What is GiveRichmond.org?

This story goes back two years to when Aaron Dotson, our friend from Elevation Advertising, invited me to a coffee at Starbucks.  In that meeting I agreed to help him out with an idea that revolved around a website and gift cards that would enable people to "give the gift of charity" to others.

Fast forward two years later, Aaron calls me and says "remember that coffee we had two years ago?"

The website is now a project of the great folks at The Community Foundation, who along with some great partners have created GiveRichmond.org.

At its heart, the portal is a resource for 200+ Richmond non-profits.  You can find out just about everything you'd want to know about them like mission, board members, in-depth financials, etc.  All the information has been vetted by the folks at TCF.  As it grows, the ability to learn about topics important to the non-profit community will grow as well.  Finally, you can select any of the organizations on the site and either donate to them directly though the site, or "give the gift of charity" by buying a "gift card" and sending it to someone else who then can go on the site and designate one of the organizations as a recipient.  Cool.

GiveRichmond.org is now on Facebook and on Twitter at @GiveRichmond.  Please "like" and follow.

Next week is also GiveRichmond week with lots of interesting events culminating with HandsOn Day in Richmond, a wonderful volunteer event.

As Aaron said to me during our first coffee two years ago, "Wouldn't it be cool if every person could go on the site and instead of buying someone a sweater, tie or can of peanuts for the holidays, they sent someone the gift of charity?"

So, wouldn't it?