---
title: What’s philanthropy as a service?
description: Groundswell sees philanthropy as an employee benefit, like a 401(k). Employees and employers add money, employees give as they see fit.
---

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# [What’s philanthropy as a service?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/12092021-philanthropy-as-a-service)

 Written by [Juliet Bennett Rylah](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/juliet-bennett-rylah) | Dec 9, 2021 10:12:44 AM

What if your charitable donations were part of your employee benefits, like insurance or PTO?

That’s what Groundswell envisions with its “philanthropy as a service” platform. The startup raised [$15m](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211130005365/en) in seed funding, to ramp up for an early 2022 launch.

#### **Groundswell sells its services to companies…**

… who set employees up with personal funds to donate as they see fit, using Groundswell’s platform.

The app also:

- Makes suggestions based on issues employees identify as important
- Lets users build shareable portfolios of charities they support
- Tracks donations for tax purposes

To grow the fund, employees can automatically divert a percentage of their paycheck, which employers can match.

But Groundswell founder and CEO Jake Wood told *The Hustle* he hopes companies just give away money to “empower employees to solve the problems that they think are most pressing in their communities.”

#### **Companies not only get a tax deduction…**

… but receive [data](https://groundswell.io/) about the issues that attract their employees’ dollars.

“There’s a role for companies to be writing big checks [and] tackling issues at a systemic level,” Wood told us.

“If they know what their people care about and can align those big checks to those values, then it’s a win-win for the organization that actually makes that corporate philanthropy more sustainable.”

So far, Groundswell has signed on a variety of companies, from hedge funds to consumer brands, with ~200 to 10k+ employees (though they haven’t officially named any names).

**BTW:** If you’re looking for charities to support, [Charity Navigator](https://www.charitynavigator.org/) is a searchable database of **195k+ **nonprofits.

[View full post](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/12092021-philanthropy-as-a-service)

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