Blog

Gone Crazy

By: GiveSendGo on | Comments: 1
Have you seen the popular t-shirt or bumper sticker that says Gone Fishin'?  I feel like we need to make one for this past decade that says "Gone Crazy".   

People fighting and disowning each other over political posts, shootings, rioting and looting, protests, claims of fraud on every election, killing babies is called normal and people are shamed if they believe it is wrong, social platforms and credit cards silencing any voice they don't agree with. If you had given me a magic ball I would not have believed this would be the culture we find ourselves living in the 2021 United States of America. 

Freedom that was bought a high price both spiritually and physically, is being thrown away for greed and convienence. 

GiveSendGo has found itself in a precarious position, as the country takes sides. We know that the battle is not against flesh and blood so we are not out to take a stand with either Democrats or Republicans.  Our stand is HOPE.  We are going to use our platform to share the Hope of Jesus.  When someone comes to GSG and wants to make a campaign for some left leaning campaign, we will allow it as we pray and reach out and share love and hope with each campaign owner and giver.  When a right leaning campaign owner makes a campaign we don't 100% agree with, again we just commit to pray for, and share grace and hope with each person who comes to the campaign. 

That doesn't always make us a lot of friends. We get a lot of hate mail, threats and people demanding "take that down"  or "how dare you call yourself a Christian".   We understand that people are invested in their "side" and what they feel is the right way to do things and they can be really passionate expressing it. 

We are also passionate. We are passionate about helping people. We are passionate about sharing Hope with often times hopeless people.  We are passionate about giving YOU a voice. Giving you a way to take a stand for what you feel passionate about. But most importantly, we are passionate about Jesus.  We are passionate about getting a chance to introduce Him to people who come to our platform. We don't care what election sign is in your yard, or who you follow on twitter, those are all temporary. We want to focus on the eternal.  

Our focus is simple:  Letting you know that Jesus loves you more than you ever can imagine. So much that He took the punishment for the sin that separates you from God and made a way for you to have a relationship with Him.  He doesn't just want you to just say a one time prayer. He wants your whole self, freely choosing to love Him in response to His love for you. Nothing gets better than that.  Simple but yet Mindblowing.  

Don't go crazy, Go share Hope along with us. It's still available for all! 

GiveSendGo- Crowdfunding for all
#FundHope
Read more

The GiveSendGo story

By: GiveSendGo on | Comments: 6
Hello Everyone!
Thanks for taking a minute to stop by our blog and learn a little bit about who we are and why we started GSG.  GiveSendGo was started by 3 siblings in a family of 12 children. Heather(#2), Emmalie (#4, and Jacob (#5). There had been some discussion around the dinner table one night about what the Church would look like today, if it operated like described in the book of Acts. Where instead of believers fighting with each other, we worked together, and shared resources to help demonstrate the Hope we have in Jesus with the world.

Crowdfunding got mentioned and it started the ball rolling.We hired a development company, 3- 4 months they said it would take to complete. 3 months came and went, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months and then finally a year and our developer was still making excuses on why it was not complete. We were stressed out and wondering if this was even ever going to happen. If you scroll back on our Facebook page you will see us announce that we were going live, then nothing... then announce we were about to launch again... and nothing.. it was then we first had to practice what we had been saying all along- GSG is GOD's and we are just working for Him. Whether it succeeds or fails, we are just moving forward trusting God had a plan in it all.

We FINALLY launched in 2014, 14 months after conception. The first few months we were begging people to start campaigns. We were working out the kinks and switching developers. We were excited, seeing a campaign or 2 a week and praying that God would use GiveSendGo for His Glory. Not just to help people raise money, but to encourage the Church around the world to spread the hope and love of Jesus with the world. About 3 months in we were still gung ho as we were seeing a little traction, and the site was finally operating like it should .At that time campaigns on GSG were charged based on a sliding scale, as you raised over certain amounts of money, the percentage that we would take from each donation to help with operating GSG would lessen.

We had meetings daily and would talk about and pray for GiveSendGo and the direction we were headed. At that time we realized every time someone started a campaign we would encourage them to remember that God is our provider, money is just a tool, but God owns the cattle on 1000 hills (and more!!!)  We started feeling challenged. If GiveSendGo was God's idea that He planted in us, and this website was the journey He had us on maybe we should take our own advice.  We decided in the early summer of 2014 to change our fee structure. No longer would we take a percentage of the money raised through GSG, we would make giving to GSG optional. We would trust that God had given us the idea for GSG and if we were faithful, He would do His work through it and in us. We took the leap of faith and became free. And we all lived happily, ever after.... well not quite.

As with any start up, there are days where everything is working and great and you are on the mountain top, you feel encouraged and loved,  and then there are days when you just want to throw in the towel and give up. When a piece of code breaks and unhappy emails come flying in about a feature not working, or a marketing endeavor flopping. We started to realize that maybe God didn't just give us GSG to help others be and do what God wants them to do, but also as a tool God was using to make us a little more into the people He wants us to be.

We had a launch party in October 2014, once we felt the site was ready to be put out into the world.  We have seen steady growth thanks to all our friends and supporters who share GiveSendGo.com when they see a need arise.  We have seen many changes to the site over the last 3 years. Maybe you were with us for some of them:

A new site design. Anyone remember what we used to look like?

A whole mess of new features such as:
  • Being able to record an audio message on your campaign page from a computer
  • Allowing recurring donation to a campaign
  • A Pray now button 
  • Custom Urls for your campaign
  • Shareable widget on your campaign.
  • Facebook auto share
  • We changed the campaign creation process, now broken down in easy to edit steps, 
  • We recently added a recipients step so you can change who is going to be receiving the funds. 

and so much more, many behind the scenes fixes and changes, making the website work more efficiently for you. 

We are so thankful for your patience, those who have maybe been with us during an update or error that we had to scramble to fix.  We want GSG to be the best site out there for Christians to raise money, but not just so we can talk dollars and stats.  It is our heart that the world will be changed as the Church comes together during tragedies, missions trips, adoptions, building funds, education, family need, medical bills , community outreach and more to use money as a tool to share the everlasting Hope of Jesus with our neighbors.  Thank you for being a part of the journey with us. Thank you for your prayers, encouraging words and generous donations. Let's continue on working together to change our world!



 
Read more

Tragic accidents

By: GiveSendGo on | Comments: 0


TRAGIC ACCIDENTS ARE HAPPENING ALL AROUND YOU.

How should the church respond?
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.18But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. James 2:15-18

At GiveSendGo we want to challenge local churches to be the hands and feet of Jesus in their communities. GiveSendGo.com makes it easy to put faith into action. Here are some of the ways:
  • GiveSendGo is Free! We do not charge a fee to use our platform.
  • It takes only minutes to set up and start sharing your story.
  • We don’t hold your money - Money that is raised is automatically transferred into the campaign owners attached bank account. 
  • People can share the campaign to their own personal social networks.
  • GiveSendGo sends out automatic thank you’s and receipts to Givers.
  • Givers can send their prayers and support through comments on the campaign page.
  • Updates can be given and images can be uploaded 
  • Record an audio message to be listened to when someone visits your campaign
  • People can set up recurring donations
  • Givers get encouraged to donate as they can see a goal being met.
As you see needs arise in your community, in your social circles, in the world, don’t wait for someone else to “do something”. Be the church, showing your faith in action, one campaign at a time.
Read more