Why We Built GivingIQ

Our Why

Simon Sinek's Start with Why promotes the idea of leading with your core belief or cause. In that spirit, we'd like to share ours.

GivingIQ, and its industry leading stock donation platform DonateStock, was founded to address systemic problems that have prevented donors and nonprofits from taking full advantage of non-cash giving for decades. Those problems include:

• Donor liquidity constraints: As US consumers struggle with affordability, discretionary cash is tightening across most households — putting nonprofits that rely heavily on cash and credit card gifts increasingly at risk.
• Untapped wealth: More than 50 million active investors hold trillions in appreciated securities and related assets (stocks, ETFs, crypto, DAFs, IRAs).
• Lack of awareness: Very few donors know about the tax benefits of donating appreciated assets.
• Poor donor experience: Donating assets has historically been complex and time-consuming, involving multiple parties and manual steps with limited transparency — often deterring donors and financial advisors alike.
• Friction for fundraisers: Facilitating gifts of securities, crypto, DAFs, and QCDs is challenging for nonprofits, compounded by the fact that each asset type requires a unique workflow. Even for those who know how, the manual nature of processing non-cash gifts limits how many they can handle.
• Vendor fatigue: Nonprofits are managing too many vendors, portals, statements, invoices, and account teams. They need integrated solutions, not more point products.
• Compliance burden: Documentation, valuation, custody, and tax reporting requirements create operational risk and deter participation.

Our Mission

At GivingIQ, we remove the barriers to non-cash giving and deliver a frictionless experience for donors, financial advisors, and nonprofit fundraisers.

We started with the biggest challenge — facilitating gifts of appreciated securities (stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and bonds). Having mastered that domain, we've recently extended our solution to include DAF grants and crypto, with more to come.

By offering an integrated, best-in-class solution for all major non-cash giving needs, nonprofit fundraisers can finally realize the benefits of a one-stop shop. By working with one trusted partner — rather than a patchwork of standalone point products — fundraisers gain efficiency while reducing complexity and cost.

We've made non-cash giving simple, compliant, and scalable, so we can unlock billions in new funding for worthy causes of all sizes, and enable every nonprofit to accept securities, crypto, DAF grants, and IRA contributions with confidence and ease.

That's our WHY.

Our How

Sinek also speaks to HOW you deliver on your WHY.

Simply put: we make non-cash giving easy for donors, financial advisors, and fundraisers. By providing universal access, removing friction, and automating manual processes, we're clearing the path to new sources of funding for organizations of all sizes — and providing the enablement, training, and support nonprofits need to succeed.

Our platform makes non-cash fundraising easy, accessible, and impactful by:

• Delivering a great donor experience: Our easy buttons enable donors to gift securities, crypto, DAF grants, and QCDs (coming soon) in minutes. Read this donor's story.
• Eliminating manual work: We've automated the processing, reconciliation, and acknowledgment of gifts at scale, so nonprofits can redirect their time to their mission and donor stewardship.
• Arming fundraisers with tools: We equip fundraisers with strategy, content, and best practices for educating donors on the unique benefits of non-cash giving. See Stand Up to Cancer.
• Providing live support: Donors, financial advisors, and nonprofits have access to live support to ensure a positive experience.
• Owning outcomes: When issues arise with donors, advisors, or brokerages, we take responsibility for resolving them and ensuring a successful transaction.

Our Core Values

Our core values govern every aspect of how we operate:

• Excellence
• Service
• Collaboration
• Accountability

As always, we welcome your questions and feedback, and thank you for reading.