By Steven Dampf ’22, founder of Stamp, one of the ventures in this year's Entrepreneurs Fund Summer Accelerator.
I believe that we all have a responsibility to continually work to make the world a better place. Before founding Stamp, I did this by volunteering: I’ve helped raise $20,000+ to date for cancer research running a yearly fundraising event since high school, travelled to Ecuador to build a school in a disadvantaged community, and worked as a volunteer EMT in my hometown. I then founded Stamp with the goal to make an impact larger than one I could ever make through individual volunteering efforts.
Businesses have to appeal to young people so they can sell products and services and stay alive. What better way is there to win the hearts of their target consumers than to donate money to charities that perfectly align with their business goals? That is the core idea behind Stamp, a cause-based ad-tech company that helps businesses add value to their philanthropic efforts. Stamp standardizes the process of donation-based advertising, helping businesses highlight their social missions, and saves our partners time because they don’t have to run their donation campaigns internally. We help businesses show “why” they do things rather than only “what” they do, and get their target consumers more involved in the act of donating itself to strengthen the business-consumer connection. We offer a new advertising channel for businesses, proving that social responsibility is simultaneously financially beneficial. Stamp is focusing its initial partnership efforts on small apparel and accessory businesses who are mission driven and target young people. Our followers pay nothing at all, it is entirely businesses making these donations.
Stamp isn’t a single product, it is a mission. Essentially, I kill two birds with one stone: empower everyday people to make a difference and help businesses grow by making the world a better place. Stamp attacks from many unique angles with constant iterations so we can achieve our mission. Among of the many things I’ve learned this summer are how to interact better with businesses professionally, manage a third party development process, convey my thoughts concisely and effectively, and think outside of the box to solve tough problems.
Stamp has the solutions for businesses to donate money to charity in small increments for every customer engagement. In fact, Stamp has already donated $600 from its grant to charity since joining the eFund in exchange for social media engagements, reaching tens of thousands of people in the process, and this is just one example of the clever campaigns we think of and execute for our clients. We have been collecting data on this engagement, growing our social media following, and are now in communication with our first business partners to sponsor these donations themselves. Another one of Stamp’s solutions is “The Stamp Pledge,” part of which includes a clause that every time a customer makes a purchase with a business partner through our platform, the business donates 1% of that sale to a particular charity.
As we grow, Stamp’s technological solutions will diversify. In fact, the Stamp browser extension will be ready for download on Google Chrome in fall 2020, hosting donation campaigns, so anytime you’re online, you will have an opportunity to give without emptying your own wallet. The Stamp donation button will always be a click away and you will also be able to do your shopping with businesses who make it their priority to do social good when you’re inspired to both purchase and give.
The advice and support from my mentors in the Thought Into Action network, in particular Carolyn and Wills, has been indispensable. That, coupled with all the encouragement from the people I’ve reached and businesses I’ve worked with, is largely the reason why I am convinced Stamp will move on to do great things for long to come, empowering and supporting countless nonprofits, people, and business along the way.
If you would like to join me on my journey to revolutionize and increase business philanthropy, follow Stamp on Instagram @stampgives and story share my next Friday post to donate $1 to charity, at no cost to you.
instagram.com/stampgives
July 10 Giving Friday Instagram Post
An example of a Stamp customer interaction when someone shares a Stamp Instagram post on their story, causing a business sponsor to donate $1 to charity.