July 29, 2021

How NPT GivingPoint Can Accelerate Your Online Giving

Author National Philanthropic Trust

Suddenly, it’s nearly August. As I take some time to enjoy the warm weather, I am stunned by how quickly 2021 is flying by. If you’re like me, it may feel like the world is moving faster every day. The phrase that best describes this feeling is “accelerating change,” and it has been at the forefront of regular discussions among futurists for years. The bottom line: not only do things change constantly—change is happening at faster and faster rates.

Though the urge to help others is timeless, realities are quickly changing in the philanthropic sector. In 2020, gifts made online increased 21% over the previous year, with a wider scope of nonprofits benefiting, many of them serving immediate community needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. No matter the topic or focus of charitable need, this increase in online giving is a significant sign that donors are using digital resources to facilitate a new form of accelerated and responsive philanthropy.

Listening to our donors and their advisors, this appetite for a more intuitive and interactive type of grantmaking informed the recent launch of NPT GivingPoint, our new donor portal. NPT GivingPoint combines a number of helpful online tools in one place, letting donors discover new ways to support causes important to them, explore emerging trends in philanthropy and smoothly manage the grantmaking process from start to finish. Below I’ve assembled a few of my favorite features. If you’re an NPT GivingPoint user, I hope these will help you better manage your grantmaking and explore new causes and organizations to support.

Search Made Simple

Like many donors, when I’m curious about a new nonprofit or charitable focus, I want to learn as much as I can about the subject. Being able to easily find information allows philanthropists to be informed about the nature of their giving, their support base and its impact.

Our problem today certainly isn’t scarcity of information, the challenge is how to manage all this information. There are more than 1.5 million nonprofits operating in the United States alone, working in nearly every domain you can imagine. These groups are classified through The National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) Code, used by the IRS used to organize data and records on America’s social sector. More than 400 separate codes exist organizing nonprofits into a variety of subsectors like human services, religion, education, health, arts and culture or international organizations. When considering new organizations or topics to support, it can be overwhelming to know where to start.

Fortunately, NPT GivingPoint provides a streamlined path for donors to discover more about charities and causes important to them. Partnering with GuideStar’s powerful search database, donors can search by a wide variety of criteria including topic and issue area, Tax ID code, geographic location, state or ZIP code. Keeping track of charities is also made simple by the “Add to your charity list” button.

Grantmaking on the Go

Philanthropists are moved to give for all sorts of reasons, and cultivating a habit for giving is easier when that giving is made simple. Donors want a good user experience from the tools at their disposal.

NPT GivingPoint features a flexible design template which presents the most optimal format for engagement. Designed with on-the-go donors and advisors in mind, each page is mobile-responsive, allowing DAF account access from a mobile device like a smartphone without sacrificing quality of experience. I could be at a concert, chatting with friends over dinner, or walking through the supermarket and make a gift right on the spot.

Manage Giving by the Minute

In my day-to-day life I will gravitate towards websites and online sources that are easy to use and intuitive. Positive user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) are of vital importance in a fast-moving world when every second counts.

Donors are looking to make smart decisions quickly with their charitable dollars. Every part of the NPT GivingPoint user experience is important; from research, to recommendation, to charitable dollars going where they are needed. Managing DAF activity online provides real-time updates on grant recommendation status, when your charitable dollars will reach their destination, and snapshots of your philanthropic history. Donors are able to set up recurring grants, navigate investment options, and reference an in-depth informational library available at any time.

Next Steps

NPT is dedicated to helping donors reach their philanthropic goals, and the future of giving is inexorably linked to the digital realm. A growing need for connectivity means that donors not only want to give online, but also want to directly participate in the process with their peers and causes they support. In the coming months NPT will be rolling out a series of new tools and functionalities within NPT GivingPoint which will open new ways for donors to connect with and support the causes they care about most.

All around us, the pace of change is quickening. Digital trends and the ongoing “great transfer of wealth” will continue to bring massive changes to fundraising and philanthropy for the social and nonprofit sectors. Managing your philanthropy through NPT GivingPoint creates the possibility of “accelerating change” of a different sort: Using digital grantmaking to create a future filled with unlimited potential for those in need, right now.

Visit our online portal to learn more about how NPT GivingPoint can accelerate your charitable goals today.

NPT does not provide legal, tax or investing advice. This blog post is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be, and shall not be relied upon as, legal or tax advice. The applicability of information contained here may vary depending on individual circumstances.