Israeli startup LivinGift is a new crowdfunding platform that allows contributors to provide zero-interest loans for ventures that have a positive social impact.
Eligible ventures must fulfill two simple criteria: the venture must improve the lives of people or communities, and have a sustainable economic model and a fixed income. As long as it meets those criteria, it doesn’t matter if the venture’s creator is a nonprofit or for-profit company or a non-governmental organization.
“We decided to create this platform to encourage the social progress and solve problems like the credit crunch. Indeed, banks hardly fund social impact enterprises because they see them as a high-risk investment,” Shiry Eden, LivinGift founder, said in an interview with The Times of Israel.
When the platform launched in late September, it featured two ventures in Israel – Israeli Finance Institute and Safe Together – but may expand to projects around the world in the future. A business or company may only launch a single campaign at a time through the LivinGift platform. Every campaign remains on the site for 45 days.
Safe Together (Batuch Yachad) is a cooperative that provides fair and direct employment of security guards and medics. Its donation page notes: “The time has come to bring social justice to the security guard and medic sector.”
All projects are reviewed by the LivinGift’s public advisory council, headed by Professor Meir Heth, a former chairman of the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange, Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd. and Teva Pharmaceuticals Ltd. The advisory council checks all the projects to understand if they are legitimate enterprises or not.
For more information, visit the website or email office@livingift.org.
