People in a room listening to GivKwik CEO, Jason Rosado, speak

PRESS
GivKwik and Vodafone Americas Foundation Give Away $20K+

December 15, 2016  

Source: GivKwik


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GivKwik and Vodafone Americas Foundation Give Away $20K+

for #GivingTuesday!

New York, New York, December 14, 2016--On the evening of #GivingTuesday, November 29, an eager crowd gathered in downtown Manhattan to watch ten New York City nonprofits pitch their causes on stage in a competition to walk home with a $10,000 grant. Leave it Better Foundation, which teaches kids how to grow food and care for the environment, was voted the winner by the audience. Director Graham Meriwether responded, "We're so humbled and grateful. With the much-needed funds, we'll buy new cameras for our students, and we'll bring our program to a special needs school."

GivKwik, which hosted GIV.NYC, raised over $20,000 through corporate grants, public donations, in-kind donations, and event registration fees, to benefit the featured nonprofits that night. Corporate sponsor Vodafone Americas Foundation generously underwrote the Grand Prize of a $10,000 grant for the top winner. In-kind prizes were offered by Impact Hub NYC, Catchafire, and Headlines for the Hopeful.

"We were very happy to continue our partnership with GivKwik for the GIV.NYC 2016 event," said June Sugiyama, Director, Vodafone Americas Foundation. "It's a great opportunity to engage our New York-based Vodafone employees to learn about local nonprofits and recognize the great work they accomplish. Leave It Better is driving social good in the New York community and GIV.NYC is a great place to showcase their impact."

Comedian Kyle Grooms set the mood for the evening with a standup routine. He was then joined onstage by WNYW/Fox TV meteorologist Audrey Puente to co-host the show. Jenny Santi, author of the book The Giving Way to Happiness, gave an inspiring keynote address, encouraging the audience to find friends to be philanthropic with, saying "Our passion should be the foundation of our giving." As each presenter delivered their message, visual artist Jonny Goldstein of VisualizeGood hand-drew their concepts on canvas. Local musicians Cuarteto Guataca, led by Joshua Levine, provided smooth latin rhythms throughout the night as the house band.

"There are many reasons to be inspired. More importantly, there's a lot of good work that needs to be done. We want people to feel like they can and should take action to instill positive change for their community by learning what others are achieving and by following their lead," said Jason Rosado, CEO of GivKwik.

GIV.NYC brought together causes, companies, and communities from all five boroughs of New York City to inspire charitable giving in a unique way, as part of the broader #GivingTuesday movement. See the live show as well as the scope of GIV.NYC's impact in the Building Bridges infographic. Event partners included Foossa, Malka Media, RadishLab, and TVP.NYC.
GivKwik launched the campaign with 85 registered nonprofits, representing a broad range of causes and missions. A digital campaign was launched in the fall and two rounds of voting determined the top ten finalists, see below.Donations are still being accepted for all of the nonprofits.
GIV.NYC's Ten Nonprofit Finalists. From Queens: All About Rabbits Rescue; From the Bronx: Build NYC; From Staten Island: Fund for Public Housing; From Brooklyn: Life Vest Inside (last year's winner), Tech Kids Unlimited, and WITNESS; From Manhattan: Footage Foundation, Leave It Better Foundation, Prep for Prep, and Showered With Hope.
GivKwik is a purpose-driven software company, with a mission to connect companies, causes, and communities. Learn more here.
Vodafone Americas Foundation mobilizes communities by bringing people together from all sectors: business, nonprofit, government, employees and even our customer base, to resolve shared problems and advance social change. The Foundation's annual Wireless Innovation Project is currently accepting applications from nonprofits, universities, non-governmental organizations, and social entrepreneurs with connected innovations designed for social good. If you're interested in the program, learn more.

Follow us:

www.giv.nyc/

www.facebook.com/givnyc

www.twitter.com/givnyc

For more information contact:

Jason Rosado, CEO, GivKwik

(646) 785-7853

jason.rosado@givkwik.com

Cyndie Burkhardt, Marketing/PR, GivKwik

(212) 581-5044

cyndie.burkhardt@givkwik.com