GoodCircle Promises a Win for Charities and for Businesses
Americans donated $335 billion to charitable causes last year, and according to GuideStar, an organization that tracks the nonprofit world, there are 1.8 million organizations in this country that rely on donations, grants, and fund-raising events for the good work they do.
In East Hampton, one company has found a way to localize those numbers. It is GoodCircle, and it was launched a little over a year ago by Fred Doss and Joan Overlock, who are friends and business associates. Its model is part “cause marketing,” a term that refers to cooperation between for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations, and part crowdfunding, which, thanks to websites like Kickstarter.com, GoFundMe. com, and IndieGogo.com, is now a part of everyday language. Its goal is to connect businesses, nonprofit organizations, and the community at large to accomplish beneficial projects.
Most recently, GoodCircle partnered with Hampton Racquet, Smart Sports Surfacing, and the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center to raise money for a $17,000 new sports and play area and equipment at the center. Groundwas broken last week. Businesses like the Hampton Jitney and Main Beach Surf and Sport have jumped on board, pledging in-kind services or matching donations from individuals.
“What we are is a tool for businesses. We maximize businesses’ charitable donations,” Ms. Overlock said in an interview Tuesday. “We do that in a way that gives them a very tangible and measurable outcome. . . . They know how they’re affecting change.”
Ms. Overlock and Mr. Doss have dubbed their company GoodCircle because what comes in ultimately winds up going out to a nonprofit. Most campaigns have been local so far, such as one for the David E. Rogers M.D. Center at Southampton Hospital, which helps patients with H.I.V. and AIDS, and another to restore the front porch of the Sag Harbor Whaling and Historical Museum.
“The donors win,” Ms. Overlock said. “They’re demanding transparency. Their donations are going farther.”
Having met through a mutual friend in 2010, Mr. Doss and Ms. Overlock decided almost immediately that they could create something big by combining her background in advertising and marketing and his in business management and nonprofit work. They began brainstorming in the summer of 2013.
“We started here intentionally. We know the community, and . . . the East End has embraced us,” said Mr. Doss, who is also a co-founder of the local organization Paddlers for Humanity, which supports mental health services for children.
Lars Svanberg, the owner of Main Beach Surf and Sport in Wainscott, who is about to launch his fourth project with GoodCircle, said working with Mr. Doss and Ms. Overlock has “enabled me to do certain projects that I wanted to raise money for in a seamless way” while still devoting most of his time to business.
“I didn’t have the background in marketing and platform building that it takes to be successful in fund-raising,” he said. “We all have these different friends, and friends of friends, and GoodCircle can get the word out. It goes out like a big net, and they catch everyone who’s interested in donating to your cause. They’ve been really good to work with.”
GoodCircle’s latest effort is for I-Tri, which encourages self-esteem, proper nutrition, and leadership in preteen girls and trains them to compete in the Hamptons Youth Triathlon. It hopes to raise $27,535 by June 8, with Paddlers for Humanity pledging up to $7,268 as a dollar-for-dollar match of other donations and the Hampton Jitney providing the rest to support 72 sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade girls from Montauk, Springs, Sag Harbor, and Southampton in the triathlon.
Among other costs, the donations will fund professional trainers’ fees for the triathlon, which GoodCircle calls “critical to the girls’ reaching the starting line for a life-changing experience.” Prospective donors can visit goodcircle.org/projects/i-tri to learn more.
Theresa Roden, the founder and executive director of I-Tri, said, “With GoodCircle, we hope to continue and build on this in the coming years. They have been so wonderful to work with. . . . Everything that they promised they have delivered on, and we feel so fortunate.”
GoodCircle’s local work is only part of the picture. Mr. Doss and Ms. Overlock have set their sights on a national presence. They said they don’t see Kickstarter as a competitor, and believe GoodCircle is on a different level than GoFundMe, which doesn’t always benefit nonprofits. While GoodCircle builds a small fee into project goals to support its work, it does not yet have a full-time staff or an official office, although they are expected to be possible soon.
Mr. Doss said he and Ms. Overlock have found their work very satisfying. “We come back and say how did we get so lucky? We just meet incredible people on both sides of the equation. We meet phenomenal business owners and great people doing great work at the nonprofits.”