posted on 04/06/2010 by Esley Stahl
Sherri Dauskurdas of The Business Ledger (@BusinessLedger) recently featured GiveForward in their “Focus on Philanthropy” section. Dauskurdas writes: “A new online service is making it simpler than ever to give and raise funds… Online fundraisers are set up and marketed through the Web site. The program offers options to handle everything from photos, videos, event calendars and updates, and even thank-you notes to donors. GiveForward then sends a check directly to the beneficiary, minus 3 percent processing fees and the 2.6 percent credit card fees, with a letter outlining the efforts of the fundraiser.”
To view the entire article, please click here.
The Business Ledger is a newspaper serving suburban Chicago featuring local business news.
posted on 04/02/2010 by Esley Stahl
Recently, co-founder and second banana Ethan Austin was interviewed by Pepsi Refresh Project (@Pepsi) about GiveForward’s increasing presence in the medical fundraising world. In the interview, Ethan details how GiveForward has shifted from a general fundraising site to a site primarily dominated by medical fundraisers.
To read the interview in its entirety, please visit the Pepsi Refresh Blog here.
The Pepsi Refresh Project seeks people, businesses, and non-profits with ideas that have a positive impact on the community.
posted on 03/29/2010 by Esley Stahl
There’s little we love more than helping people fundraise for medical expenses, but if I had to choose a close second favorite, hearing people’s success stories would definitely be it!
Recently, Kim R. told us about her positive experience with GiveForward and I’m honored to share it with you guys.
Kim came to GiveForward to help raise money for her friend Chris’s medical expenses. She credits a lot of her success to the fundraising tips and tricks that we offer to our users: “Once my page for my friend Chris was posted, Ethan sent me a very nice e-mail of encouragement. He offered my friend some very valuable resources, gave us fundraising tips and put our page as a featured fundraiser. It was most definitely the personal touch.”
Kim also told us of the multiple ways in which people reached out to help: “Some people donated online at GiveForward, some paid utility bills directly and others sent cash and checks. We were all so struck by the generosity. It is so touching when utter strangers reach out and give to someone they don’t know.”
Kim admits that had she not discovered GiveForward, she does not know where she would have started in her attempts to help her friend. She stresses that GiveForward “legitimatized” her fundraiser, that it was easy to spread the word about it through email and on sites such as Facebook, and that taking credit card donations furthered the ways in which she could help her friend.
We are so glad that Kim had a positive experience and was able to help her friend Chris. Hopefully there will be many more of these stories to come, and we can’t wait to hear them!
posted on 03/15/2010 by Esley Stahl
When someone is first diagnosed with cancer one of the most common questions they ask is “how am I going to pay for treatment?” says Jeannie Moore, Patient Support Manager at the Colon Cancer Alliance. While most non-profit cancer organizations are not in a position to directly provide funds for each patient, they can now direct the patient or patient’s family and friends to GiveForward.
At GiveForward, we are thrilled to announce that we are making 2010 “the Year of the Partnership.” Since the beginning of the year, we have teamed up with some wonderful non-profit cancer organizations such as 
Alex’s Lemonade Stand, the Colon Cancer Alliance, and the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. Through these non-profits, patients and caregivers are referred to our site and services if they need to raise money for a loved one’s medical expenses. You can check out our full list of partners on our spiffy, new Partners page.
Help Us Spread The Word
Teaming up with these non-profit cancer organizations 
provides a vital way for GiveForward to connect with those in need of our fundraising services and that’s why we need your help. If you know of any cancer non-profits that would benefit from partnering with us, please contact us here. We are always looking for ways in which to reach out to people in need and our partners provide the most important link for that!
posted on 02/04/2010 by Ethan Austin
February 4 is World Cancer Day—a global day of awareness created by the International Union Against Cancer.
With so many members of the GiveForward community battling cancer, we hear every day from our community that words of 
encouragement from friends and family can make a HUGE difference in a cancer fighter’s attitude and health.
In honor of World Cancer Day, we’re encouraging everyone to take five minutes today to call or email someone you know battling cancer just to remind them that they’re not fighting this battle alone. If you really want to make a SUPER-DUPER, HUGE difference, take two minutes to email your friends or office workers and encourage them to do the same. If your friend battling cancer gets 10 emails today from friends and family just imagine how much that will cheer her up.
In addition to phone calls and emails here are some other silly ways you can cheer up a friend:
For more ideas on how to cheer up a friend battling cancer, check out a great organization called Spirit Jump, whose motto is “fighting cancer one gift at a time”.
Lastly, don’t forget to smile today! Laughter really is the best medicine.
