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FAQs for SchoolsWhy should our school work with GivingPoint? GivingPoint is an on-line resource to help your students become even more prepared and productive in society. Partnering with GivingPoint will greatly benefit your students and offer them an innovative tool to track their service hours and learn more about philanthropy in the process. Using GivingPoint will also alleviate much of the administrative and tracking burden for your staff - allowing you to focus your time and effort on other priorities.
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.
Mygivingpoint.org helps teens to:
This website is a wonderful resource to inspire teens and help them learn valuable life lessons about responsibility, accountability, civic duty and compassion for others. For every 500 points earned, our students can get micro-grants for nonprofits. Grant amounts range from $100 - $250. Think of all those volunteer hours that can be transferred into grants to help our community!
Mygivingpoint.org is the first web tool that offers teens the opportunity to find and fuel their social passion. It is the only tool that offers the tracking capabilities to verify and download civic transcripts. Inspiring and mobilizing teens to meet critical community needs, GivingPoint's leading-edge technology will attract and educate socially conscious teenagers who are eager to help others in need. GivingPoint's unique tools and hands-on approach, we can successfully weave the diverse interests and energies of teens, parents, nonprofits, small groups and entire companies into a "tribe" of volunteers that improve and uplift the community.
How does a school register on GivingPoint? To get started, you just need to "create an account" through www.mygivingpoint.org. User accounts are free and are the only way for schools to track their affiliated students and give out Giving Points!
Start by clicking on Login in the top right corner of the site. In the Login section, click on Create a New Account tab. Next, you will need to enter your contact information (EX: email, name, address, etc).
What can a school do once they create an account? Once you are done creating an account, you will have your own profile portal. You can immediately begin to use GivingPoint to track and reward your student volunteers. You can also verify hours and post projects.
Here's how it works: VERIFY HOURS - you can enter or search a student's name (or names) that have accounts and are affiliated with your school. You can enter their volunteer contributions to verify their hours.
SERVICE TAGS - you can enter or search a student's name (or names) that have accounts and are affiliated with your school to give them "service tags". Service Tags are points that you can give your teen volunteers for going above and beyond in their community service. To learn more about giving service tags, please visit: http://www.mygivingpoint.org/reward/earn-service-tags.
MY PROJECTS - you can enter a community project to raise awareness, volunteers and funds. To learn more about posting projects for your school, please visit http://www.mygivingpoint.org/learn-more-about-projects.
AFFILIATED GIVINGPOINTERS - you can view the list of teens using GivingPoint that are affiliated with your school. You can view their total Giving Points, volunteer hours and profiles.
INVITE GIVINGPOINTERS - you can invite teens, schools and nonprofits to join GivingPoint. This feature allows you to quickly and easily send out mass emails from your contact lists.
MY PHOTOS - you can upload photos. Photos are a great way to showcase your school's involvement in the community.
MANAGE MY PROFILE/ACCOUNT - you can change your contact information and password.
When was GivingPoint started? GivingPoint was officially launched in January 2009. In just a few short months, more than 250 teens have already begun using the site to create their giving legacies. Teen volunteers across Atlanta have earned more than 6,000 points, equating to some 500 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.
Is GivingPoint a nonprofit organization? Yes, GivingPoint is a public charity nonprofit organization based in Roswell, GA.
Who runs GivingPoint? Ansley Jones Colby is the Chief Executive Officer of GivingPoint. With the support of the Myfifident Foundation, Ansley launched GivingPoint in January 2009.
Before joining GivingPoint, Ansley served as Vice President for Culture and ChoicePoint Cares, overseeing benevolent activities, in-kind donations, corporate philanthropy and grant making. She was responsible for developing programs that focused on the protection of children and other vulnerable populations through ChoicePoint's unique technical capabilities. Under her leadership,
ChoicePoint received the Sue Weaver CAUSE Award, the American Red Cross Circle of Humanitarians Award, the Metro Atlanta Corporate Volunteer Council Project Award, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Corporate Citizenship Award.
Ansley also has extensive experience in government affairs. During 8 years of public service in Washington D.C., she was Director of Public Liaison and Senior Political Advisor for Vice President Al Gore during the Clinton Administration. Ansley also worked as a presidential appointee for the U.S. Dept. of Defense and the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development.
Ansley is a 2001 Leadership Atlanta graduate and also was delegation leader for the American Council of Young Political Leaders. Ansley graduated cum laude from Furman University, where she is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She received her MBA from The George Washington University.
Who is on the GivingPoint board? Derek V. Smith is the Chairman of the Board for GivingPoint. Derek is the Chairman and CEO of the Institute for Global Prescience and the Founder of the Myfifident Foundation. Derek is the former Chairman and CEO of ChoicePoint, Inc. He is a board member for Hands on Network/ Points of Light, the Georgia Aquarium, and Camp Twin Lakes.
Advisory Board Members for GivingPoint include:
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 directly to the nonprofits by GivingPoint. GivingPoint attaches the teens' grant proposals to the checks that are sent to the nonprofits.
The funding for the grants comes from the Myfifident Foundation and other generous donations from corporations and individuals that support GivingPoint's mission. The point system and grant amounts are subject to change as GivingPoint continues to get feedback from our users and determine available funds from our donors/supporters.
What nonprofits are currently working with GivingPoint? GivingPoint's nonprofit partners include: YMCA of Metro Atlanta; Junior Achievement Georgia; Westminster School; Alpharetta High School; Project GRD; 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.
What is unique about GivingPoint, as opposed to other websites that try to help teens in the community? GivingPoint is dedicated to inspiring teens to create a connection to their communities - to build a commitment for serving others in need. Their website, myGivingPoint.org, gives teens the opportunity to discover their social passion and track their service hours. The unique part about mygivingpoint.org is that teens can earn points that can be turned into cash grants for the nonprofits they care about. As teens 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).
How does GivingPoint define "philanthropy"? Philanthropy literally means the "love of humanity." However, many people often associate the term with a one-dimensional flow of financial resources. Money is, of course, a key part of the philanthropic equation, but a more expanded vision allows us to approach philanthropy as a transformational relationship. At GivingPoint, we view philanthropy as "any time or endeavor you are serving others", whether it's through service learning, using your marketing skills to raise awareness for a cause, or even giving a speech about community involvement.
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 you spend serving others through a nonprofit, you are donating time. You are doing great work and GivingPoint wants to reward teens with 5 points for every one hour they donate their time.
For instance, when you clean up a park or feed the hungry at a food shelter, you are donating your time (donating your time to help the community, but not necessarily using one of your unique skills or talents).
Talent - The time you spend donating your "talent" is when you use your unique skills or talents to help others. When you donate your "talent" you are taking advantage of your unique capabilities to help a nonprofit. We love that teens are using their skills to help the community, so GivingPoint will reward teens with 10 points for every hour they donate their talent.
Skills-based volunteerism can take many forms, from giving your feedback on a youth advisory board to teaching young kids how to play golf (if you are skilled at playing sports). A few more examples: if you are passionate and skilled at programming computers or using resources on the web and you donate your talents to help senior citizens learn how to use the computer, then that is considered "skills-based volunteering" because you are using your unique talents and capabilities. If you are a good piano player and you go to a nonprofit to play the piano for others, you are using your talent.
Treasure - When you donate your treasure, you are donating cash or goods to help others in need. When you fundraise for a nonprofit, you are also donating cash, so that counts as treasure. You can make a huge difference to the lives of others when you contribute treasure to causes that you care about, so if you post a project and fundraise through GivingPoint, we will reward teens with 1 point for every $10 dollars that they fundraise or donate.
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. So, please remember to log in any time you volunteered to help collect and donate goods to a nonprofit.
What counts as service hours? When you 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:
Here are some examples of service that ARE acceptable to count:
What is the maximum amount of grant funds a teen can request each year through GivingPoint? Teens can apply for 4 grants per calendar year. Grant amounts are up to $250. They can also apply for the "Youth of the Year Award", which is another $1,000 grant.
The funding for the grants comes from the Myfifident Foundation and other generous donations from corporations and individuals that support GivingPoint's mission. The point system and grant amounts are subject to change as GivingPoint continues to get feedback from our users and determine available funds from our donors/supporters.
What is the maximum amount a nonprofit or school can receive through GivingPoint grants from teens? Nonprofits and schools 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.
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, teens 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 teen logs in their volunteer projects, GivingPoint will verify those contributions and track it in our secure database. The more a teen volunteers and helps a nonprofit, the more robust the civic transcript! All teens have to do is remember to log in their contributions. Teens 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!
Why does GivingPoint verify hours? 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 teens' civic transcripts to be authenticated and 2) since we are giving points to teens for their contributions (which can be "cashed in" for cash grants for nonprofits), it is important that these contributions be validated.
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 www.mygivingpoint.org
Step 2: Students begin earning points
WHAT TEENS 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 join, up to 250 points per year
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 3: Teens apply for GRANTS to support the nonprofits they care about
Once a teen reaches 500 points, they can apply for a "micro grant" to support a nonprofit of their choice.
Teens can apply for a 2nd grant (once they reach 1000 points) if they have posted a project on GivingPoint and uploaded a picture from their volunteer experience.
Teens can apply for a 3rd grant (once they reach 1500 points) if they have invited 5 friends to join GivingPoint and uploaded a 2nd picture from a volunteer experience.
Teens can apply for a 4th and final grant (once they earn 2000 points), if they have posted a 2nd project and recruited at least 5 teens to create profiles on GivingPoint.
Step 4: View and Download Your Civic Transcript
The civic transcript is a unique document that can be used to augment a student's college application. Through this tool, colleges and universities will be able to see the impact your student has made and view their commitment to society - further differentiating them from the other applicants. Teens can view and download their civic transcripts throughout their lifetime.
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