LILYDRIVE

From GeekWire article 12/15/2014: LilyDrive connects online content with the most relevant non-profit organization, allowing users to quickly and easily donate. For example, if a news website posts a story about dog adoption in your city, LilyDrive gives publishers a way to embed a small widget — similar to social media buttons — that lets readers donate money to a relevant organization and share the story and their contribution with friends. LilyDrive CEO Harrison Magun said that t... he fresh funding will help the startup build upon some early traction with publishers and users. The company recently launched with its first medium-sized online publisher, Good News Network. The money will also help LilyDrive figure out how to make its own revenue — the company does not take a cut of any donation made via its platform. “When people donate to a cause, they don’t want part of their good deed to be someone else’s business model,” Magun explained. Magun said the monetization strategy is to “be a native ad platform for enterprise cause marketing.” He noted that despite Fortune 500 companies donating to charity more than ever, customers still expect them to contribute more time and money. “At LilyDrive we think the problem isn’t that companies necessarily need to spend more on charitable causes — in fact, companies have never given greater amounts,” Magun said. “The problem is that, despite clear consumer demand, it’s really hard and expensive for companies to advertise their good work in a way that engages with customers and is cost effective.”More