Fundraising 2.0 implies the use of ubiquitous social media in the course of fundraising. By building a global community of people -- connected through giving and receiving via social resources online -- fundraisers are able to tap into this online network to promote their causes. This highly-connected platform also makes it more convenient for individuals to contribute to the causes they support.

While this concept is nothing new (see KIVA.org, a global one-stop fundraising portal for the needy), there was not any fundraising portal specific to our local charities.

So here’s where GIVE.sg steps in.

Conceptualised by an ambitious team of youths, the social enterprise is the tool that bridges our generous community with local charities, creating more opportunities for giving and receiving in the local philanthropy scene. Among their key offerings are personal fundraising, donating online, browsing charity information and participating in charity events. Since inception early this year, more than $120,000 has been raised via GIVE.sg by 2,000 donors in merely six months.

Recently, GIVE.sg was also awarded $15,000 for winning the ideas.inc Business Challenge organised by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and SPRING Singapore.

Singapore Kopitiam (SK): Your team is comprised of 10 graduates and undergraduates from all walks of life. How did you guys come together and what inspired you guys to create an online fundraising community like Give.sg?

Yu Ming: We were all friends. Knew each other from school, played football together, or just clicked and enjoy hanging out. All of us were attracted to the idea of www.GIVE.sg because we all wanted to make a difference and try our best to help end the suffering, injustice and sadness that still plagues our world today.

SK: Give.sg started out with the hugely successful “Support the Survivors” fundraising campaign for typhoon victims in Taiwan. How has Give.sg evolved since then?

Yu Ming: www.GIVE.sg was about making is easier for people like us -- young, not that rich, but full of energy -- to give back to society in our own ways. Just like in the "Support the Survivors" campaign, we continued to evolve the idea by listening to the community, and making sure we build the tools that would really enable them to be creative with their fundraising.

Since then, we responded to the needs of charities by making eTickets for concerts and online registration for sports events available on www.GIVE.sg. We also make it more enjoyable for our community by introducing leaderboards to make it more competitive, video galleries to help them tell their stories, and also music plug-ins so they could share their favourite tunes.

SK: How do you think a social community fundraising platform like Give.sg fits into our local culture?

Yu Ming: Our community loves us. www.GIVE.sg brings the act of giving to the internet, which is exactly where the next generation of leaders are hanging out today.

SK: Give.sg was awarded S$15,000 recently at the ideas.inc Business Challenge organized by NTU and SPRING. How does Give.sg plan on spending this huge sum, and moving forward what can we expect from Give.sg?

Yu Ming: For starters, we are a social enterprise so that means all funds will go back into making the service better and better everyday. Stay tuned cause we are definitely rolling out some amazing things over the next few months. (Hush ... sneak previews coming soon so check out our blogs!)

SK: Why should charities join Give.sg?

Yu Ming: That's a good question. We sincerely do wish to put in the best of our abilities. For us, www.GIVE.sg is about people getting together to do good. We believe in building a strong trust relationship and that means we are committed to help charities get the best out of the internet and make sure they achieve and even exceed their fundraising goals.

There is no one-size fits all solution. Charities are unique because they address different social angles and cater to different types of people. At www.GIVE.sg, we understand this and therefore have made the service customizable to fit the needs of different organization in their own personalized ways.

SK: What are the biggest challenges Give.sg has faced so far?

Yu Ming: Early on, when we started, the hardest part was getting someone to trust us and fund the idea. Thankfully, we met a wonderful angel investor who believed in us and set us flying towards our dreams. Moving on, the next big challenge was how to make it a sustainable model so we can continue to improve and help people. Thankfully, we met Mr. Suresh Keerthi who gladly shared his vast business experience and advised us on how to more ahead.