Giving Madness: Millie Launches Gamified Giving Tool for Companies

Social impact platform creates ‘giving brackets’ for fun and democratized corporate giving

Millie is launching Giving Madness, a first-of-its-kind gamified giving platform that brings teams together and closes a pressing nonprofit funding gap. Inspired by elements of March Madness, Giving Madness allows corporate teams to build their own 'giving brackets' where employees play to give. “We're so excited to be building a kinetic moment around giving in March, one where companies spearhead donations, and their employees' passions are the focus. How powerful it is to democratically source where company donations should go: from the people that power the organization — their team,” said Millie Founder and CEO, Rachel Klausner.

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Giving Madness is a giving tournament that reinforces a culture of philanthropy by bringing people together around an activity we all know and love. It consists of a one-week or four-week bracket-style giving tournament structured like March Madness. Companies start by adding 16 nonprofits to their giving bracket and contributing to a donation pool. Employees then vote to advance nonprofits they love through four rounds of "games." After the championship game, the pool gets divided up and donated proportionately, depending on where the nonprofits land. Every nonprofit will receive some amount of funds, with the champion receiving the most.

People leaders and Social Impact professionals regularly struggle to engage their employees in impactful workplace initiatives. Participation rates in the corporate donation matching space are as low as 11%,¹ especially among small donors. Additionally, nearly 80% of donations are made at the end of every year,² leaving nonprofits wanting for funding the rest of the year. Millie’s Giving Madness is designed to alleviate both of these problems by leveraging game mechanics for social good and translating the premise of participating in workplace brackets from basketball to philanthropy.

Millie’s hope is twofold: nonprofits fill their funding gap and employees feel more connected to their company. Workforces engaged in a culture of giving benefit from better employee satisfaction and retention rates. That’s why workplace giving is growing at an unprecedented rate. 87% of companies are aware that their employees expect them to support causes their workforce cares about.³

Pilot funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supported the development of the Giving Madness online platform. It will also subsidize the cost of the tool for all companies for one year and will enable free access to organizations with 25 people or fewer. Millie’s CEO, Klausner, adds, “One day, if March turns into another giving moment like Giving Tuesday, with the focus on corporate giving and how companies can impact the world, then we've more than nailed this whole thing.”

​To learn more about Giving Madness, visit givingmadness.com.

For information about Millie, visit milliegiving.com.

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¹Giving in Numbers, 2019, p.21.

²“10 Year-End Giving Statistics Every Fundraiser Should Know,” Neon One, September 15, 2021, https://neonone.com/resources/blog/year-end-giving-statistics.

³“The Next Generation of Workplace Giving,” America’s Charities, October 1, 2019, https://www.charities.org/news/next-generation-workplace-giving.

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