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FAQs for Non-Profits<!--StartFragment--> GivingPoint – Frequently Asked Questions and Answers for Nonprofits
1. Why should we partner with GivingPoint? Today, students want to get involved, and they believe it is important to give, but most students do not volunteer on a regular basis. Students say that not knowing how to get started, lack of encouragement, lack of opportunity and lack of financial resources are top reasons for not getting involved. Young people want interactive online tools and unique, personalized marketing approaches to learn about causes. They also want fun, engaging volunteer opportunities that match their passion. GivingPoint is the answer!
2. What is GivingPoint? GivingPoint is a societal initiative designed to educate and inspire young people (ages 13 – 19) to find their passion and become actively engaged in their local communities. Through GivingPoint, we can reach and motivate a new generation of young people who are looking for innovative technology, tools, and knowledge to drive social change.
GivingPoint also provide nonprofits with new vehicles and opportunities to recruit and connect with young people.
Our website (www.mygivingpoint.org) is a wonderful resource to inspire students and help them learn valuable life lessons about responsibility, accountability, civic duty and compassion for others. For every 500 points earned, your student volunteers can apply for up to $250 in micro-grants for your nonprofit. Think of all those volunteer hours that can be transferred into grants to help your organization!
3. When was GivingPoint started?
GivingPoint was officially launched in January 2009. In just one year, more than 800 students have already begun using the site to create their giving legacies. Student volunteers across Atlanta have earned more than 55,000 points, equating to some 6,000 volunteer hours in to our community -- serving food to the needy, helping improve camp grounds for underprivileged kids, and cleaning schools to name a few.
4. Is GivingPoint a nonprofit organization?
Yes, GivingPoint is a public charity nonprofit organization based in Roswell, GA.
5. What are your strategic objectives and how do you help students?
GivingPoint closes the “knowledge gap” by offering a wide range of online, interactive service learning opportunities so students can discover their passion and learn about critical issues facing local communities. They can also learn best practices in giving, volunteering and fundraising.
GivingPoint closes the “opportunity gap” by matching students with nonprofits in their area that fit their passion and actively engage them in service. GivingPoint offers students innovative ways to get involved with causes they care about. They can join an online community of world changers!
GivingPoint closes the “financial gap” by allowing students to earn points (through service learning, volunteerism, and fundraising) that can be cashed in for grants that will be donated to causes they care about (for every 500 points earned, students can apply for up to $250 in micro-grants for their favored charities). They can post their friend-raising and fundraising projects on our site to help causes raise awareness and support.
GivingPoint closes the “legacy gap” by allowing students to view and share their giving resumes. As students input their contributions to society, they build their civic footprints. They can download their verified civic transcripts at any time and utilize it to confirm high school service requirements and/or attach with college applications.
6. What are the tools that you offer to nonprofits and schools? Through GivingPoint, you can leverage digital tools to reward and motivate your student volunteers; connect and build relationships with civic-minded youth; discover innovative ways to reach and market to a new generation of social entrepreneurs; track the progress of your volunteers; measure the effectiveness of your programs; and raise awareness and funds through the power of youth engagement. 7. What steps do nonprofits take to begin supporting students through GivingPoint? Step 1: Create an account on www.mygivingpoint.org
Step 2: Build your account profile
• Showcase your nonprofit on GivingPoint by customizing your account profile
• Post your volunteer projects to raise awareness and recruit students
Step 3: Support your student volunteers
• Invite students to join your GivingPoint community
• “Affiliate” with students to track their progress and build connections
• Reward students with Service Tag Points and send them encouraging emails • Read and comment on student blogs • Bulk verify volunteer hours
Step 4: View Your Impact!
• Measure the growth and impact your volunteers make in the community
• Watch your youth ministry programs grow and prosper
8. How is GivingPoint funded? Who pays for these grants that our students are applying for? GivingPoint is funded by the Myfifident Foundation and other generous corporations and individuals. All grants are paid through GivingPoint. Once a student grant is approved, GivingPoint send checks to the designated nonprofit within 30 days.
9. What nonprofits and schools are currently working with GivingPoint?
GivingPoint’s nonprofit and school partners include: YMCA of Metro Atlanta; Junior Achievement Georgia; Westminster School; Carver High School; Alpharettta High School; Project GRAD; Amigos for Christ; Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta; Vision Atlanta; American Cancer Society and various faith-based groups across the state of Georgia.
10. What is unique about GivingPoint, as opposed to other websites that try to help students in the community? GivingPoint is dedicated to inspiring students to create a connection to their communities – to build a commitment for serving others in need. The website, myGivingPoint.org, gives students the opportunity to discover their social passion and track their service hours. The unique part about mygivingpoint.org is that students can earn points that can be turned into cash grants for the nonprofits they care about. As students begin to track their service contributions and earn points on the website through interactive tools and quizzes, they create their civic transcript (that can be downloaded for our service cord requirements and college applications). 11. How does GivingPoint define "philanthropy"?
12. What does it mean to donate time, talent and treasure?
Time, talent, and treasure each refer to the different ways youth can help nonprofit organizations. Time - The time students spend serving others through a nonprofit or school when they are not getting paid. GivingPoint will reward students with 5 points for every one hour they donate their time. For instance, when a student cleans up a park or feeds the hungry at a food shelter, they are donating their time (donating time to help the community, but not necessarily using one of your unique skills or talents). Talent - The time students spend donating your "talent" is when they use their unique skills or talents to help others. When students donate "talent", they are taking advantage of their unique capabilities to help a nonprofit. We love that students are using their skills to help the community, so GivingPoint rewards students with 10 points for every hour they donate their talent. Skills-based volunteerism can take many forms, from giving feedback on a youth advisory board to teaching young kids how to play golf (if students are skilled at playing sports). A few more examples: if students are passionate and skilled at programming computers or using resources on the web and they donate their talents to help senior citizens learn how to use the computer, then that is considered "skills-based volunteering" because they are using your unique talents and capabilities. If they are a good piano player and visit a nonprofit to play the piano for others, they are using talent. Treasure - When students fundraise for a nonprofit by posting a project on GivingPoint, that counts as treasure. If a student posts a fundraising project on GivingPoint, we will reward students with 1 point for every $10 dollars that they fundraise. Donating treasure can take many forms, such as contributing cash or goods. By "goods" we mean donating an item to a nonprofit that others need, such as clothes, shoes, books or cell phones. GivingPoint does not reward points for donated goods, but we do count the time you put towards collecting and taking the items to a nonprofit as volunteer time. 13. What counts as service hours for students? When students are “serving OTHERS to benefit the community” at a nonprofit, school or religious institution, we consider that service hours that can be logged in and counted as volunteer time.
Here are some examples that do NOT count as service hours:
- participating in sports activities for your school or local community league - volunteering as a team captain for your sports/ extracurricular club - selling Girl Scout/Boy Scout cookies or products - babysitting - walking a neighbor’s dog - anything you are getting school credit for - school field trips - mentoring or tutoring a family member - paid mentorships or tutoring Here are some examples of service that ARE acceptable to count: - hours you contribute at a Beta Club or National Honor Society service event that helps the community - teaching a Sunday school class - participating in an after school tutoring program to help children (must be unpaid and cannot include tutoring for family members) - Eagle Scout service projects - time spent on a mission trip (count as 8 hours per day)
- time spent at a fundraising event (ex: car wash or bake sale)
14. How does a student get started on GivingPoint?
To get started, students just need to “create an account” through www.mygivingpoint.org. User accounts are free and are the only way for students to receive GivingPoint points! For information on how GivingPoint is keeping your child's information safe and secure, please review the Privacy & Security section. We also have information for youth on how to protect their personal information. Please visit About GivingPoint/privacy for further resources.
15. How does a student create a user account? Start by clicking on Login in the top right corner of the site. In the Login section, click on Create a New Account tab. Create a new User name and password, and type in your email address. Our goal is to encourage students to build long-lasting relationships with nonprofits, so we created an “Affiliation Program”. Students earn 10 points for every nonprofit they “affiliate” or connect with. After students create an account, they should choose to affiliate with your nonprofit. Even after creating a user account, students can still change your affiliated organization or add an affiliation.
16. What can students do after they create an account and become a GivingPointer? Once students are done creating an account, they can immediately begin to earn points by clicking on the “Causes” section. On this section of the website, students can take fun quizzes and participate in service learning activities to earn points. (For every quiz a student takes, they can earn 10 points. Each GivingPointer can earn up to 100 points by taking the quizzes). We want the GivingPoint site to be a place where students can share their stories, blog about their volunteer experiences and upload pictures, so we created a “Share Your Stories” section. GivingPointers are able to earn points when they blog about their philanthropic ventures. Students can also “Post Projects” on GivingPoint to raise money and recruit volunteers. To learn more about the point system on GivingPoint, please visit www.mygivingpoint.org/reward.
17. How far back will GivingPoint accept volunteer hours to get logged and how are hours verified? GivingPoint will accept any service hours that were done from October 2008 to present. Students must enter all of those hours into the GivingPoint tracking tool. Students will be asked to put in the name of the volunteer project, the date they served, and the name and email address of the nonprofit representative or teacher who can verify the volunteer hours. PARENTS CANNOT VERIFY HOURS FOR STUDENTS. All hours must be verified by a nonprofit representative (example: the executive director or volunteer coordinator at the North Fulton Community Charities), religious group leader or teacher.
We are very proud of the fact that the GivingPoint system is based on verified volunteer hours. The nonprofit being served or an affiliated organization working with a teenager verifies every single volunteer hour. We believe it is very important to verify hours for two reasons: 1) we want the Students’ civic transcripts to be authenticated and 2) since we are giving points to students for their contributions (which can be “cashed in” for cash grants for nonprofits), it is important that these contributions be validated.
19. How do students “Support their Cause”? As GivingPointers take quizzes and give their time, talent, and treasure to different organizations, they are awarded with Points. These points can be cashed out for grants to their favorite nonprofits. GivingPoint will provide these grants out of it’s support from the Myfifident Foundation and other generous donors. For every 500 points earned, a student can apply for a “micro-grant” to support and reward the nonprofits they care about.
20. What is the maximum amount of grant funds a student can request each year through GivingPoint?
Students can apply for 4 grants per calendar year, or up to $1,000. They can also apply for the “Youth of the Year Award”, which is another $1,000 grant.
21. What is the maximum amount a nonprofit can receive through GivingPoint grants from students?
Nonprofits can receive a maximum of $10,000 from GivingPoint each calendar year. After they receive $10,000 from GivingPoint, they are eligible to apply for further support from the Myfifident Foundation.
22. How do students “Build their Legacy”?
GivingPointers will submit their time and talent contributions through an on-line form. Every volunteer hour is verified by the nonprofit or affiliated organization. Once the volunteer hours are verified, points are put into their account. Students can earn points by posting projects and fundraising on the site. These points are automatically put into the student’s accounts when the funds are raised.
We are very proud of our verification process and appreciate the nonprofit partners that take the time to validate volunteer time. As students log in their contributions, they build their civic transcripts, which can be downloaded for school requirements or college applications.
23. How do students “Share Their Stories”?
We hope GivingPoint becomes the most active site for students to share their volunteer stories and help inspire other students to become more engaged in volunteerism. GivingPointers can submit blogs about their volunteer experiences and raise awareness for their projects. A student can also earn points by blogging about their volunteer experiences (as long as the blog is at least 100 words and fits our criteria). Students can earn 5 points for each blog (up to 100 points per calendar year). The blogs have to be at least 50 words and must be about a volunteer experience.
24. What is a Civic Transcript?
A Civic Transcript is picture of your civic footprint – it is the collection of contributions you make to society. Through GivingPoint, students can create a civic profile – it will include all of their volunteer contributions, dollars raised, awards, and philanthropic endeavors.
A civic transcript is a giving resume. Each time a student logs in their volunteer projects, GivingPoint will verify those contributions and track it in our secure database. The more a student volunteers and helps a nonprofit, the more robust the civic transcript! All students have to do is remember to log in their contributions. Students can download their civic transcript for school requirements or college applications, or just to see the collection of great work they have done to change the world! 25. What are the steps a student must take to earn points? The goal of mygivingpoint.org is to ignite a passion for community volunteerism and a life- long love for service to others. This online tool is simple, requires very little time and our students will greatly benefit from creating a civic transcript. Here’s how it works:
Step 1: Students create an account on
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Once an account is created, students will get 10 points for completing their giving profile (uploading a picture, inputting their civic passion, etc.)
Step 2: Click on “Affiliated Nonprofits” Students should use the search tool and choose to affiliate with any nonprofit where they regularly volunteer. This will activate an auto-fill tool on the Volunteer Log Form to make it faster and easier to input volunteer hours. This will also enable the affiliated nonprofit to give Service Tags to their affiliated students. Step 3: Begin earning points
WHAT STUDENTS CAN EARN PER CALENDER YEAR
Volunteer Time: 5 points per hour, up to 5000 points per year
Volunteer Talent: 10 points per hour, up to 5000 points per year Treasure (Fundraising for nonprofits): 1 point per every $10 dollars fundraised through GivingPoint, up to 1000 points per year Service Learning Quizzes: 10 points per quiz (only awarded once per quiz), up to 100 points per year Create a Profile: 10 points for completing your profile (picture, certain number of fields) Blog Entry (about volunteer experiences or civic engagement): 5 points per entry (min 50 words), up to 100 points per year Creating and posting a Project: 25 points per project once approved, up to 250 points per year Inviting Friends to join GivingPoint: 5 points for every friend that joins, up to 250 points per year Affiliate with a nonprofit: 10 points per nonprofit, up to 50 points per year (coming soon)
EARN POINTS BY GETTING RECOGNIZED BY NONPROFITS Service tags: Freshman tag – 25 points Action Taker – 100 points World Changer – 200 points Revolutionary – 300 points
Step 4: Students apply for GRANTS to support the nonprofits they care about
Once a student reaches 500 points, they can apply for up to $250 in “micro grants” to support a nonprofit of their choice. Students must be affiliated with at least 1 nonprofit to receive a grant from GivingPoint. Students can apply for a 2nd grant (once they reach 1000 points) if they have posted a project on GivingPoint, raised $10 for a nonprofit from their posted project and uploaded a picture from their volunteer experience. Students can apply for a 3rd grant (once they reach 1500 points) if they have invited 5 friends to join GivingPoint, raised at least $15 from their posted project, and uploaded a 2nd picture from a volunteer experience. Students can apply for a 4th and final grant (once they earn 2000 points), if they have posted a 2nd project, raised $20 on their fundraising pages, recruited at least one “supporter” to create an account on GivingPoint, recruited at least 2 students to create profiles on GivingPoint and received at least one service tag from a nonprofit. Step 5: View and Download Your Civic Transcript
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