Kindful launches innovation fund to drive better technology solutions for nonprofits

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kindful, a Nashville-based software company that automates fundraising and donor management for nonprofits has launched Code for Kindness, an innovation fund designed to intentionally blur the lines between software development and giving back.

While the concept of an innovation fund is not new territory for tech companies, the Kindful team is adding a philanthropic twist to their program. Instead of simply paying an agreed-upon sum for each integration, Code for Kindness encourages developers to donate a portion or the entirety of their earnings to the charity of their choice.

"It really makes you look at the work differently," said Josh Crews, an engineer from Nashville, Tennessee. "I've done work for local nonprofits, but this is an opportunity to do something that will impact thousands of charities everywhere. That's the power in building technology." Developers submit app ideas through the Code for Kindness webpage, then work with the Kindful team to iron out scope, cost, and timeline to complete the project.

Kindful aims to be the first integrated App Directory and ecosystem uniquely curated and exclusively built for the way nonprofits work. Jeremy L. Bolls, Kindful's founder and CEO, explains, "Nonprofits have so many unique needs, processes, and challenges, so we've always built tools with those purposes in mind. But we also see a growing interest from independent developers who want to serve the space. Our approach is to provide a platform for developers and an aggregation point for nonprofits to discover and connect new technologies to meet whatever challenge they're facing."

The five-year-old company has been a pioneer in nonprofit software by choosing an open platform and API approach, as most vendors in the space have historically opted for proprietary, all-in-one solutions. Bringing a different software approach to the nonprofit sector, Kindful's team is instead taking a cue from companies like MailChimp and Salesforce, who grew rapidly on the strength of their platform and integrated ecosystem. Bolls continued, "In our view, the last decade has produced a handful of special B2B ecosystems that were all built by providing a platform for innovation. We want to do the same for the nonprofit sector." 

Fueled by a recent Series A investment led by Cultivation Capital, the Kindful team wants to amplify a successful 2016, which featured the launch of integrations with SaaS giants like MailChimp, CrowdRise, QuickBooks, and Eventbrite. The startup hopes Code for Kindness will build on that momentum and exponentially increase the number and variety of integrated apps available to Kindful customers. Bolls concludes, "Our mission is to help our customers continuously improve their communities and the world. We do that through technology, but we don't do it alone. We believe that partnering drives innovation, speed to market, and a level of quality that we simply couldn't achieve in isolation. And, at the end of the day, if that means thousands of nonprofits and social enterprises are able to do more good, we feel pretty good about funding that."

Learn more about Code For Kindness and apply at www.kindful.com/codeforkindness

About Kindful 
Kindful is a Nashville-based Fundraising Automation Platform. Featuring online donation pages, donor CRM, reporting tools, and integrated partnerships with best-in-class services, Kindful's platform is designed to help nonprofit organizations save time and raise more money. Kindful proudly powers thousands of world-changing fundraisers and organizations across the US and beyond. For more information, please visit www.kindful.com

SOURCE Kindful

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