BeneFunder.org Goes Live

From the "how it works page" on Benefunder.org which is building a unique funding platform where individual donors can connect with the innovators of science. BeneFunder helps donors to engage in long-term giving to the researchers of their choice, to support the next innovations in our society. They are starting off at UC San Diego, and one of the co-founders is Gert Lanckriet, an electrical engineering professor here at the Jacobs School of Engineering.

Benefunder is a marketplace that allows donors to find, fund, and follow researchers and other university initiatives in a simple, efficient way.

Benefunder partners with top universities to gain access to top researchers and initiatives across all disciplines to ensure that your donations go to the intended use. Researchers create and manage their profiles on our site, which must be approved internally prior to getting published. This way you always get the most up to date information regarding their work and can rest assured knowing that all our causes are in fact vetted.

To search for causes you can browse our home page, click on a category, or click on "search" in the header and type in a term that matches your areas of interest. Click on a tile to learn more about the cause details and watch the videos from our researchers.

Once you have found the researcher and cause of interest to you, click the "Benefund it" link to make a donation. You will be asked for specific information to be able to process the transaction through our secure servers. You can rest at ease knowing Benefunder is backed by Blackbaud Merchant Services, the leader in non-profit payment processing currently serving thousands of non-profits. Benefunder provides you with a tax deductible receipt for your donations and passes the money you donated to the university as a gift earmarked for the cause or researcher of the donor's choosing. Benefunder receives 10% of every donation which funds its overhead and operating expenses.

When a researcher has updates, they post them and we pass that information along to you to see the impact your donation has made. We encourage you to interact with researchers through the Benefunder portal, continue to donate to one or more causes you find interesting as often as you'd like and share the things you find interesting with your friends!

We will constantly be improving the site with new features and functions, your feedback is very welcome!