Calgary app-makers pioneering the new wave of online giving

Looking for a way to give on the go this holiday season? Well, there just might bean app for that.

Charitable giving is on the rise in Canada, reaching almost $13billion in 2014, with much of that being donated around the holiday season.

But how people give is changing, and facilitating that change is big business for anemerging group ofsocial entrepreneurs like Bryan de Lottinville,the founder of Calgary based Benevity.

Benevityhas found success marketing its software, which helps employers andemployeesdonatetime and money more effectively, to some of of the biggest corporations in the world.

DeLottinvillesays that increasingly people want to give where and when they want, oftenusingtheir smartphones or tablets.

"With young people it's 'I want transparency, Iwant accountability, I want interactivity,'" said de Lottinville.

Benevitynow helps about two million employees at companies like Apple, Google, Coca-Cola and Nike give to charities in real time using the companies' software.

To date, those employees have used Benevity'splatform to donateclose to $400 millionto 60,000 global charities over the last sevenyears. The company expects to handle nearly half a billion dollars in donations next year alone.

Largest online donation platform in the world

"It's a small drop in the total bucket, but even at those numbers, we are likely the largest online donation platform in the world and we're based in little oldCalgary," de Lottinville said.

And Benevity isn't the only Calgary company pioneering new ways of giving.

JayBaydalaco-foundedGoodpin,an app that allows people to give to charitiesusing theirsmartphones,a big draw formillennialswho will soon make up half of the country's workforce.

"Catch them in a moment, remove the barriers, make it fun and easy and give them stuff,because they are changing the world and making a difference," Baydala said.

Baydalaaddsthe keys to Goodpinareits immediacy and its ability to create incentives to potential donors immediately.

"I would be walking down the street with my Goodpinapp onmy phone ... and it would tell me that there is $10 of free money to give to charity from Starbucks, if I then go in and donate my own money as well, then that same institution can give me ...a free coffee or some sort of an offer," he said.

Goodpinthenmakes its money by acceptingtips from the brands they represent and the people who use the app.

Baydala seesmutually beneficialinteractions like these as the future of charitablegiving, and hebelieves smartphones are the key to making them happen,

"The move towards mobile, the move towards visual and the move towards social, it's just a natural that it would finally make a move into the social-good space," Baydala said.

Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that Calgaryhas become a hub for companiesinvolved in charitable giving. Donations in Alberta have doubledfrom $1.2 billion to $2.4 billion per year over the last decade.

"Something really special is taking place in Calgary these days ... people are really creating new and interesting ways to do social entrepreneurship, to help make a difference in the world, while also doing business," said Baydala.

Enabling easier giving

Gena Rotsteinis another of those entrepreneurs.

Rotstein justlaunched thecardthat.givesthis holiday season,a twist on the traditional gift card where the giver loads thecardwith cash, thatthe recipientcandonate to one of more than 1.5 million charities in North America.

Rotstein's company then charges a small fee to activate the card.

"We are actually enabling easier giving... why notmake it super simple and empower people to buy stuff that can actually do other good things?"

Rotsteinbelieves that making giving easier will mean more people will donateto charities, "making the pie bigger."

She says her card will also make charities more efficient."We take over the reporting and the documentationso the charities don't have to worry about ...finding the volunteers to manage the donation flow or pay for the administration costs associated with the transactions."

Business of giving booming

Rotsteinsays there is a simple reason so many social entrepreneurs are springing up in Calgary,"Alberta and Calgary have this kind of entrepreneurial spirit where anybody will still take a phone call from us."

That spirit, and a concentration of wealth,make Calgary the perfect place for the business of giving to boom, she says.

James Stauch, the director of Mount Royal University's Institute for Community Prosperity, agrees. He saysthe real growth in charitable givingwill take place online.

"Absolutely you have to have a website as a charity, but beyond that it really should be mobile-optimized, that is a really critical piece."

Stauch saysone advantage ofhaving charities working onlineis that it is easy for potential donors to check whether they are legitimate.

One way to check is by visiting Revenue Canada's website and searching for the charity.

The quickest way to make surea charity is above boardis toask for their business registration number,which will always have an RR0001in it,saysStauch.