How We Build Capacity with NPT GivingPoint

As NPT’s Chief Technology Officer, I’m always contemplating new approaches to capacity building. It’s a term used a lot in the nonprofit world, perhaps best summed up as an organization’s ability to produce and perform at higher levels, working towards fulfilling its mission. If new tech startups “scale up,” nonprofits “build capacity.”

Capacity building is vitally important to NPT’s mission: to increase philanthropy in society. One of the ways we do this is by emphasizing efficiency, scalability and usability in our giving technology portfolio. Earlier this year, we marked the one-year launch anniversary of NPT GivingPoint, our online donor portal. In that time, we have facilitated more than 9,000 grants through NPT GivingPoint, funding nearly 5,000 different organizations across the charitable sector.

NPT GivingPoint has allowed us to build incredible philanthropic capacity at the organizational level. But more importantly, by providing donors and advisors with a variety of tools and assets, it is making their grantmaking quicker and easier than ever before.

Contribute Quickly

We have come far in a relatively short time by making NPT GivingPoint a one-stop destination for opening and contributing to a donor-advised fund. After logging into your account, contributions that used to take multiple points of contact over several days can now be accomplished in minutes. Contributions via credit card are a critical new addition for donors who want to respond quickly to emerging charitable needs, including natural or humanitarian disasters.

My team is in the midst of some exciting developments to make that process even faster, delivering funding to nonprofits with speed unseen in the DAF world and adding additional functionality to support digital cash contributions directly from your bank account.

Robust Research

For active donors, a passion for making a difference and curiosity go hand in hand. More than a simple transaction platform, NPT GivingPoint is an excellent resource to dive deeper into philanthropic information and research. The forms and resources tab on the GivingPoint homepage links donors to an impressive collection of FAQs, quick-reference links, advisor-specific topics, and other philanthropic tools.

Of note is a series of excerpts from The Philanthropy Toolkit: An Introduction to Giving Effectively from the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. These workbooks provide prompts and activities to help donors and families deepen their giving strategy, clarify motivations and values and expand their philanthropic giving in new ways. Over time, we will continue to add to this digital experience and improve the richness of donor-charity interaction on NPT GivingPoint.

Give Differently

With NPT GivingPoint’s streamlined processes for both contributions and grantmaking, you may now have time to chart your philanthropic journey in more detail. Whether recommending grants, managing your activity or diversifying your long-term charitable impact, getting started with new methods of giving is simple. NPT GivingPoint’s easy-to-follow navigation allows you to reallocate portions of your existing DAF into impact investing portfolios, set up recurring grants (which give nonprofits a welcome and reliable revenue stream) and track the status of your charitable efforts.

Remember, if you’re curious about different ways of reaching your charitable goals, it never hurts to ask. As part of your regular advisor conversations, be sure to discuss new topics or changes in the social sector which have piqued your interest in the past year. Your giving can have an impact in new ways, and NPT GivingPoint can help you find the right organizations to match your philanthropic priorities.

GivingPoint Can Get You There

When it comes to supporting the causes most important to you or your clients, we know time is always of the essence. From contributing and investing to researching and grantmaking, advances in NPT GivingPoint’s user experience make reaching your charitable goals easier. With a few clicks, you can get online and get on with the business of grantmaking in record time. NPT GivingPoint is just the start for NPT in providing a powerful, easy to use, modern web platform for our donors and advisors and we will continue to introduce exciting new features and functionality in the years to come.

NPT does not provide legal or tax advice. This blog post is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be, and shall not be relied upon as, legal or tax advice. The applicability of information contained here may vary depending on individual circumstances.