The website GivingMatters.com has been making sense of the complicated world of Nashville-area nonprofits for some time now. As an informational clearinghouse, there remains nothing like it in the region.
An initiative of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT) since 2004, GivingMatters.com provides detailed information about more than 1,800 Middle Tennessee nonprofits to help donors give with meaning, confidence and ease.
It’s an important resource to promote and facilitate philanthropy, providing in-depth information about nonprofits’ missions, finances, management, and programs and the ability to make credit card gifts directly to organizations. It has been a place where donors and potential donors can learn about issues facing Middle Tennessee, find organizations addressing community needs, and give directly through the website.
“For those who like to ‘give with confidence,’ GivingMatters serves as a trusted pathway to sustainable organizations,” said Kaki Friskics-Warren, executive director of the Dan and Margaret Maddox Charitable Fund and the first director of GivingMatters.com at CFMT.
“For those with a taste for adventure, GivingMatters opens doors to groups taking risks on bold interventions that might change the face of our communities,” she continued. “Every time I visit the site, I leave not just knowing more but inspired to do more.”
Given its yeoman’s service, the website has been deserving of a refreshed look and feel. And now it has one.
GivingMatters.com transitioned to a new website platform in late November. Here’s what prompted the transition:
Since 2009 GivingMatters.com has been hosted on the DonorEdge platform, a product of Williamsburg, Va.-based GuideStar. Earlier this year, the company announced it would be ending service to the platform.
After much study, CFMT decided to move the site over to Denver-based CiviCore, which has provided the same software used to power The Big Payback online giving day the past three years.
Now, all registered area nonprofits will be able to log in to one easy-to-use administrative portal that will house all of their information for both GivingMatters.com and The Big Payback. An up-to-date GivingMatters.com profile is a requirement for participating in The Big Payback, a CFMT initiative that has raised nearly $17 million for area nonprofits in its six-year-history.
The two initiatives will continue operating as their own websites. Users still visit GivingMatters.com for nonprofit profiles and will visit TheBigPayback.org to make gifts from 6 pm May 6 to 6 pm May 7, the dates set for The Big Payback 2020.
Features from TheBigPayback.org, such as peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, will now be available all year through GivingMatters.com.
The new platform no longer has restrictions on the number of multimedia elements that can be added to profiles. Nonprofits are encouraged to add more photos and videos to make their profiles more robust.
Participating nonprofits and those considering the benefits of participating in GivingMatters.com should go to the website for information on how to update profiles/view donation reports, or establish a new profile.
Transitioning to a new platform takes time, and more exciting changes will be introduced to the site in early 2020.
“We are excited to continue serving the community with a new, user-friendly website,” said Kathryn Bennett, GivingMatters.com manager at The Community Foundation. “If nonprofits need assistance during this transition, they can contact their coaches directly, or reach us at our general email givingmatters@cfmt.org.”
Visit GivingMatters.com
