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 aims to expand Internet access to the poorest communities the developing world. 

Our model ensures that supporting connectivity through online donations is simple, personalized and transparent. It only takes 3 minutes to register as a donor after which all monthly payments are automatic. Each project, donor, partner, cost and the story of each student is documented on the website. Donors receive monthly transparency reports with detailed costs, success stories and more.

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.

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.

Our beneficiaries are high school students in 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 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. 

GiveInternet.org is a nonprofit fundraising 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: it takes an average of 3 minutes to register on our platform for automatic recurring donations. It's also 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 (free platforms (like Khan Academy and Code.org) or local paid websites who equip the students with educational resources), corporate partners like Ernst & Young and Huawei, 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 Chromebooks, resources, training, and constant online mentorship from our team. The Chromebooks come preinstalled with our favorite educational resources. 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.

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 online donations is simple, personalized and transparent. It only takes 3 minutes to register as a donor after which all monthly payments are automatic. Each donor, partner, cost and the story of each student is documented on the website. Donors receive monthly transparency reports with detailed costs and success stories.

We raise funds on our international platform GiveInternet.org and our local, Georgian platform www.charte.ge. Donors register in under 3 minutes to sponsor either monthly Internet fees or a laptop. When sponsoring Internet fees, they register once, after which their donation is automatically deducted every month. They indicate what percentage of their donation goes directly to the student (versus operational expenses). After a successful donation, they end up among our online donors automatically. The payments are processed by a leading Georgian bank (TBC). 

Through its Georgian analogue www.charte.ge, GiveInternet.org has quickly gained public attention and support in Georgia - a country where the culture of philanthropy is almost absent - and has reached a high donor retention rate. In less than two years, through our platform we’ve raised more than $40,000 through monthly donations from individuals and an additional $40,000 from corporate partners and we’ve given Internet access to 330+ high school students. Our online donors, 80% of them being Millennials and 65% being female, have claimed that the cause of connectivity deeply resonates with them. They also understand that Internet access requires monthly recurring donations and are reluctant to withdraw support and deprive the student of connectivity. Our model also turned out to be very appealing to corporations like Ernst & Young and the Bank of Georgia. They believe that because such a large portions of our income depend on small recurring donations through our crowdfunding efforts, the likelihood of incurring financial difficulties is very low. 

In less than two years, we've served 336 high school students. 

Since we are now working on becoming a US 501(c)3 nonprofit, and start attracting US donations, we expect to almost double our income and our speed and serve up to 1000 high school students in a year. 

Since we are also planning to expand operations to other countries in the Middle East or Africa (by relying on partners on the ground to lead the operations), in 5 years we estimate to serve up to 3000 students.

It should also be noted that the members of the families of our students (including their younger students) are also encouraged to use the laptops and the Internet connection. Therefore, our work is estimated to impact those around our direct beneficiaries. 

In the next year, we are planning to become a US 501(c)3 nonprofit to start attracting donations from beyond Georgia, especially from the US. During this time, we will continue to operate in Georgia.

In the next five years, we are planning to expand our operations to other countries. While GiveInternet.org will continue to raise money through its platform and corporate donations, our partners on the ground (local NGOs, etc.) will lead the operations in new national settings in the Middle East and Africa. 

1. When it comes to our goal for the next year, incorporating a 501(c)3 is a necessary step in our expansion. Without having established a US nonprofit, we are unable to integrate Stripe or Paypal (unavailable in Georgia) into our website and therefore have to rely on our partner TBC Bank to process payments. As TBC is a Georgian bank, it creates two issues: 1) it fails to process some international transactions and 2) it transfers users to its external TBC page, which can create confusion or skepticism for international donors. Without a 501(c)3 status, we are unable to compete with other tax deductible charities or apply to a large portion of grants. We have already arranged for a law firm to lead our legal efforts to register as a 501(c)3 nonprofit. The only obstacle is a source of funding - overall we require $3000 to complete the legal process.
2. When it comes to our goals for the next five years, the biggest obstacle is finding new reliable partners on the ground who would operate based on our protocol.
3. In general, due to lack of funding, our team relies on a development shop during product iterations. We cannot afford an in-house team of developers which prevents us from being flexible and responsive to the needs of our customers and donors. 

The barriers N1 and N3 are fueled by lack of external funding. To address the issue, we have started to aggressively apply for corporate or non-governmental grants that are relevant to our cause. 

When it comes to barrier N2, our co-founders are addressing the issue by expanding their network and reaching out to non-profits who work in our areas of interest. 

5 full-time members of the staff;

1 part-time member of the staff;

10+ regional representatives;

5+ freelancers.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Razmik Badalyan, one of the people named among the 30 under 30 in science and education by Forbes Georgia. With 7+ years of experience in educational projects and a great passion for accessible education, his responsibility is equip the students with the knowledge, support and training needed to use the Internet for self-education.

GiveInternet.org was founded by our sister organization - Educare Georgia - an educational foundation on a mission to provide free access to world-class education to anyone in Georgia with the help of the Internet and technology. We partnered with giants like Khan Academy (here’s Sal Khan, its founder, on our organization: http://bit.ly/2S0Debx) and Code.org. We created Georgian versions of these platforms that are now used by 15% of the Georgian population. Together with Microsoft and the Ministry of Education, we organized the first coding clubs throughout the country.

GiveInternet.org heavily relies on corporate partners who sponsor laptops and other costs. Examples include Ernst & Young, Huawei, Bank of Georgia, TBC Insurance, etc.

The educational resources in Georgian are supplied to our beneficiaries free of charge by our local EdTech partners: exam prep, language courses, e-books, etc. 

Our project is funded by almost 600 individual recurring donors (mostly Georgians). To this day, we have raised $43,774 through our platform.

An additional $40,000+ comes from our corporate partners like Ernst & Young, Bank of Georgia, Huawei, BDO, TBC Insurance, etc. You can access the full list of our donors here. 

Our Internet Service Provider (ISP) partners offer discounts or free installation. Our EdTech partners supply their paid educational resources for free. 

Our goal is to diversify our funding stream. 

When it comes to monthly recurring donations, we have good retention rates. In conversations with our donors, it seems that the cause of connectivity resonates with them. They understand that Internet fees are a monthly cost and require recurring donations and they are reluctant to withdraw support and deprive the students of connectivity. This results in small donations from a large number of people and good retention rates. 

We also want to accelerate our efforts towards attracting corporate partners and applying for grants relevant to our cause. 

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. 

As 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.

We'd like to partner with organizations with similar models or missions to share insights and advice. We'd also like to partner with organizations that work in countries in the Middle East and Africa where we might expand our operations. 

Our solution will addresses the following goal:

• Ensure all citizens can overcome barriers to civic participation and inclusion, including expanding access to information, internet, digital literacy, and services.

Our platform makes it easy, transparent and personalized for individuals and corporations to sponsor monthly Internet fees, laptops, digital training and resources for high school students (and their families) from the poorest communities. A portion of our beneficiaries reside in the marginalized, poor IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) settlements created 11 years ago, following the 2008 Russo-Georgian war. We aim to help our beneficiaries to realize their full potential and take advantage of the available global knowledge and information online for career advancement, professional and personal growth, increased competitiveness and efficiency. 

Our team will mainly use the prize for product iteration (by forming an in-house team of developers that will allow us to be more flexible and responsive towards the needs of our donors and beneficiaries) and fundraising (expanding our network, grant-seeking, peer-to-peer fundraising, online engagement and marketing). As a result, we will expand our operations to support students from more refugee settlements and eventually expand beyond Georgia. 

Our solution will addresses the following goal:

• Ensure all citizens can overcome barriers to civic participation and inclusion, including expanding access to information, internet, digital literacy, and services.

By making it easy, transparent and personalized for individuals and corporations to sponsor monthly Internet fees, laptops, digital training and resources for high school students (and their families) from the poorest communities, we aim to help our beneficiaries to realize their full potential and take advantage of the available global knowledge and information online for career advancement, professional and personal growth, increased competitiveness and efficiency. 

Our team will mainly use the prize for product iteration (by forming an in-house team of developers that will allow us to be more flexible and responsive towards the needs of our donors and beneficiaries) and fundraising (expanding our network, grant-seeking, peer-to-peer fundraising, online engagement and marketing).