SmallGyfts exists as two separate organizations that work together: a for-profit referral-marketing platform and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Different missions, different funding models, complementary goals.
A referral-marketing platform for local businesses. Businesses subscribe, buy donation credits, and use branded reward cards to drive repeat visits and warm referrals. Customers scan to redeem the card and direct a donation to a cause they choose.
A community-economic-development nonprofit. Operates the RIPPLE Program, which funds reward cards for small businesses in distressed neighborhoods using sponsor grants and DAF gifts. Connects businesses, causes, and community members in a self-reinforcing loop.
Try2See built the SmallGyfts platform — the software, the card-fulfillment workflow, the donation rails, the dashboards. That platform is what businesses subscribe to at smallgyfts.com.
SmallGyfts, Inc. is the nonprofit that uses the platform for community-development work. When a sponsor invests in RIPPLE, that grant flows through SmallGyfts, Inc. to fund cards for small businesses in distressed neighborhoods — using the same platform infrastructure, but with the cost of the card and the credit funded by the nonprofit instead of the business.
Two organizations, one shared mission: help local businesses grow while sending money back to causes that strengthen the communities those businesses serve.
Different work, different rules. A for-profit platform can sell software, take subscriptions, and reinvest in product development at the pace a market needs. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit can accept tax-deductible grants, qualify for DAF gifts, and apply for foundation funding — but operates under restrictions on commercial activity. Keeping them legally separate lets each do its work cleanly without one constraining the other.
"SmallGyfts is a charity." The platform you sign up for as a business at smallgyfts.com is operated by a for-profit company (Try2See, Inc.). The nonprofit (SmallGyfts, Inc.) is a sister organization at smallgyfts.org.
"SmallGyfts collects donations from shoppers." No customer ever donates their own money. The business funds the donation as a marketing expense; the customer just chooses which cause receives it.
"My DAF grant pays for software." DAF grants go to SmallGyfts, Inc. (the 501(c)(3)) and fund the RIPPLE Program — reward cards for small businesses in distressed communities and the donation match pool behind every scan. They do not fund Try2See's commercial software development.