Grateful Giving

What Grateful Giving does

Grateful Giving is a 501(c)(3) public charity (the Grateful Giving Foundation, EIN 92-0783225, founded 2023, headquartered in Dallas Center, Iowa) that operates a digital giving platform and mobile app enabling gratitude-messaging paired with optional or recurring donations to U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofits. The platform surfaces a directory of over 1.5 million verified nonprofits and supports three primary product surfaces: (1) gratitude messaging with embedded donation gifts, (2) a monthly giving dashboard with preset or custom recurring amounts and budget/impact tracking, and (3) a Giving Leadership Councils program where 300+ volunteers across 25 nationwide councils meet quarterly to vote on collective grant allocations, requiring a $300/year minimum commitment.

The technical stack is self-serve product-led growth: a browser-based web platform at app.gratefulgiving.org complemented by native iOS and Android apps, with Apple Pay integrated for donations to the foundation. Distribution is entirely organic and marketplace-driven (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Apple App Store, Google Play Store), with no sales motion and no enterprise GTM. Underlying architecture is best characterized as a thin payments-and-directory layer rather than a deep technology platform; there are no disclosed APIs, SDKs, MCP endpoints, third-party integrations beyond Apple Pay, or AI/ML components.

The business model is donation-funded philanthropy rather than transactional revenue: the foundation takes 0% of donations routed through the platform to recipient nonprofits (only third-party payment processing fees are deducted), and operational costs are covered by separate tax-deductible donations made directly to the Grateful Giving Foundation. Customers/users split across individual donors, monthly givers (subscription-style), and council members (high-commitment philanthropists). The organization has passed through over $1,000,000 to 3,276 nonprofits, holds GuideStar Platinum Transparency certification, and operates with a small disclosed paid team (Founder & CEO Matt Ostanik, Volunteer Director Mark Horner) plus a 16+ person volunteer Board of Directors drawing executives from Synchrony, Microsoft, Costco, Toast, Cloud Security Alliance, and Divert.

Name

Grateful Giving

Legal name

Grateful Giving Foundation

Website

https://gratefulgiving.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Grateful Giving is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating a gratitude-messaging platform and mobile app that routes 0%-fee donations to 1.5M+ U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofits, supported by monthly giving tools and 25 Giving Leadership Councils with 300+ volunteers nationwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Charitable Giving Platform

NAICS

Other Grantmaking and Giving Services (813219)

akta.pro primary industry

Federated Giving Organizations (e.g., United Way-type) (BPAGAKAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Grantmaking & Philanthropic Funds (Institutional Donors) (BPADAOAB), Creator Tipping, Donations & Micro-Payments (MPACAFAB)

Keywords

• Nonprofit giving platform
• Charitable donation platform
• Gratitude messaging app
• Monthly giving subscriptions
• Giving council program

Headquarters

HQ city

Dallas Center

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Foundation Donations: The Grateful Giving Foundation is funded entirely by tax-deductible donations to the 501(c)(3). No portion of user donations to nonprofits is taken. The foundation covers operational costs through separate charitable contributions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Grateful Giving operates a nonprofit giving platform and mobile application that enables users to send gratitude messages paired with optional donations to any of 1.5 million+ verified 501(c)(3) nonprofits. The platform supports free one-time gratitude gifting, recurring monthly donations with budget tracking, and community-led Giving Leadership Councils where members pool funds and vote quarterly to allocate grants to selected causes.

Product overview

Grateful Giving offers a unified platform with multiple integrated modules for charitable giving. The core Grateful Giving Platform enables gratitude gifting—sending appreciation messages paired with optional donations to the recipient's chosen cause. Two key add-on modules extend the offering: Monthly Giving provides recurring donation management with budget tracking, while Giving Councils facilitates group grant-making through local and national councils. The platform connects users to over 1.5 million 501(c)(3) nonprofits. A companion mobile app is available for iOS and Android.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Grateful Giving Platform Web-based platform that enables users to send gratitude messages paired with optional gift donations to more than 1.5 million 501(c)(3) nonprofits. Recipients can choose their preferred cause or let the sender select it, and the platform never takes a percentage of donations to nonprofits.
• Monthly Giving Recurring donation feature that lets donors set monthly contributions of $5, $10, $25, $50, $75, $100, or a custom amount to one or more nonprofits, with an impact dashboard and credit card billing.
• Giving Leadership Councils Group giving program with 25 active local and national councils and 300+ members who meet quarterly to select nonprofits and allocate pooled grants. Minimum annual commitment is $300 ($100 council administration plus $50/quarter to selected nonprofits).
• Grateful Giving Mobile App Companion mobile application for iOS and Android that allows users to send gratitude messages, attach optional donations to 1.5 million+ nonprofits, and manage monthly giving budgets from a mobile device.

Quantifiable outcome

• $1,000,000+ donated to nonprofits through the platform
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature4 records

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Instrumentl: Grant discovery and management platform for nonprofits and funders; adjacent peer covering the funder-side grantmaking workflow that overlaps with Grateful Giving's council-driven grant allocation.
• Submittable: Grant application and management platform used by foundations and nonprofits; adjacent peer covering the grantmaking workflow that Grateful Giving's Giving Leadership Councils approximate through quarterly voting.

Direct peers

• GiveButter: Online fundraising and donation platform for nonprofits with peer-to-peer campaigns, recurring giving, and live event features; comparable in serving donor+nonprofit workflows and product-led growth onboarding.
• GlobalGiving: Crowdfunding marketplace connecting donors to vetted nonprofits worldwide; comparable in routing contributions to a large catalog of nonprofits with both one-time and recurring giving options.
• Funraise: Nonprofit fundraising platform offering donation pages, recurring giving, peer-to-peer campaigns, and donor management; directly comparable in providing software tooling to channel donor contributions to 501(c)(3) causes.
• Network for Good: Donation platform and donor CRM purpose-built for small and mid-sized nonprofits; directly comparable in enabling donors to discover and fund 501(c)(3) organizations online with recurring monthly giving.
• Givelify: Mobile-first giving app enabling one-tap donations to a broad catalog of nonprofits; directly comparable to Grateful Giving's mobile/web donation workflow, freemium onboarding, and recipient-driven cause selection.
• DonorsChoose: Peer-to-peer donation platform connecting donors to specific classroom/teacher projects; comparable in directing individual contributions to a curated nonprofit catalog with project-based funding and recurring giving.

Broad incumbents

• PayPal Giving Fund: Established donation infrastructure integrated into a major payments platform; broadly comparable as a high-scale giving intermediary routing donor contributions to 501(c)(3)s.
• Benevity: Corporate giving, volunteering, and grant management platform; comparable on the pooled/managed giving and grants-disbursement model that Grateful Giving's Giving Leadership Councils approximate, though Benevity's primary customer is the enterprise.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/gratefulapp.org
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/grateful-giving
• Instagraminstagram.com/givegrateful
• TikToktiktok.com/@gratefulgivingfoundation

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles18 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Grateful Giving