MADD Canada and Gigit Community Step Out Together: First-Ever MADD Canada Virtual Strides for Change Fundraising Event Being Powered Across Canada by Gigit

OAKVILLE, Ontario, Aug. 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MADD Canada (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) has partnered with Gigit Community to power their annual Strides for Change event this September 2020. This year marks the first time that this major fundraising initiative for the national Canadian non-profit organization will be held as a virtual walk/run/wheelchair event.

“This is a major fundraising activity for all MADD Canada Chapters and Community Leader Groups across the country,” says Dawn Regan, MADD Canada Chief Operating Officer. “We needed to find a way, in the face of current COVID-19 social distancing requirements, to still make this happen.”

According to MADD Canada, on average up to 4 Canadians are killed and approximately 175 more are injured every day due to crashes involving alcohol and/or drugs. Impaired driving affects tens of thousands of Canadians every year. The impact of impaired driving is devastating, senseless and 100% preventable.

“The money we raise during our Strides for Change event – and through all of the donations we receive to our individual MADD Canada Chapters or Community Leader Groups and through our national office – go to helping MADD Canada make a difference in the lives of survivors of impaired driving crashes, and to helping the families and loved ones of both impaired driving victims and survivors. In addition, we work hard to increase public awareness about impaired driving, including public and youth education, and affecting public policy,” continues Ms. Regan. “These funds are extremely important.”

Throughout the month of September 2020, community members can participate in the MADD Canada virtual Strides for Change fundraising event by choosing any day and time, and any distance that they want to walk, run, or wheelchair to raise their Strides for Change funds. By visiting https://app.gigitmarketplace.com/event/sfccanada and creating their individual or team Strides for Change fundraising page, fundraisers will have a custom web page with a unique url to share that tells their fundraising story, sets their fundraising goal, and eliminates the need for using paper pledge forms and collecting cash or cheques in person from their supporters. Instead, supporters can donate directly on each individual’s or team’s fundraising page, receive a tax receipt for their donation of $20.00 or more, and track or receive updates about their fundraising success.

“When we were looking for the best way to bring our virtual version of this event to our local communities, we found Gigit and knew that they would be the right platform and team to help us make this event a success,” finishes Ms. Regan. “Gigit has given us a way to conduct this event safely in our new COVID-19 reality, simply, and for free since there’s no cost to use Gigit. That is particularly important to MADD Canada Chapters and Community Leader Groups who don’t have much budget, if any, to spend on software or management platforms to run these types of events.”

Since 2017, Gigit Marketplace – a Hamilton Ontario-based software development company - has partnered with hundreds of non-profit and volunteer organizations to power volunteer initiatives, fundraising, donor, and event management in Ontario. With their recently released updated version, Gigit supports both national organizations and non-profit organizations and foundations of any size, anywhere.

Gigit is like no other operational management platform available. Not only is it FREE to any organization, group, or business to use, but it also gives back to every organization, group, or business that uses it by donating a portion of Gigit revenue generated via online transactions within the platform.

As an all-in-one solution, Gigit replaces every other management platform organizations currently pay to use, turning an operating cost into a revenue line, and ensuring organizational budgets go to initiatives their communities need, rather than to paying for operational management software programs.

“We are thrilled to be working in partnership with MADD Canada on their virtual Strides for Change fundraising event,” says Christopher McIntosh, President and Co-Founder of Gigit Marketplace. “These are the types of organizations and initiatives that make a genuine difference in the communities they serve, and we want to be a part of that social good. The group here at Gigit has had ample opportunity to create software solutions for big business around the world – this is our time to give back and support the organizations and the people who are dedicated to making our communities better, safer, and who are looking after those who are most vulnerable. We are very proud that MADD Canada has chosen Gigit to help make this difference.”

For more information about MADD Canada, please visit: www.madd.ca
For more information about Gigit Marketplace, please visit: www.gigitmarketplace.com

About Gigit Community

Gigit is the only platform any non-profit organization needs.
The organizations and individuals dedicated to ensuring that all community members have the support and help they require, need better ways to connect the right people and support efficiently and effectively with those who need it most.
​
But the non-profit community needs more than just software to succeed. It needs a platform that brings the whole community together, because together, every community is stronger.

Gigit is a FREE world-class platform with intuitive features and functionality.
Gigit Community is a simple to use, complete platform that replaces the need for multiple software solutions. Designed for any non-profit, charity, or foundation that needs to manage volunteers, events, donors, campaigns, peer-to-peer fundraising, and more –  it also provides the data and insights organizations need to make informed fundraising, community service, and organizational decisions.

Gigit DOES NOT take any portion or percentage of donations nor does it apply a fee to donation dollars. The only cost associated with an online donation through Gigit is the Stripe transactional processing fee. However, a donor can choose to add a tip to their donation.

Gigit revenue is derived from a small fee applied to every other in-platform transaction. These fees are usually passed on to the purchaser, which keeps the platform FREE for organizations – although the organization can choose to pay these fees on behalf of their purchasers. (Gigit research has indicated that, in the not-for-profit sector, there is virtually no resistance from purchasers to paying these fees. They understand that they don’t want to pass this cost along to the organization they’ve chosen to support.) These fees are a small percentage of the total transaction amount on any merchandise or ticket sale, paid gig work, auction item sale, space rental, etc. These fees are lower than every other individual functionally competitive platform, for example Shopify, Eventbrite or CanadaHelps.

Gigit is a Canadian, Hamilton, Ontario business, with a team who are experts in software development and the non-profit sector.
The Gigit team has the right mix of experience that includes senior business executives with multiple previous exits, decades of experience in the not-for-profit sector, and a strong engineering team that has delivered software to some of the largest companies and industries in the world.

About MADD Canada

MADD Canada (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) is a national, charitable organization that is committed to stopping impaired driving and supporting the victims of this violent crime. With volunteer-driven groups in more than 100 communities across Canada, MADD Canada aims to offer support services to victims, heighten awareness of the dangers of impaired driving and save lives and prevent injuries on our roads. To learn more, visit www.madd.ca.

Media Contacts:

For MADD Canada
Dawn Regan
Chief Operating Officer
dregan@madd.ca
905-330-7565
www.madd.ca