The Startup Powering Kony 2012 Gets 15X Their Usual Traffic This Month
There is much buzz in the media about the now infamous Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 campaign, so I’m not going to rehash it here. Instead I wanted to draw attention to the startup that is powering the campaign,StayClassy.org.
You’ve probably never heard of StayClassy (unless you’re on our email list or read about them on our blog on the weekend), mostly because they are not your typical “sexy” startup and they’re based in sunny San Diego (can you tell I’m feelingjealousof the San Diego weather today?). Yet, StayClassy was able to turn the non-sexy topic of fundraising money for non-profits into something that seems a lot more sexythan Highlight right now.
According to StayClassy Founder and CEO Scot Chisholm, StayClassy started in 2006 as a side project as the team was more of a consulting firm for non-profits. Once the team started working closely with the people behind the scenes in these organizations, they realized the potential for what is now the StayClassy platform, which they launched as a beta in mid 2010 with about 50 organizations, including Invisible Children, andpubliclyin January 2011. The StayClassy platform is now used by over 2,250 organization (including Justin Bieber’s Believe Charity Drive), and its growing.StayClassy also hosts the largest industry-led philanthropic award show in the country (now in its 4th year!), called theClassy Awards.
So exactly how big has StayClassy grown? Apparently they already get 150-250K unique visitors per month depending on the season (people are more charitable around theHolidays). It was Christmas in March for the team this year though, as the Kony 2012 campaign, which collects donations using the StayClassy platformhas already brought in 15X more traffic than the team normally sees. Considering StayClassy collects a 3% of every donation, they’redefinitelywinning right now!
Happy Tuesday and Stay Classy!