Millie, a social impact software company, 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.”

// Millie Founder and CEO, Rachel Klausner

Gamified Giving from Millie

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%, especially among small donors.

Additionally, nearly 80% of donations are made at the end of every year, 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.

Listen to the Causeartist podcasts to hear more news and stories around corporate philanthropy and gamified giving.