August 2011
1 post
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Big Things Ahead: Piryx Becomes Rally
Hello and welcome,
Over the past several years, we’ve put our heart and soul into making a great product that’s gained us thousands of loyal users. When we launched Piryx in 2009, we had no idea just what it would become – or what we would learn from it. Piryx gave us the amazing opportunity to help people champion the causes they care about. But it also gave us valuable insight into what people...
June 2011
3 posts
New Digs for Piryx!
The trucks came, the keys were turned in, and there was one last party to say goodbye. Yes, it’s true - we moved! We’ve got a brand new office in downtown San Francisco and are excited about the new space. We’ll be picking up steam in the months ahead, so it only made sense to find an appropriate casa for our growing team of changemakers.
The new space is on 144 2nd...
New England Give Camp Weekend!
We want to give a shout out to the awesome folks at the New England Give Camp. Last April 29 - May 1, 120 volunteers commenced to help 28 non-profit organizations in a weekend long hackathon. The event took place at the Microsoft New England Research and Development (NERD) Center in Cambridge MA, and volunteers took on projects such as website and database development, as well as include Piryx...
Charity Spotlight: Patrick and Isabella Support...
This month we’re focusing our Charity Spotlight on a courageous young man who has recently undergone personal hardship. Patrick Rein is a recent graduate from the The Citadel, a military college in South Carolina, and has just lost his fiancée, Elizabeth.
May 7, 2011 should have been a day of commemoration for Patrick, as it was the morning of his graduation. Instead, the freshly minted...
April 2011
5 posts
Piryx Growing in Numbers!
The word is on the street: Piryx is amassing a team that will transform the world of online giving. You may have seen our recent New Hire blurbs on our blog, but we’re still accepting resumes. Here is one position we’re looking to fill:
Senior Developer We are looking for full stack web engineers that are comfortable building with Rails. If you fit the bill and these are the kind of...
Flatwater Foundation Takes a Stand
Cancer can be one of the most life-changing episodes a person can face. The ensuing emotional and psychological burden is even greater however, as it takes its toll on friends and family members. Today, 28 million people have been afflicted by this disease…
Austin, TX- based non-profit The Flatwater Foundation is taking a stand. Their mission is to provide mental health services to...
Charity Spotlight: You're Not Alone Project
This month we’re focusing our spotlight on the Citadel Helping Hands and their fundraising initiative You’re Not Alone Project. Citadel Helping Hands is the charitable arm of Citadel West Michigan. Their parent company Citadel Broadcasting Corporation is the 3rd largest radio station owner in the US, owning 243 radio stations across the United States. For this edition of the Charity Spotlight,...
Piryx Revs Up with New Dev Talent!
Piryx is on the warpath, and we’re coming packed with heat with the help of a gunslinger from Dallas, TX. His name is Andrew Hubbs, but we just refer to him as Hubbs. He’s our latest developer and is currently uploading code that will make life easier for you and your donors. He graduated from UT in 2009, and previously worked for the startup mSpot in San Francisco. At mSpot he built...
World Traveler, Community, and Event-Planning...
To make everyone’s lives awesome, we’ve hired Kirsten McLoud as our Community Manager. Hailing from a marketing and events background, Kirsten began her career at Grenade, a snowboard lifestyle company led by two time Olympic medalist, Danny Kass. She organized events and snowboarding competitions around the country. These have been documented in FuelTV’s popular show, The...
March 2011
6 posts
Persuasive Tech Guru Convinces Piryx To Hire Him
Today, Piryx is happy to announce the addition of Jason Hreha to its management team. A graduate of Stanford University, Jason is an expert in Behavior Design, an emerging applied psychology discipline that helps companies design products and services that more effectively meet human needs.
Jason has worked extensively with B.J, Fogg, the world renowned Stanford professor who pioneered the field...
Piryx hosts Wok+Wine
Lizzie Shupak and Peter Mandeno are a rock star team who run Wine N Wok, a new concept that brings together live social networking and culinary delights. The idea is fairly straight forward: they travel to a different city, and put on the “world’s most delicious social network.” 40 guests, 40 pounds of jumbo shrimp, and 40 bottles of wine.
Last week they came to San Francisco,...
"There is nowhere for us to go."
For most of us reading this, clean clothes, food, and shelter are life essentials we take for granted. Either because of apathy, lack of understanding, or too many other pressing issues that face us, we often ignore those voices in need. We’re talking of course about those on the street; the homeless.
For Kat Armstrong, who writes a blog called Kat’s Corner, and also serves as a community...
Charity Spotlight: Operation USA
In the face of disaster, there’s one organization out there that has consistently heeded the call of duty for more than thirty years. We’re referring to the humanitarian non-profit, Operation USA, our Charity Spotlight for this month. Headquartered in Culver City, CA, they help communities domestically and abroad by providing relief, reconstruction, development aid, and working with...
Piryx Adds New Tiger Blood!
We want you to look good while you’re doing good, which is why we’ve decided to add Jeff Castellana to our team. A passionate and accomplished designer, Jeff was previously Marketing Design Lead at the popular digital music service, Rhapsody. He comes to Piryx equipped with an impressive repertoire of knowledge in the realms of interaction design, marketing and branding.
Originally...
Mike Balducci Heads Up Piryx's Marketing!
We’re excited to announce that Mike Balducci has joined Piryx as our new Marketing Director. Mike will lead the overall online and off-line marketing initiatives. Commonly referred to as our marketing scientist, Mike’s expertise includes search engine optimization, social media marketing, customer acquisition, conversion, retention, and communication strategies. Prior to Piryx, Mike...
February 2011
3 posts
Piryx Website Refresh!
Calling all causes, charity-minded folks, and developers! Many of you may have noticed this, but we recently did a little home-page redecorating to reinforce and communicate our vision. Check out the newly designed site at Piryx.com to see for yourself.
Whether you’re involved in church, school, political, charity, or even sports fundraising, we want to make the site more open and inviting to all...
Charity Spotlight: Fugees Family
This month we’re featuring the Fugees Family! They’re a non-profit which works with child survivors of war, supporting them, and providing structure so they can realize their full potential. The organization was started five years ago by Coach Luma Mufleh to provide refugee boys free access to organized soccer. Beyond the soccer field, the organization also stresses academic...
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Piryx Wins Best Online Fundraising Tool!
Greetings Piryx Friends!
On February 4, 2011, Piryx received the Reed Award for Best Online Fundraising Tool from Politics Magazine. We want to extend our thanks and gratitude to the judges and Politics Magazine for granting us this award. Most importantly, we want to thank all those who have chosen us as their fundraising solution.
The Reed Award is certainly an honor and recognition of our...
January 2011
3 posts
1 tag
Piryx and National Give Camp Wrap Up!
The weekend of January 14-16 was an exciting one for us as we had the opportunity to support charities participating in National Give Camp. We had our support troops on call during the event, fielding questions from both developers and charities.
One of the organizations we worked with was the non-profit St. Vincent de Paul Pro-Life Homeless Inc. The non-profit serves as an advocate for the...
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Charity Spotlight: Saint Mary's High School...
For our first Charity Spotlight of the year, we wanted to feature the Saint Mary’s High School Scholarship Fund. Based out of Phoenix, Arizona, they’re using Piryx to raise funds to provide tuition assistance to students with a demonstrated financial need, as well as provide funding for capital improvements, and assist faculty and staff of Saint Mary’s High School.
Saint...
3 tags
Piryx Kicks Off the New Year with National...
Happy 2011! We’re starting the year off with a bang by partnering up with GiveCamp. This year they’ll be throwing a National GiveCamp initiative that brings together non-profits from across the country, and an army of engineers donating their time and talent. The National GiveCamp will commence January 14-16. This will be one passion (and Red Bull) fueled weekend that’ll make a...
December 2010
4 posts
Piryx December Newsletter: 2010 Holiday Letter,... →
Cornerstone Schools Holiday Campaign!
In the spirit of the giving season, we want to call attention to a special fundraising campaign by the fine folks at Cornerstone School. Cornerstone Schools provides Chris-centered instruction and academic education to children in the Washington DC area. They’re currently trying to raise $150,000 to provide tuition for 20 students who otherwise may not be able to afford a quality education....
Charity Spotlight: Youth Speaks
Wrapping up our last Charity Spotlight for 2010, we want to focus on an awesome group giving young people across the world a voice, aptly named Youth Speaks. The organization aims to empower youth through arts education, youth development programs, and civic engagement. They bring together hundreds of thousands of young people across the world, and encompass a variety of literary arts...
New Dev Casa, and Piryx Tips and Tricks! →
November 2010
5 posts
1 tag
Piryx November 2010 Newsletter - Piryx Powers the... →
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Fundraiser 7 Wins Startup Weekend San Francisco!
We want to congratulate the Fundraiser 7 team for taking the top prize in a recent Start up Weekend San Francisco event. Working around the clock, the Fundraiser 7 team came out top among 70 ideas pitched. Fundraiser 7 is an app built on the Piryx online fundraising platform. Check out this video from the Fundraiser 7 team about their win!
Startup Weekend is a non-profit based out of Seattle,...
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Estria Foundation Shapes the World with Piryx!
We want to bring attention to another recent Piryx customer, the Estria Foundation, an organization that aims to reinvent people by working with them to reinvent the spaces they live in through public art projects that involve local communities. We had the opportunity to catch up with Development Director Maggie Utgoff, who was gracious enough to shed light on their work. We learned of the...
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Charity Spotlight: South of Black Drink Crier
The diversity of Piryx users has grown tremendously over the course of the past year, serving political campaigns, PTA clubs, alumni groups, and personal fundraising efforts. For this edition of our Charity Spotlight, we want to feature a student film project that recently signed up for our service. The film is South of Black Drink Crier, and is directed by University of Missouri student...
1 tag
Fundraising Leaderboard, Fundraising Raffle Magic,... →
October 2010
4 posts
Piryx October 2010 Newsletter - Helping Kids... →
Fundraiser 7 Launched!
Got a charity event, fundraising dinner, or fundraiser coming up?
If so, Piryx has an app for that! It’s called Fundraiser 7 and it will make your event ticketing so much easier. It was built by on top of the Piryx platform by third-party developers and is the first of many apps coming your way!
In just a few simple steps, you can create your fundraiser event, share it with your friends,...
Wheelin' Jazz Hoops it up with Piryx!
We’ve profiled many special causes, but this time we’re giving the ball to the Wheelin’ Jazz and Hull Foundation for Neurological Rehabilitation. The Wheelin’ Jazz is an elite wheel-chair basketball team based out of Jordan, Utah, and is part of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA). The league was founded in 1948, and has over 200 basketball teams across...
Charity Spotlight: The Children's Project...
For this month’s Charity Spotlight, we’re featuring The Children’s Project International. We touched based with Program Director Ryan Steed, and he was kind enough to answer a few questions and give us some background on the organization. The Children’s Project is a US-based international non-governmental organization, and focuses on global child development, and turning...
September 2010
5 posts
Piryx September 2010 Newsletter - Mama Hope, YCC... →
Piryx at AMP Summit in DC!
On September 24-25, Piryx Founder and CEO Tom Serres was in Washington, DC to discuss online mobilization and fundraising. Other thought leaders during the presentation included Peter Greenberger (Google), and Jim Gillian (3dna). Moderating the panel was Todd Herman from the RNC. Thought leaders and other influencers came together to discuss online activism, media and politics. In attendance...
Piryx Powers YCC Ghana!
Another special organization we want to highlight this month is YCC Ghana. We touched base with the Founder John Homadzi Glidden, who was kind enough to share with us his vision behind the organization. Gladden is passionate about YCC, and is working to develop relationships with international organizations, as well as putting together a ten year blue print for the organization. He hopes for the...
Charity Spotlight: Mama Hope
This month we want to introduce you to a new Piryx customer, Mama Hope! We spoke with Founding Director Nyla Rodgers, recently back from her trip from Africa to investigate building a new school. We discussed the organization’s mission, their projects, and the inspiration behind Mama Hope. Mama Hope aims to help build self-sufficient communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. In an effort to...
API and System Updates, Facebook Widgets for... →
August 2010
6 posts
Piryx August 2010 Newsletter - The Soloist Joins... →
Give a Moment for Pakistan
We want to take a moment here at Piryx and bring attention to the recent flooding that has inundated Pakistan. The flooding, caused by massive rain and monsoons, has displaced roughly 20 million people, destroyed countless homes, and submerged one-fifth of the country.
Exacerbating the situation is the fact that authorities won’t be able to fully assess the destruction done until months...
Engage with Your Stream!
It’s been a couple of months since we released our Giving Stream feature, bringing causes and donors closer together. We’ve seen many cause Giving Streams blanketed with interaction, replies, and comments - and the conversation is growing stronger every day. What was once a close-ended, one-way conversation that ended when the donor hit the submit button, has become a unique...
Charity Spotlight: The Nathaniel Anthony Ayers...
We’ve got yet another great organization we’re featuring in this month’s newsletter. You may be more familiar than this cause than you think. In 2009 Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. starred in the film The Soloist, the true story account of gifted musician Nathaniel Ayers. The film portrays the friendship that developed between LA Times journalist Robert Lopez (Downey Jr.),...
Facebook Fundraising, Tweeting, and Giving Stream... →
Piryx Launches Facebook Widgets! →
July 2010
4 posts
Piryx July Newsletter - Bringing Hope to Africa,... →
Noah's Landing Foundation & ABC's Extreme...
If you’re a regular viewer of ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition, you may have seen the Beach family from the non-profit organization, Noah’s Landing Foundation. The cause is currently using our online fundraising platform. Melissa and Larry Beach of Kemah, TX were featured on the show this past April, after their home was devastated by Hurricane Ike in 2008. We recently had...
Charity Spotlight: African Hope Initiative
For this month’s Charity Spotlight, we spoke with Bill Walsh one of the founders from the African Hope Initiative. The organization is a joint effort between the Denver, Colorado-based African Hope Initiative, and the Parole d’Espoir Foundation of Pastor Michel Ourdraogo, who lives in Burkina Faso, Africa. Walsh discussed how the organization was started, their mission, current projects,...
Giving Stream Staff, Fundraising Updates, And... →
June 2010
10 posts
Piryx June Newsletter - Powering Opportunities in... →