New app gives a budge to charity

By SEAN P. QUIGLEY

A new app has been released called “The Budge,” with hopes to not only change the way young people use social media but also to revolutionize how charitable donations are made.

Introduced in New York during February  after nearly two years of preparation, The Budge allows people to challenge their friends to any sort of activity, dare, game or bet, prompting the loser to make a small donation – up to $10 – to a meaningful cause.

Virtually any challenge is accepted on The Budge –  urging a friend to quit smoking, wagering on who will win an NBA playoff  game, not mentioning an ex-girlfriend, winning a game of darts. Users can challenge their friends, air jordan 4.5 femmes or anyone who dares to accept whatever task, dare or bet is put forth into the Budgesphere.

The co-founder and chief executive officer of  The Budge, Hillian Klein, hopes that this new app will not only make charitable giving more fun for a generation savvy in social media and iPhone apps, but also simplify the process of donating to worthwhile causes overall.  His initial inspiration, alongside partner Marc Lipsitz, originated out of “frustration with the traditional non-profits and their donation process,“ he said. “Even with online donations, they would still make you fill out quite lengthy forms and jump through hoops just to make that donation.”

Meanwhile Klein’s business partner and friend Lipsitz was frustrated with himself, constantly playing a game on his iPhone, hour after hour, and beating a friend over and over again, wishing all this wasted time spent playing  games could go to something purposeful. “It would be great if every time I won there was a donation to a charity,” said Lipsitz.

The two decided that to make an app  prompting the loser in a game  to make  a donation would not only help to eradicate the bureaucracy of traditional non-profit donation methods, but engage Generation Y, which is far more proficient in social media apps like Twitter and Facebook than  in giving to charities. The importance of this is transition is huge in a time when non-profits are struggling to reach out to the youth.

“We felt that there was definitely something missing and something lacking in the philanthropic industry,” Klein said.

However, both Klien and Lipsitz do not necessarily blame Gen Y, aged 18 to 35, for a lack of philanthropy, as he himself is cynical towards many charity groups, who never seem to let the donor know how much money is actually going to the cause, instead of administrative costs.

As a result, a main objective of  The Budge has been to minimize costs on the business end while proposing no cost to the charities.

The Budge has already partnered with a wide array of non-profits throughout the U.S and Australia, where Klein initially lived before moving to New York, home to many non-profit groups. Working with such charities include  Breastcancer.org, Animal Welfare League, the UN food program, Agenda Health, Sydney Children’s Hospital, Pencils of Promise and Keep A Child Alive allows people to find the non-profits that reflect their values, according to The Budge.

“We think that Budge will allow our donors and hopefully new donors, air jordan 5 femmes to make micro-donations to us by doing things that they would do anyway.  It adds a philanthropic piece to a fun challenge,” said Felicia S. Eve, director of individual giving for the Brooklyn based non-profit Keep a Child Alive, which assists the children of families stricken by HIV/AIDS. “We also hope is that it will introduce us to a younger demographic that may not have normally gone to our site.” The group plans to incorporate The Budge into future campaigns, she said,

Although The Budge does reach out to specific non-profits, anyone can suggest a  charity to add to the app on the website www.thebudge.com. More and more charity groups have begun to contact “The Budge” to get involved. “I’m being really humbled by the number of requests we get from non-profit organizations to partner with us,” said Klein.

Currently, non-profits are in a transitional phase in terms of developing the technology needed to gather donations in a new era.
Although The Budge has not yet released any figures on usership, or the exact amounts of funds raised thus far,  Klein said that the app has already significantly exceeded expectations for the first quarter of the year. Klein hopes that in the years to come, people mention “budging” in conversation the way “tweet” or “like” is used now.