National Small Business Week 2019: How (and why) G1VE is empowering SMBs to become a social enterprise

With National Small Business Week 2019 underway, Intuit® is excited to join in the celebration with a three-part blog series that recognizes the developers and apps that make up the QuickBooks® Online ecosystem and whose solutions help SMBs worldwide become more efficient and profitable.

This second post centers on an intriguing QuickBooks app, G1VE (check out G1VE’s App Card here). Rather than being focused on helping SMBs save time or money, G1VE is designed to help SMBs give back to their community.

Why G1VE believes in giving back

Aptly named, G1VE was founded by Regis Malloy, who is also the CEO. He and his “happy band of technology-loving idealists” have a heart for helping small businesses in the QuickBooks community become social enterprises.

Why is giving back so important to Regis and his team? “When small businesses give back and support great causes, it benefits their customers, communities, and their business, and we love helping facilitate that and being a part of that,” Regis says.

Nonprofits are organizations whose sole purpose is to support a specific cause using donated funds. Supporting accredited nonprofits through charitable giving is a tangible way for businesses to strengthen the community within which they operate. According to Regis, if even 1 percent of QuickBooks businesses donated to nonprofits, the impact would be huge.

“We estimate for just 1 percent of U.S. QuickBooks SMBs donating equals $44M/year to nonprofits, approximately 2/3 of which is net-new. With 90% of nonprofits getting by on less than $500k/year, the QuickBooks community can have a massive impact on charitable causes. It’s what we call ‘the Power of Small.’”

In addition to the communal welfare giving back provides, SMBs who donate also benefit financially. On its website, G1VE notes that 7 in 10 customers want to support social enterprises, with 81% remaining loyal to socially conscious brands and 81% telling others about businesses who give back.

How G1VE helps SMBs become social enterprises

Businesses can use G1VE to allocate a percentage of their monthly revenue to their nonprofits-of-choice. The usual amount is 1 percent, thus the “1” in the app’s name. G1VE, which integrates with QuickBooks, calculates, collects, and distributes the donation. G1VE also provides a “customizable public profile page” for businesses to share their giving with their customers and the community.

“G1VE helps small businesses become social enterprises by automating their charitable giving and providing them with tools to share their giving with the people who want to know about it: their customers and community,” says Regis. “And by integrating into QuickBooks, their giving is automated in one secure, centralized place which makes tax time a breeze.”

For G1VE users, the benefits are plentiful.

“QuickBooks businesses tell us that G1VE has helped them in a variety of ways, which is always exciting to hear. Some have always donated, but now do so with G1VE because it’s automated and easier. Others appreciate they’re giving a cash-flow friendly percentage, which they can adjust at any time. And we also love hearing how their customers like knowing that a percentage of their spend is going to nonprofits. So, businesses enjoy G1VE for different reasons, and that it’s flexible and adds value for each is what we strive for.”

G1VE’s vision for the future

National Small Business Week 2019 is a great reminder that SMBs employ 47.5 percent of all U.S. employees . When SMBs like G1VE exist, the world becomes a better place. “Study after study shows businesses benefit from being social enterprises: it’s good for their bottom line, their customers, and the world,” Regis says.

So, how can other SMBs emulate their success? Regis has some advice.

“Stay true to your passion and keep going! It’s important to have a network of family, friends, teammates, and customers who can support you and help you keep perspective — through good times and tough times. We’ve made mistakes (and will certainly make more), and our mantra remains: ‘be kind, be you, do good, and fail forward!’”

G1VE, along with chata.ai (the first SMB in our three-part series) and ClockShark (our final SMB in the series), truly deserve to be honored for their drive and passion to serve other SMBs.