Chicago Innovation Awards, we were selected as a Timmy Awards Finalist for Best Tech for Good, and we won the The Drum Award for Social Purpose in the Best Use of Technology category.
Best Integration Partner - Yotpo 2020 Partner Awards
We’re honored to have won this award and be recognized for helping merchants create more authentic and impactful loyalty experiences for their customers! Through our integration with Yotpo Loyalty, we’re able to empower our merchant partners to create a unique loyalty program that builds more authentic relationships with their customers through combining rewards and donations.
Through this partnership, merchants can reward their customers with loyalty points when they opt-in to select a cause and create a donation with their purchase, and they can also reward loyalty points when their customers choose to add-on a donation of their own on the purchase. Merchants can also enable their customers to redeem their loyalty points for an additional donation later on.
Best Emerging Technology - 2021 SIIA CODiE Awards
The CODiE Awards recognize the companies producing the most innovative business technology products across the country and the world, and we’re so proud to be recognized as a great technology tool that is solving problems and making an impact! At ShoppingGives, our team is always innovating and discovering how we can help create the most impact for charitable organizations through our technology, and we are committed to continue going for the galaxy in 2022 and beyond.
Best Use of Technology - The Drum Awards for Social Purpose
The Drum Awards for Social Purpose recognizes a technology that is enhancing social good campaigns and making the world a better place, and we’re honored to have been selected amongst great companies! Through our technology, we want to make it as seamless as possible for merchants like you to integrate social impact into your business so you can create a positive impact for the causes you care about most, while also doing well for your business. This year, we will continue to make advancements in our technology so we can empower you to create more meaningful customer relationships through social impact.
That’s a Wrap!
We are grateful for the achievements that we had in 2021 and we cannot wait to see what 2022 will hold. Thank you to all who are supporting us through this journey, and we’re excited to continue creating a positive impact together this year!