Press contact:

Joyce McMahon, McMahon Communications
+1-978-430-8847 joyce@mcmahoncomm.com

Press release:

FIRSTGIVING OPENS SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE TO WORLD OF ONLINE PHILANTHROPY
New Facebook application allows users to reach more potential donors increasing fundraising potential

SOMERVILLE, MA – AUGUST 21, 2007 – Firstgiving, a leader in providing Webbased fundraising services for individuals and charities, today announced the release of its new application for Facebook, one of the largest and fastest growing online social networking sites. Firstgiving’s new application allows users to rally their Facebook communities for support, thereby greatly increasing their fundraising potential.

“This new application is a huge win both for our users and the charities they support,” said Mark Sutton, Chief Executive Officer of Firstgiving. “The ability to access the tens of millions of Facebook community members means Firstgiving users can exponentially increase their ability to raise funds for the worthwhile causes they support.”

Setting up a person to person online fundraising page with Firstgiving is easily done using an online template that can be personalized with messages and photos.
Fundraisers then send links to their pages to family, friends and networks around the globe and ask for support for a walk, run bike ride, growing an embarrassing mustache, or any other reason they can think of. All of the moneys raised through these efforts go to certified charitable organizations. Nonprofits can also use Firstgiving’s services for their supporters. Because of its ease and ability to reach more people, Firstgiving’s online fundraising pages help raise an average of three times more money than traditional methods.

Facebook is all about networking, and according to Sutton, “By opening the doors to the Facebook community, Firstgiving users may find new friends who support the same causes – thereby growing their personal networks.” In addition, Facebook “friends” can also help with fundraising by using the new application to promote friend’s pages on their own Facebook profiles.

Firstgiving also released a new Flash widget that puts them inline with the emerging standard for widget building. The biggest benefits are vastly improved design and functionality as well as increased security. ‘Firstgiving offers a highly secure platform,” said Sutton. “Regardless of how you access Firstgiving’s services you can be sure that all transactions are safe and secure and reach the charity of your choice.”

About Firstgiving

Firstgiving helps people who want to make a difference. We make it possible for anyone, anywhere, to raise more money than they would have thought possible for the causes they care about by providing the world's most user-friendly fundraising tools and hosting a diverse and lively online community where donors, fundraisers and beneficiaries can support, learn from and communicate with each other in their own ambition to support their causes Firstgiving is the US office of Giving, Ltd. The company was established in 1999 in London, England as Justgiving (still operating through www.justgiving.com) and the US office opened in Massachusetts in 2003. Firstgiving is considered a leader in providing online fundraising tools to fundraisers and organizations, helping thousands of individuals raise millions of dollars for US nonprofit organizations. For more information please visit www.firstgiving.com or call (617) 591-2121.