“Fundraising technology is critical to non-profits’ success but eats up too much of the funds they need to raise,” said François de Kerret, Zeffy’s CEO and co-founder.
Zeffy began as Simplyk while Thibaut Jaurou and François de Kerret were helping charities with their volunteer recruitment. The two quickly realized that it was hard for charities and non-profits to access great fundraising technology because of their unique need to reduce spending and keep their overhead unreasonably low. None of the technology out there was free, and that meant non-profits were losing out on around three per cent of every donation.
François says it best: “We fixed this vicious circle by providing tools that allow non-profits to keep every dollar their donors pledge. With Zeffy, non-profits can raise more money more easily, which lets them focus on their mission and direct more funds to those in need.”
Zeffy was created so that non-profits would not have to compromise and all charities would have access to the best technology available without paying any fees. (Zeffy is the only zero-fee fundraising software for non-profits. While other software claims to be free, they all pass on the transaction fees to the non-profits.)
Zeffy’s mission is to support the mission of the organizations that rely on us by empowering nonprofits to change the world—no fees attached.
The pitch: A free fundraising platform for nonprofits financed by the generosity of donors and their voluntary contributions. Zeffy offers ticketing software, donation and campaign forms, and memberships and does this by following its three values:
Zeffy is simple: To help millions of non-profits, we need to focus on creating the most simple and intuitive platform. This means removing the fluff and providing top-quality tech that is simple to use for all.
Millions to help: Across the world, we see social, economic, and environmental challenges. We are driven by our ambition to address them on a global scale. This means prioritizing the areas where we have the greatest impact.
Be there for each other: At Zeffy, we believe that together we can have a significant impact. This means finding time to support each other and our community with the goal of changing the world for the better.
We chatted with François about Zeffy, its realities, struggles, and vision for a better future.
Tell us about yourself?
When I immigrated to Québec, I felt very fortunate and wanted to give back to the community. I decided to volunteer but quickly realized that it was a challenge to find opportunities to do so.
This seemed like a huge gap, so I reached out to my geek friend Thibaut, and together we created a platform that made it simple and accessible to volunteer. With that, the first of many free Zeffy products was born.
We immediately fell in love with working with these non-profits. We were on a mission to help all non-profits change the world for free.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Pass more time and energy recruiting the right people. When you recruit the right people, everything else is easy. If you recruit the wrong person, everything seems to go wrong or end poorly. So, take the time to recruit the right people because they are the face of your business.
What problem does your business solve?
Overhead pressure. Non-profits don’t have the same “rights” as for-profit businesses when it comes to investing in overhead. This is not only a double standard but a real problem for non-profits. It’s common knowledge that you need to spend money to raise money, but donors and boards and, well, almost everyone really just want non-profits and charities to spend their money on doing good—and they don’t consider salaries, office space, advertising, or fundraising platforms part of “doing good”. By offering non-profits a 100 per cent free solution, we’re trying our best to do our part to support them.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
When I immigrated to Québec, I felt very fortunate and wanted to give back to the community. I decided to volunteer but quickly realized that it was a challenge to find opportunities to do so.
This seemed like a huge gap, so I reached out to my geek friend Thibaut, and together we created a platform that made it simple and accessible to volunteer. With that, the first of many free Zeffy products was born.
We immediately fell in love with working with these non-profits. We were on a mission to help all non-profits change the world for free.
What is your magic sauce?
The short answer is voluntary contributions. The slightly longer answer: We ask donors to leave an additional voluntary contribution whenever they make a donation to an organization that uses Zeffy. And, whether they choose to leave a voluntary contribution or not, Zeffy covers all the fees—including credit card transaction fees.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
The short answer: Millions to help.
We want to create a better society. One with fewer inequalities—whether that’s in business or life. We really do believe that our everyday actions can make a noticeable impact, and we want to use that impact to help non-profits change the world.
We get a lot of people questioning our model. How does it work? Do people actually leave voluntary contributions? The answer is simple: people want to help, and when they see others helping, they’re more often than not inspired to continue helping or even help a little more. So, not everyone leaves a voluntary contribution, and that’s okay. Those who do contribute more than enough to lift others.
Non-profits are changing the world, and we’re breaking the mould to help them.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
- Recruiting the right people.
- Launching in the United States. We had to change our name and adapt all our advertising, communication, and online forms to meet the requirements and realities of the United States.
How can people get involved?
People can help by learning more about what we and the amazing organizations that rely on our platform are doing to make the world a better place.
You can visit our site: www.zeffy.com
Read our blog: www.zeffy.com/home/blog
Or, better yet, donate to a cause you care about and mention Zeffy while you’re at it. We’re still getting the word out there about our 100 per cent free fundraising platform for non-profits and welcome any help we can get.