OVERVIEW: The Network for Good is an online philanthropic service provider that coordinates hundreds of millions in donations each year across a multitude of giving areas. Its services appear to be particularly useful to smaller and lesser-known organizations.
IP TAKE: Network for Good is a major player in the emerging online philanthropic services sector. Since its founding in 2001, it has facilitated over $5 billion in donations to more than 400,000 nonprofits across the U.S. This organization is known for its partnerships with large corporations and media companies, but tax filings indicate that a significant portion of its funding is directed toward small, community and regional organizations. The network’s interface is easy to use for both donors and recipients. Getting through the door here will be tough, but worth it.
PROFILE: The Network for Good was established in 2001 by a trio of technology companies: America Online, Cisco Systems and Yahoo!. The platform replaced America Online’s previous philanthropic giving endeavor, Helping.org. Since then, it has facilitated more than $5 billion in grants to hundreds of thousand of organizations of every size, everywhere in the U.S. Network for Good is “committed to unleashing generosity through online giving” and, via its online platform, “securely and efficiently enables donors to raise and direct funds to their favorite charities.”
This funder does not name its own areas of grantmaking interest, deferring instead to the interests of its users and clients, but it does post featured campaigns on its website, directing donors to causes of timely and/or pressing interest. Tax filings indicate that its top giving areas are human services, disaster relief, animal welfare and education, and major partners donor partners include Youtube Giving, Walmart’s Spark Good program and Patagonia’s Action Works.
Grants for Homelessness, Mental Health, Food and Nutrition
Some of the network’s largest sums have supported human services organizations that assist homeless and vulnerable people across the U.S. Faith-based organizations number significantly among the network’s grantees in these areas.
- Grantees working with homeless populations include PATH of Los Angeles, Matthew 25 Ministries of Ohio and the Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County in Texas.
- A recent Network for Good featured campaign concerned funding for mental health crisis intervention, with grants supporting multiple state and regional chapters of the national nonprofit Mental Health America.
- Food security and hunger are also top areas of interest. Recipients include the Alameda Emergency Food, the Ballard Food Bank in Seattle and the Food Bank of Northern Alabama.
Grants for Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Aid
Network for Good’s website often posts “featured campaigns” for pressing needs in the areas of disaster relief and humanitarian aid.
- A campaign for Ukrainian Crisis Relief directs donors to organizations including Ukraine Power, the Ukraine Volya Foundation, Ukraine Defense Support, Ukraine Trustchain and others.
- Another relief fund directs donors to Hurricane Relief Efforts for the victims of 2024 hurricanes that affected the Southeastern U.S. Grantees include the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, the East Tennessee Foundation, the United Way of North Carolina and the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina.
- Another recent campaign aimed to drum up relief donations for Maui Wildfires. Recipients include the Hawaii Community Foundation, the Maui Food Bank and Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc.
- Other relief grants have gone to Doctors Without Borders, the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and the India Development and Relief Fund.
Grants for Global Development
Grants also support U.S.-based global development organizations chosen by the network’s donors. Past grantees include Myriad U.S.A, the anti-poverty organization the Life You Can Save, Women for Afghan Women, Lift Up the Vulnerable and Water is Basic.
Grants Animals and Wildlife
Tax filings indicate that animal welfare is a popular cause among donors; local and regional rescues, shelters and adoption organizations number significantly among the network’s grantees. Past recipients include Paws of War, the Animal Protective League of Cleveland, Always and Furever Midwest Animal Sanctuary in Kansas and the Jacksonville Humane Society in Florida, among many others.
Grants for K-12 and Higher Education
Support for education goes to both K-12 and higher education causes selected by the network’s donors and partners.
- Funding for K-12 education tends to go to individual private schools or organizations that provide educational support or special services. Grants have gone to Kentfield Schools Foundation in California, Maryland’s Bridges from School to Work, the Chinese American International School of San Francisco and New York City’s Partnership for Inner City Education.
- Higher education grants are few and far between, suggesting that colleges and universities typically utilize other means of fundraising. Among the network’s few higher education grantees are the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria and Michigan’s Davenport University.
Grants for Religious Causes
In addition to coordinating funding for religiously-affiliated human services organizations, the Network for Good facilitates funding for many Christian churches, particularly Eastern Orthodox and Coptic denominations. Grantees include the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate Diocese of Southern United States, the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of New Jersey, New York City’s Order of St. Andrew the Apostle and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson.
Grants for Racial Justice and Indigenous Rights
Racial justice is not a top area of funding, but the network created a page for Black Philanthropy Month, which is August, to coordinate donations for organizations working for racial justice.
- The page featured links to donation sites for many Black arts organizations including the Harlem School of the Arts, the National Black Theatre, Black Past and the Louis Armstrong House Museum.
- Education and youth development were other areas of interest for this campaign, which featured links facilitating donations to organizations including the Renaissance Youth Center in the Bronx, E4 Youth in Texas and the Surge Institute, a Chicago-based leadership development institute that runs national fellowships and learning programs.
- Other racial justice and Indigenous rights grantees include Washington’s Duwamish Tribal Services, the Equal Justice Initiative, Project Hood Communities of Chicago and the Muslim Association of Puget Sound.
Grants for Public Health and Diseases
Health has been a smaller area of giving in recent years, with grants supporting some smaller health and disease organizations. Grantees include St Mary’s Health Wagon in Virginia, the Ehlers-Danlos Society, the Spastic Paraplegia Foundation and Believe in a Cure, which support research on FOXGI syndrome, a rare neurological disease.
Grants for LGBTQ
While this funder does not have a program dedicated to LGBTQ causes, it gives related funding across its various funding programs, as funding supports specific aims within each program. In 2024, grants for LGBTQ causes totaled over $5.6 million.
Important Grant Details:
Grants range from , although these amounts typically represent pooled donations from several sources. Complete the nonprofit inquiry form to become a part of its network. Donors and corporations can get in touch via the partnership inquiry form to organize philanthropic efforts.
- This funder’s top areas of giving represent the causes that are important to its donors and partner organizations.
- Organizations of any size may register to receive funding via Network for Good’s platform. Begin the process by completing the nonprofit inquiry form.
- Corporations and others wishing to coordinate and facilitate philanthropic via Network for Good’s platform may reach out via its partnership inquiry form.
- For additional information about the types of organizations that are served by Network for Good, see its searchable database of nonprofits or its past tax filings.
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