Christopher Tufford: Omnichannel Fundraising Platform That Helps Nonprofits and Other Community Organizations Modernize and Digitize Their Fundraising Programs

Green Apple Gives is an omnichannel fundraising platform that helps nonprofits and other community organizations modernize and digitize their fundraising programs by adding recurring revenue from cashback rewards and spare change roundups created by their stakeholders’ everyday spending.

Green Apple Gives is a digital-first solution that plugs into existing consumer behaviours and provides a platform that allows nonprofits and their stakeholders to tap into their existing networks to build a hyper-local cashback rewards marketplace in their community.
Green Apple Gives’ mission is to make the world a better place and we’re doing that by helping organizations that fundraise. If an organization needs to fundraise as either a primary or secondary part of their day to day operations then they must by definition be making the world a better place!

Tell us about yourself?

I’m a serial entrepreneur, poker enthusiast, ex-professional superbike racer and Toronto Maple Leafs fan! I left college after two years to start my first business and my startups include a range of diverse businesses from property management to telecom and iGaming to social impact including running the largest amateur poker tour in Canada in partnership with the World Poker Tour and now a fintech focused on social impact.

If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?

Two years ago I was beginning to think about the pivot we eventually decided on and would tell myself to trust those instincts and not only go ahead with the changes but double down on them.

What problem does your business solve?

Old-fashioned, in-person fundraising is unreliable, has too much friction to scale in a digital economy and they don’t connect well with younger generations. As we have seen through the pandemic that most in-person fundraising events didn’t happen at all so organizations need to figure new ways to connect with supporters. Green Apple Gives Provides nonprofits and other community organizations the tools they need to modernize and digitize their fundraising programs.

What is the inspiration behind your business?

The inspiration came from being involved with various fundraising efforts for my son’s sports and extracurricular activities. I recognized a gap in the market where there were lots of platforms for the individual to earn cashback rewards for themselves but non that existed for organizations – there were lots for “Me” but none for “We”!

What is your magic sauce?

Our magic sauce is the multiple new revenue sources we offer for organizations and their supporters but also the level of integration we use. Supporters don’t need to use coupons, check-out codes or links to shop at retail partners, they just need to register their credit cards and we do the rest for them. We make donating as easy as set-it and forget-it!
In addition we partner with our customer Organizations to allow them to tap in to their own personal networks and those of their stakeholders to add local merchants in their local communities to our cashback rewards platform. That is the trick to scaling our rewards offers quickly and efficiently, empower the organizations directly with the ability to add offers from their local merchants.

What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?

Our plan over the next 5 years is to become the largest cashback rewards program in the world and become the largest social impact fundraising partner by donations.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?

The biggest challenge we faced thus far was changing from our initial platform targeting schools to the current one that is more targeted to charities and nonprofits.

How do people get involved/buy into your vision?

We’d love to hear from anyone that believes they are involved with an organization that can use our technology to help their fundraising efforts or as a reseller of our tech. We expect to be a growing as a team in 2022 so if you are passionate about social impact and have experience that can help push our team forward then reach out through our website.