Fluxx | Technology news for grantmakers

We’ve written about this before but it bears repeating: collaboration is critical to the success of philanthropy. Not only is collaboration a core pillar of the philanthropic space – but true collaboration – the kind we see when our clients pool their grants to tackle a growing and serious issue, can result in life-changing impact.

For the past 110 years, March 8th has been a time to assemble and work toward equality on International Women’s Day (IWD). And while IWD is historically a time for women to make their voices heard and encourage a worldwide dialogue – this year’s #BalanceforBetter theme is a rallying cry for all people and organizations to focus on equality rather than inequality.

At Fluxx we take giving back seriously. It’s part of our mission and something our entire office embraces as a team. And while Giving Tuesday is just one component of our philanthropic work – we certainly get into the spirit!

Pledge 1% is a movement, a commitment, and a promise – and we are humbled to be a part of it. It allows us to expand on what we’ve already been doing: donating our time, our equity, and our product. The community is made up of incredible companies all working toward “building a movement in corporate philanthropy.” The likes of Salesforce, Box, Atlassian, Splunk, Twilio, Yelp, TechCrunch, and many more have joined.

Last month we shared our evolving vision for Fluxx: A philanthropy platform enabling funding and impact for organizations who fund change, and those who carry it out on the ground. Today we’re proud to take a step closer towards that vision through a collaboration with Microsoft’s Tech for Social Impact initiative.

Today, I  for the future at Fluxxcon: A platform for connected philanthropy, through which those who fund change, and those who carry it out on the ground, can find each other and work together. Connected philanthropy will get the right money to the right people at the right time.

Promoting diversity within your industry or workforce is an important step towards creating opportunities for your community. Yet teams often forget these efforts are more than just the right thing to do, but provide definitive, quantifiable improvements. The data is in: diverse teams also deliver better results. And nowhere is this more important than the giving space, a space that aims to support disenfranchised communities, and therefore should be representing said communities on their own teams.

Photo by Ingrid Damiani for the Jesse Ball duPont Center

Here at Fluxx we work with both funders and grantees, giving us a unique insight into just how much money is invested in the philanthropic sector. Last year alone, $5.2 billion moved through our platform in the form of grants. This money went from foundations straight to the trusted nonprofits they fund, who then affected meaningful change across communities worldwide.

As I look back on the growth and changes we’ve experienced to date in 2018 here at Fluxx, I’m reminded that it’s happened against the backdrop of exciting changes in philanthropy overall. It’s a remarkable time for anyone focused on giving and change-making. There was a record-breaking $410 billion in giving in the US last year, with an important shift in contribution sources, as contributions to DAFs (donor-advised funds) exploded.

Popular online magazine Slate recently released a new series about philanthropy. With The Slate 90, the journal will start ranking the largest American nonprofits by revenue, organized according to nine categories ranging from the arts to health. Its goal is to increase scrutiny of the growing philanthropic sector and provide what it calls “a more robust and useful portrait of the tax-free economy” and “the nonprofit-industrial complex” in particular. This snapshot of US philanthropy, based on 2015 data, shows the contemporary giving landscape.