GiveInternet.org

Half of the world’s population is still offline. In today’s knowledge economy, their chances of success are close to zero. GiveInternet.org is the only fundraising platform that allows anyone to sponsor Internet access for the poorest communities the developing world.

We try to make the donation process as simple and transparent as possible. Each project, donor, partner, cost and the story of each student is documented on the website. Donors receive monthly transparency reports,with detailed costs, srudent's achievements and details on the impact they've created.

To help them realize their full potential, our project gives high school students from refugee settlements and the poorest families access to the Internet, laptops, educational resources, digital literacy training and constant online mentorship.

We are developing a new platform (Launch in August 2021) to provide even more transparency and expand operations to Middle East & Africa.

Here is our 2020 Activity Report for more information on our organization.

More than four billion people around the world do not have Internet access. Today we live in a knowledge economy where Internet use has become a key factor in determining whether people succeed. The economic and social development of nations (especially developing countries) depends on how well they acquire, transmit and apply the available information. But the existing disparities in Internet penetration create an atmosphere of unequal competition. 

The digital divide reflects and widens socioeconomic gaps. Some of the factors that influence Internet access are known to include location, race, gender, age, income levels, educational background and social support. Research has shown that women in poor, urban areas are up to 50% less likely to be online than men in the same communities. Most of those offline live in low- and middle-income countries. The percentage of Europeans online today (80%) is nearly four times that of Africans (22%).

The issue of the digital divide is not likely to disappear on its own. Competitive service providers do not see rural, low-income markets as commercially viable and do not have the incentive to expand networks.Therefore, initiatives that facilitate connectivity, access to global knowledge and digital literacy are needed.

GiveInternet.org is a nonprofit platform on a mission to help disadvantaged high school students realize their full potential by giving them Internet access, laptops, digital, media and financial literacy training, constant mentorship and educational resources. 

Our platform is simple and transparent: each cost, donor, partner and the story of each beneficiary is well documented on the website. Donors can choose what percentage of their donation goes directly to the student versus administrative costs. Donors also receive monthly transparency reports with our detailed costs, student success stories and more.

The project involves multiple stakeholders: ISPs, EdTech partners (who provide free access to educational content), corporate partners (who sponsor laptops), local NGOs (who operate on the ground) and local schools and school districts (who identify the students).

Our students come from the poorest families, rural areas and refugee settlements. To help them realize their full potential, besides connectivity, our students receive budget computers, resources, training, and constant online mentorship from our team. Our training sessions on media literacy, financial literacy and online education ensure that the students are able to effectively, safely and critically navigate the web, use the available resources for education and growth. We constantly share professional or academic opportunities, information or resources with our students. Through in-depth interviews and surveys, we also gain insight into the Internet use patterns, academic, personal or professional progress of our students, their needs and preferences.

Currently our beneficiaries are high school students from Georgia, Europe, that are deemed as socially vulnerable by social services (and therefore come from the poorest families). They mainly reside in refugee settlements and rural areas.

In Georgia, around 78,000 school students that have been deemed socially vulnerable by the Government cannot afford to have Internet access. Due to deficiencies in the Georgian education system where 75% of teachers in Georgia fail to gain national certification in their own subjects, low levels of school funding and poor textbook quality, the current school system does allow the students to realize their full academic and professional potential. Due to lower funding, quality and infrastructure, rural students also show considerable lower odds of academic success.

The students are identified through schools and are documented, interviewed and surveyed before and after they’re given Internet access. Our local partner team is constantly in touch with each beneficiary to obtain insight into their needs, Internet use patterns and academic, professional or personal progress. Through digital literacy trainings and mentorship and by providing resources of our EdTech partners, we ensure that they are able to take full advantage of their laptops. 

After we launch the new platform, we will expand our operations worldwide by partnering with local educational nonprofits on the ground, which will allow donors to choose which country to sponsor. Some of the potential partners are organizations like Thaki and Leapschool from developing countries like Lebanon and South Africa.

Our solution makes it easy, transparent and personalized for anyone to sponsor connectivity and devices for low-income students from developing countries, including those living in remote areas and refugee settlements. Therefore, it perfectly aligns with the challenge of providing access to digital infrastructure and safe, affordable internet.

We launched our international platform a few years ago. Since then, we've been testing and looking for feedback. We've also incorporated a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in US. After thorough analysis, we've created a new design for the website to make it more transparent, more accessible and simpler to use. We are expected to launch in August and start attracting US donors. 

We also already deployed a local, Georgian version of the platform - Charte.ge. The platform has performed well among Georgian donors and has provided our team with a deeper understanding of what motivates our target givers and how to earn their trust. Up until now the platforms has up to 2500 monthly paying donors and 1300+ students connected. Some of the organizational sponsors include organizations like Ernst & Young, Unicef, GIZ, PWC, etc. 

GiveInternet.org is the only fundraising platform that aims to expand Internet access to the poorest communities in the developing world. 

Our model ensures that supporting connectivity through monthly online donations is simple, personalized and transparent. Each donor, partner, cost and the story of each student is documented on the website. It's a subscribtion based donation model (which totally makes sense for donors since internet costs are covered on a monthly basis). We hold ourselves accountable to the donors by sending them monthly transparency reports with detailed costs, student achievements and the impact of the project. The cause and the model resonates with next generation of donors, Millenials and Generation Z.

Currently we serve 1300+ families from underserved communities.

We look at the number of monthly donors, retention rates, churn, number of students, donations, engagement, reach.

We also measure the impact of our project on our students and measure changes in indicators like academic outcomes, self-assessment, general and mental well-being, and Internet accessibility. Here are our initial results.

4 full-time staff; a dozen contractors.

Our team - a group of people from Georgia working towards ensuring equitable access to high-quality education - has been working for 4 years on projects by Educare Georgia. Coming from a post-Soviet developing country, we have witnessed first-hand the transformational power of the Internet in improving the quality of life of individuals and communities. Educare Georgia has partnered with Khan Academy and localized over 5 thousand videos and 8 million words into Georgian, resulting in 60% of the Georgian students using the Georgian website.

George Jibladze is our CEO - he has spent 10+ years in the Telecommunications industry and co-founded a number of for-profit or non-profit ventures. He's mainly working on product development and general management.

With a master's from the University of Oslo in higher education, Roussoudane Djakeli’s academic and professional background are in education. She has 6 years of experience as a proofreader. During the past 4 years she has managed a number of educational projects including Khan Academy Georgia. At GiveInternet.org, she mainly works on fundraising, research and digital engagement.

Tornike Gelashvili is our CTO and the CEO of one of Georgia's top development shops and has more than 10 years of experience in software development. His team is working on our platform.

Shalva Bukia is working on our platform design, with 12 years of experience in UX/UI design.

For more information on our organization please view our 2020 Activity Report. 

GiveInternet.org originated in Georgia, a poor developing country without a culture of philanthropy. To scale in Georgia and beyond, it needs to tap into other philanthropy markets through online marketing and peer-to-peer fundraising. This requires a larger network of supporters, advice from similar organizations, raising our profile and additional funding for product iteration, growth and PR. 

Thanks to Solve, our team will gain:

• Invaluable feedback and mentorship that will help our product iteration and marketing strategy;
• Additional funding for product iteration, expansion and legal fees;
• Insight into how similar organizations work;
• The chance to expand our international network and raise our profile which will benefit our future fundraising efforts.