History of charitybuzz
CEO Coppy Holzman founded charitybuzz to lead nonprofits toward a new, collaborative era of fundraising. With the goal of harnessing technology and pop culture for good, he launched the world's first charity auction web site out of his home in Westport, Connecticut in April 2004 with co-founders Serena Chew and Brad Reisner. He had only one rule: do good, live well.
With one employee and a directive from friends Jayni and Chevy Chase to raise funds for The Center for Environmental Education, Holzman persuaded 70 celebrities and luxury brands into donating meet-and-greets, VIP tickets, vacations and other gifts for the company's first auction. After a segment on the TODAY show crashed the website's servers, the online auction site raised $250,000 within two weeks. Then, Holzman's phone started ringing.
More than 1,000 online charity auctions later, charitybuzz has raised more than $40 million for nonprofits and employs 40 outstanding professionals. The company expects to host 400 auctions in 2010 alone and is enhancing its suite of services to include an ecommerce charity shopping destination and a micro-donations platform.
Philanthropic by nature, Holzman frequently attended charity galas and fundraisers before launching charitybuzz. Conversing with business, political and cultural leaders at these events, he saw a common trend emerging: nonprofits were struggling to find innovative ways to raise money in the face of increased competition and a fragmented landscape.
After a conversation with Chevy Chase and President Bill Clinton at a reception to benefit the Clinton Library, Holzman had an "Aha!" moment. He realized the industry needed a 21st century facelift. Using the Internet, Holzman believed he could make giving feel fun and socially relevant instead of stodgy and uninspiring. He launched charitybuzz a few months later with help from two former colleagues, co-founders Brad Reisner, Chief Technology Officer, and Serena Chew, Chief Creative Officer.
Holzman ran charitybuzz part-time until the fall of 2007, when he was certain he had a successful business model poised for growth on his hands. He committed to operating the business full-time and moved the company out of his home and into an office space. In 2008, he registered charitybuzz as a chapter S in Delaware and secured an all-star board with notable figures including Kerry Kennedy, Peter Borish, Jonah Goodhart, Jon Melzer, Stuart Sundlow, and Jayni Chase.
By that time, the company had tens of thousands of registered bidders and worked with more than 500 nonprofits, including on-going relationships with the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights, LifeBEAT, True Colors, Gabrielle Angel Foundation and many others. The company had also added increased capabilities, such as liveBID support at charity events and themed seasonal auctions for holidays including Christmas, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day.
Soon after, during the height of the recession in 2009, the company marked $100 million in bids and one million unique visitors. As Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme unraveled and charitable giving diminished for many organizations, charitybuzz provided a lifeline to nonprofits, aligning them with celebrity icons and giving them access to 40,000 new donors in 110 countries.
Just six years after the company launched, charitybuzz has become an integral fundraising partner for more than 1000 nonprofit organizations worldwide. The company has worked with the world's most coveted celebrities and successful brands to help nonprofits make the world a better place. In 2010, charitybuzz doubled in size, hitting $200 million in bids. The company continues to pursue increasingly cutting-edge ways to harness technology and pop-culture to benefit its nonprofit partners, and it will provide even greater opportunities for its community of bidders to truly doGOOD and liveWELL.
