Charity Navigator Acquires Causeway, Revolutionizing Giving through Customizable Donor Portfolios

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Aug 22, 2023, 08:00 ET

Acquisition paves the way for donors to give by cause through a "subscription to good"

NEW YORK, Aug. 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Charity Navigator, the world's largest evaluator of nonprofit organizations, has acquired Causeway, a startup that makes it easy to create and curate a personal giving portfolio. The acquisition is indicative of Charity Navigator's commitment to innovation in philanthropy.

Vice President of Business Development & New Ventures Ben Horwitz provides a walkthrough of Causeway, a platform that makes creating and curating a personal giving portfolio easy. Charity Navigator has acquired Causeway to bring cause-based giving to the world's largest and most trusted nonprofit evaluator.

Causeway with Charity Navigator will launch amid challenging times for the charitable sector. A recent report from AFP showed a significant decline in the total number of donors, and Giving USA reported a drop in charitable giving for the first time in 40 years. This new platform takes the organization's Give Now Lists, curated lists of charities related to a specific cause or current event, to the next level. Beginning in 2024, Charity Navigator will launch new "cause funds" that donors can add to their giving portfolio. Like an investment portfolio, these funds will be managed by Charity Navigator to ensure that only the most highly rated and efficient charities receive funds.

"With more than 1.5 million nonprofits in the United States alone, giving can be an overwhelming process for donors," says Michael Thatcher, Charity Navigator's President and CEO. "The integration of Causeway into Charity Navigator will remove this barrier, empowering donors to fund nonprofits by cause and, effectively, create a subscription to good."

Causeway was founded by Ben Horwitz and Reed Rosenbluth in 2022. It is the first organization to combine a donation management system, composed of managed "funds," with automatic gifts and a management portfolio. With its all-in-one portal, Causeway makes it easy to track donations by combining all gifts into a single tax receipt.

"Our world is full of tough decisions, but choosing where to donate shouldn't be so difficult," said Ben Horwitz, Co-founder of Causeway and now VP of Business Development & New Ventures at Charity Navigator. "We are proud to join forces with Charity Navigator to advance our shared goal of turning intent into action."

As part of the acquisition, Causeway has transferred its intellectual property and other assets, including its brand, to Charity Navigator. The acquisition was made possible through generous support from the O'Shea Family Foundation and an anonymous donor. Charity Navigator is actively seeking additional funding to expedite and expand the Causeway integration, aiming to develop a cutting-edge, best-of-breed giving solution.

ABOUT CHARITY NAVIGATOR

Founded in 2002, Charity Navigator is a 501(c)(3) organization that guides intelligent giving with the nation's largest, most comprehensive charity evaluation tool. The organization helps donors easily identify U.S.-registered charities making a difference on the issues they care about most while helping charities better understand their donors, deliver on impact, and increase awareness and funding. Learn more at charitynavigator.org.

SOURCE Charity Navigator