Causes
Causes is a San Francisco-based social advocacy and charitable giving platform that enables individual users to engage in civic action, contact lawmakers, and donate to nonprofits, while serving 1.8M nonprofits and 330K community members through a freemium web platform operated by Gravvy, Inc.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2007
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Causes does
Causes is a privately held social advocacy and charitable giving platform operated by Gravvy, Inc., a Delaware corporation headquartered in San Francisco. Founded in 2007, the platform enables individual users to engage in civic action through categorized news feeds (covering News, Community, Environment, Government/Politics, Immigration, and Campaigns and Elections), community discussions, direct messaging to members of Congress, and charitable donations facilitated from purchases at participating brands. The platform serves two primary constituencies: individual civic-engaged users (330K community members) who participate in advocacy and discussion, and nonprofit organizations (1.8M listed) that can be pinned to user posts to gain visibility. Core technology is a web-based application backed by AWS S3 storage and Stripe payment processing, with no public API or developer-facing integrations.
The company generates revenue through two streams: a transaction-fee model on charitable donations processed through the platform, and a newly launched subscription product called Causes Amplify, which targets brands, organizations, and media strategists with interest cluster-based algorithmic reach capabilities entering early access in 2026. Causes underwent a major rebuild and relaunch in July 2025, merging prior charitable giving features from Gravvy.com with the social advocacy features of Causes.com under a single platform. The company is led by founder/CEO Gary Tsifrin, with Markus Fromherz as CTO and Elliot Kolt as Head of Marketing. Causes has not raised disclosed funding since a 2010 Series 3 round led by New Enterprise Associates, indicating it has been bootstrapping operations for approximately 15 years. The platform has facilitated $50M in lifetime donations and 20M messages to Congress, providing a long operational track record, but the introduction of the B2B Amplify product represents a strategic shift toward enterprise monetization following years of consumer-focused operation.
Causes firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Causes
- Legal name
- Gravvy, Inc.
- Website
- https://causes.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2007
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Causes is a San Francisco-based social advocacy and charitable giving platform that enables individual users to engage in civic action, contact lawmakers, and donate to nonprofits, while serving 1.8M nonprofits and 330K community members through a freemium web platform operated by Gravvy, Inc.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Causes industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Social Advocacy Platform
- NAICS
- Social Advocacy Organizations (8133), Other Social Advocacy Organizations (813319), Civic and Social Organizations (8134)
- SIC
- Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Advertising (7310)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Nonprofit & Cause Communications (BPAFADAK)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Cause Marketing & Co-Promotions (BPAFAMAK)
Keywords
Where Causes is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Causes business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Charitable Giving Platform: Causes enables users to make charitable donations from purchases at participating brands. The platform facilitates charitable giving as a core revenue mechanism.
- Causes Amplify: Premium platform for scaled influence and sustainable algorithmic growth targeting brands, organizations, and media strategists. Offers interest cluster-based marketing capabilities.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Free Platform Access |
| Subscription | Annual | Causes Amplify - Early Access Program |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels4 records
Causes product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Causes is a social advocacy and charitable giving platform that enables individuals to engage in collective action on political and social issues. Users participate in categorized community feeds, pin nonprofit organizations to posts, contact members of Congress directly, and make charitable donations from purchases at participating brands. The platform combines civic engagement networking with charitable giving facilitation for grassroots activism.
Product overview
Causes operates as a unified social advocacy and charitable giving platform centered on its core web application. The platform provides multiple integrated channels: a News Feed aggregating stories across issue categories (Immigration, Government/Politics/Policy, Environment, Campaigns and Elections), a Community Feed for user discussions, and a Puzzles feature for engagement. The platform recently underwent a major redesign in July 2025, introducing the ability to pin nonprofit organizations to posts. A sub-brand called Causes Amplify, launched in 2026, targets marketers and organizations with an interest-cluster-based algorithmic reach product available via early access.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Causes Amplify: A platform for scaled influence and sustainable algorithmic growth, targeting brands, organizations, and media strategists transitioning to interest cluster models.
Products and services
- Causes Platform A social advocacy and charitable giving platform that enables individual users to engage in collective action on social and political issues. Features include categorized news feeds, community discussions, direct contact with Congress representatives, charitable donation capabilities from brand purchases, and the ability to pin nonprofit organizations to posts. Free for individual users.
- Causes Amplify A premium subscription platform for brands, organizations, and media strategists seeking scaled influence through interest cluster-based algorithmic reach rather than traditional influencer marketing with static followings. Offers interest cluster-based marketing capabilities and is positioned for the 2026 marketing landscape shift.
Quantifiable outcome
- $50 million donated through the platform
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Causes
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Causes technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Causes partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- StripecoreThird-party payment processor used for handling financial transactions including charitable donations on the platform. Stripe processes financial account information as part of donation and payment flows.
- News From The StatesminorNews content partner providing aggregated news stories to Causes feeds, including articles on Supreme Court rulings, housing legislation, and Congressional actions.
- StatelineminorNonprofit news network providing state-level policy coverage including environment, politics, and elections content for Causes news feeds.
- The 19thminorNews organization covering politics and elections with gender and equity focus, providing content for Causes campaigns and elections feed.
- The ConversationminorAcademic news analysis platform providing in-depth commentary on government and politics for Causes content feeds.
- CalMattersminorCalifornia-focused nonprofit news organization providing state politics and policy coverage for Causes feeds.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Causes competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- DoSomething.org: DoSomething is a nonprofit focused on youth civic engagement and social impact campaigns, with member-driven action mechanics. It targets a similar use case to Causes' grassroots advocacy and nonprofit pin features, though skewed to a younger demographic.
- Avaaz: Avaaz is a global online activism network organizing petitions, campaigning, and member-driven civic actions worldwide. It is comparable in the online activism/social advocacy space and overlaps with Causes' contacting-lawmakers and campaigning features.
- Care2: Care2 is a social networking platform focused on activism, petitions, and healthy living, with a member community similar to Causes. Both target civically engaged users seeking to take action on social and political causes.
- Indivisible: Indivisible is a progressive advocacy and civic engagement organization running local groups, campaigns, and direct legislative action. It competes with Causes for members interested in contacting lawmakers and participating in political campaigns.
- Mightycause: Mightycause is a fundraising and donor management platform for nonprofits and individuals running charitable campaigns. It is comparable to Causes' charitable giving engine and pin-nonprofit-to-post functionality.
- Change.org: Change.org is the world's largest online petition and social advocacy platform, enabling individuals to start campaigns and mobilize supporters. It directly overlaps with Causes' core user-facing advocacy, civic engagement, and cause-related community functions.
- MoveOn: MoveOn is a major US progressive civic advocacy organization running petitions, campaigns, and member mobilization on political and social issues. It competes with Causes for civic-engaged community time, donations, and policy-driven action.
Emerging players
- ioby: ioby is a community-driven crowdfunding platform for neighborhood environmental and civic projects, with a nonprofit-pinning-style project showcase. It overlaps with Causes' charitable giving and nonprofit-spotlighting features, albeit with a more local environmental focus.
Broad incumbents
- Classy (GoFundMe Pro): Classy, now part of GoFundMe Pro, is a leading fundraising and donor management platform helping nonprofits run campaigns and process donations. It serves the same nonprofit customers that Causes supports with charitable giving, but as a more enterprise-focused SaaS solution.
- Bonterra (Salsa Labs / EveryAction): Bonterra (combining Salsa Labs and EveryAction) provides CRM, advocacy, and fundraising software for nonprofits. It competes with Causes for nonprofit organizational budgets around grassroots mobilization and donor engagement tooling.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Causes social profiles
Digital presenceCauses financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Causes leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Causes funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors3 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Causes M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments8 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Causes
What does Causes do?
Causes is a social advocacy and charitable giving platform that enables individuals to engage in collective action on political and social issues. Users participate in categorized community feeds, pin nonprofit organizations to posts, contact members of Congress directly, and make charitable donations from purchases at participating brands. The platform combines civic engagement networking with charitable giving facilitation for grassroots activism.
Is Causes a public or private company?
Causes is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Causes founded?
Causes was founded in 2007. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Causes based?
Causes is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Causes make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Charitable Giving Platform is the primary driver. The others are causes Amplify.
Who are Causes's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are DoSomething.org, Avaaz, Care2, Indivisible, Mightycause, Change.org and MoveOn. ioby is listed as an emerging player. Broad incumbents are Classy (GoFundMe Pro) and Bonterra (Salsa Labs / EveryAction).
Does Causes have an API?
No public API is recorded for Causes.
What industry is Causes in?
Causes's product category is Social Advocacy Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAFADAK, Nonprofit & Cause Communications, with a secondary code of BPAFAMAK, Cause Marketing & Co-Promotions. Its NAICS code is 8133 and its SIC code is 8300.