Helping Serendipity to re-invent the giving experience

Helping others should feel empowering but often it’s not that simple. With around 170,000 charities in the UK alone, it’s a time-consuming challenge to choose where to invest your money and attention in order to support what really matters to you.

Donating to the causes you care about is more important than ever. While millions of people give to charity on a regular basis, it’s fair to say that there are many who don’t.

Pushy emails, complicated forms and payment fees were all issues that Jorge Higueras, a former strategy consultant at Google, wanted to remove when he and co-founder Jonathan Frank created the Serendipity giving app.

Taking inspiration from the fintech world, the app simplifies payments, tax reporting and allows users to donate to curated funds.

‘We want to make donating better for the donor as well as for the charity’ said Jorge. ‘Donating to one of our themed funds allow you to support new charities working in the space which you’re passionate about. So, a single donation can support new charities that are meaningful to you.’

They’ve also combined the principles of gamification and added a social layer that allows users to connect with friends and share the causes they’re supporting with their network. The result is a streamlined giving experience that’s more meaningful and more engaging for the donor.

For first-time founder Jorge, it’s been a whirlwind experience, from forming the company in January with a small funding round to launching their app in the Android and iOS app stores just 9 months later.

‘Navigating the learning curve efficiently has been the biggest challenge. Our previous professional experience has helped but ultimately there are always things we can’t do ourselves so we have to understand when to bring in additional expertise.

Luckily we engaged Harper James right at the beginning of our journey. The flexibility of the Enable plan was ideal for us and in practice, it’s been even easier. I send a message to my account manager, “hey this is my problem”, and the next day they’ve arranged a meeting with the relevant lawyer.’

As a client on our Enable subscription, Serendipity Smart Giving benefit from quick and easy access to senior lawyers as and when they need it. In 2021 they’ve called on the expertise of our commercial, data protection and intellectual property solicitors to guide them through the necessary fundraising agreements, compliance and trade mark filling.

After such a busy year, the team at Serendipity show no signs of slowing down. Future plans include allowing companies to come on board and use the platform to allow employees to donate directly from their salary, and for companies to set up and define their own funds for employees to donate to.