Why Is Giving The Next Big Thing

Is it that:

• You don’t trust the organisation will use the money for the intended purpose?
• You have no way to track the impact your money is making?
• You don’t have time to research and pick the right charity amongst thousands of worthy other charities?

Epic has created a solution to solve all three problems and make giving both frictionless and effective. The founder, Alexandre Mars, a French serial entrepreneur who has made his fortune in Tech companies, both as entrepreneur and investor in ventures such as Spotify, Pinterest and Blablacar, is now spending his time fighting inequalities and advocating for social good.

You’ve got money, you give it to Epic who preselects charities and social enterprises that need your money to achieve their mission. Out of 1900 applications, only the 1% that satisfies 45 different criteria are selected. So, you can rest assured that your money ends up in a healthy organisation. EPIC takes no cut on the transaction. In fact, Alexandre invests his own millions in this not for profit organisation to keep it going and tours the world to ask rich peers and corporate to join the movement.

Tracking how your money is spent and the impact it makes is easy on EPIC’s app. Like other digital platforms, the principle is to connect people who ‘have’: the rich individuals and those who ‘search’: the charities & social entrepreneurs but the goal here is to make social impact rather than the next billion.

The serial entrepreneur, who makes money out of his ability to spot emerging trends, with successful early investments in the internet, then in mobile technology and in social media, is now passionate by effective giving and shared his vision with the Tech London Advocates, a powerful network of 4000 Technology advocates dedicated to make a difference in the world.

Alexandre calls for a strong advocacy to build a movement for social change as he bet on Social disruption’s new trend. For a long time, ‘Social’ has been the poor relation of making a difference in business. Not so long ago having ‘social’ in your job title like Social Carer or Social Worker meant you were paid less than another profession without the S word. Today, social is at the core of everything with social entrepreneurship, social impact, social innovation, social media, social selling and even social beauty.

Social is now cool, with 20% of graduates at Stanford university and other equally renowned business schools’ graduates eager to start a social enterprise; an option which won’t even have been considered 10 years ago.

The millennials are the driving force behind this accelerated social change. In 3 years, 50% of the workforce will be millennials who are motivated to work for companies’ contribution to society. But most corporate are still paying a lip service with box ticking CSR initiatives, 5K runs and employees help to schools that have a limited impact.

The philantropreneur proposes systemic actions that individuals and businesses can easily take to make a real difference such as:

• The 1% pledge: give 1% of your profits or revenues. An Indian law is making it mandatory to give 2% of companies profits to a charity.
• Round up: If you buy something for £19.81 for example, the amount is rounded up £20 and the difference is given to charity.
• Round down: your salary can be rounded down to the nearest integer and the extra pennies given to charity. For example, your paycheque is £890.36 then 36p is given to a charity.
• 2% founders pledge: you can pledge the shares of your company even if you don’t make money yet, hopefully when you eventually become the next Uber your shares will be worth a lot of money.

With all these ways of giving, there is no excuse not to give your fair share and contribute to make the world a better place. Giving in such a way can inspire and bring people together in families and corporates with a shared purpose but it will require the involvement of all generations to build this new social change the norm.

What are the other creative ways you’ve seen individuals or business giving? I’d love to hear from you.

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About Francine Beleyi

Francine Beleyi is a digital strategist, communication and marketing consultant and speaker who helps people and businesses thrive in the digital age. She is the author of upcoming book ‘Personal Branding in a Digital Age and you can enrol in her free course How To Package Your Passions, Interests & Skills To Become A Highly Paid Expert. Looking to design a clear action plan to communicate your vision powerfully and increase your results? Book a Strategic session with Francine for practical insights.