Scott Oki, Digvijay Chuahan : See Your Impact .org : Philanthropy Redefined

Monday March 14, 2011 , 4 min Read

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Scott Oki, Co-Founder of SeeYourImpact.org, led the first billion in sales for Microsoft before dedicating his life to philanthropy. A serial entrepreneur, Scott has started almost 20 philanthropic organizations and served on the leadership teams of over 100. It's the lessons learned from his almost two decades in philanthropy that led him and Digvijay Chauhan to develop SeeYourImpact.org. Digvijay Chuahan is the co-founder and CEO of SeeYourImpact.org. He moved to Seattle from India over 20 years ago to attend college with only a few dollars to his name. Digvijay went on to a successful career at Microsoft before Co-Founding AskMe.com where he met Scott Oki. The two put their hearts and heads together to create SeeYourImpact.org. Shari Goetsch – Director of Marketing and Communications answers a few questions about See Your Impact.Tell us about how See Your Impact works

SeeYourImpact.org is a revolutionary way to help those in need around the world and next door. Give a small gift. In about 2 weeks, we’ll show you exactly who you helped and how.

Our mission is to connect donors to the people they’re helping by showing donors the direct impact of their giving.

It all starts when a donor visits SeeYourImpact.org. We make it easy for them to find a cause they’re passionate about, whether it’s providing meals for hungry school children in Western India or providing a backpack of school supplies for a child in Colombia. When they give, we pass 100% of their donation toward the gift they’re funding.

The instant someone donates, we notify our partners on the ground. Our field partners in-country send us the photo and story of the person who was helped, and our volunteers edit the story and send it by email back to the donor.

One of the best parts is that it doesn’t end there. Many of our donors are so excited to see who and how they helped, that they share their Impact Story on Facebook or Twitter. This helps spread the word and extends the circle of giving to their friends and family.

What was the idea behind this?

Every donor has a simple question: does my gift really matter? That inspired the concept behind SeeYourImpact.org. Co-Founders Scott Oki and Digvijay Chauhan knew that if they used technology to show people the impact of their giving, it could revolutionize the charitable experience for millions of people.

What kind of impact has this had?

Thanks to SeeyOurImpact.org donors, our partners are expanding their services to reach even more vulnerable populations. Take, for example, Amar Jyoti, a non-profit that provides schooling for children with disabilities in East Delhi and Gwalior. Amar Jyoti was struggling to fund their programs and was forced to make difficult cut backs. Now, with the help of SeeYourImpact.org donors, they never have to turn away a student in need.

Do you have numbers/statistics to show that people are more likely to donate if they can learn about what their donation is doing?

There’s extensive research on the psychology behind giving. One of the key findings is that we humans feel overwhelmed when we hear large numbers. Paul Slovic, who conducted studies on donor behavior, calls this psychic numbing: The larger the numbers, or the larger the gap between what we can do versus what needs to be done, the more helpless we feel. And when we don’t think we can have a direct impact, we don’t act.

On the other hand, research shows that when you connect donors to individuals and present them with the one life they can change, their likelihood to give significantly increases. Without a doubt, we’ve found that to be true on SeeYourImpact.org.

For more on donor motivations, check out this article.

Some examples?

Thanks to a SeeYourImpact donor, 9-year old Bebe is on her way to becoming a doctor! - Link to Bebe's story