--- title: "Nonprofit Fundraising Startup Amicus Raises Funding Round" id: "14430" type: "post" slug: "nonprofit-fundraising-startup-amicus-raises-funding-round" published_at: "2012-11-14T21:20:55+00:00" modified_at: "2012-11-14T21:20:55+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2012/11/14/nonprofit-fundraising-startup-amicus-raises-funding-round/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2012/11/14/nonprofit-fundraising-startup-amicus-raises-funding-round.md" excerpt: "With a number of nonprofit groups already using the fundraising-outreach service, Y Combinator-backed startup Amicus just scored a $3.2 million funding round." taxonomy_category: - "Fundraising" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "Fundraising" - "nonprofit" - "Social Media" - "Technology" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Association CEO / Executive Director" - "C-Level" - "Executive Team" - "VP" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Nonprofit Fundraising Startup Amicus Raises Funding Round Can nonprofit fundraising get by with a little help from your friends? That’s the idea behind [Amicus (opens in a new tab)](http://amicushq.com/) , a nonprofit fundraising startup that optimizes outreach campaigns by taking advantage of Facebook social graph data to raise success rates and limit overhead. The company’s CEO and co-founder, Seth Bannon, took inspiration for the product from his own work as a volunteer. > “I thought crappy tech was holding the causes back and wasting my time and my volunteers’ time.” “I’ve been involved with causes since I was 14 and I’ve always been super frustrated,” Bannon [told TechCrunch (opens in a new tab)](http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/13/amicus/) . “I thought crappy tech was holding the causes back and wasting my time and my volunteers’ time. So a few colleagues challenged me to fix it and here we are.” The concept is already showing signs of success, with the company, initially backed by the the startup accelerator [Y Combinator (opens in a new tab)](http://ycombinator.com/) , recently announcing a $3.2 million funding round. And it has already scored some big names on the fundraising front, including the AFL-CIO, the Human Rights Campaign, and the National Education Association. Here’s how Amicus does it: **Social graph reliance:** Instead of giving volunteers a list of random people to call, Amicus takes advantage of the volunteers’ social media contacts (“we’re friends on Facebook”) or demographic details (“we went to the same high school”), cross-checks them with the group’s official list of people whom the groups are attempting to reach, and uses the personal interactions as a way to more effectively reach their audience. **A personal touch:** While other companies in similar markets, such as Causes, use Facebook and other social media outlets to interact with end users, Amicus mixes it up — utilizing VOIP-based phone calls and personalized postcards to facilitate the interactions. **Making it a game:** [As VentureBeat points out (opens in a new tab)](http://venturebeat.com/2012/11/13/amicus-puts-the-fun-back-in-social-fundraising/) , the gamification element — complete with points, a leader board, and a potential to win prizes — helps give volunteers incentive to continue helping. As big data continues to become a big deal, we’re going to see more approaches like this. How could your association — whether a charitable nonprofit or one focused on business interests — take advantage of these kinds of tactics? (Amicus press photo) [Ernie Smith](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. 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