"We're on a mission to revolutionize charitable giving". Most startups founded in the last few years have a different mission statement. Friday5 sounds different because it is. While most startups solve problems such as hailing a taxi or buying food, Friday5 is aiming to groom a new generation of digital philanthropists.

Friday5 is a subscription-based service designed to make donating to charity easier than it has ever been. They launched this February with one goal in mind: to raise money for, and awareness of, great non-profits.

When someone registers with Friday5, he or she will automatically donate $5 every Friday to a non-profit doing great things in the world. Friday5 researches and curates the weekly cause, which takes out the guesswork for the donor. Individually, it's just $5 a week. Together, it's a charity revolution.

How much good can the price of a coffee do for others? At the beginning of this month, Friday5 celebrated its half birthday. To celebrate the milestone, they teamed up with Watsi to pay for a child's $1,000 leg surgery. Through members generosity, Zablon, a four year old from Kenya, will now be able to walk again.

Friday5 is nearing two hundred members, giving almost $1,000 a week to the charity of choice. When they celebrate member 1,000, it will mean over a quarter of a million dollars given to charity every year. A breakdown of giving is visualized below.


Mike Berman, while working in San Francisco for Eventbrite in 2011, had the idea for a philanthropic effort. After years of proactively seeking out charities to give to, he found it a difficult process to navigate. After failing to find 'the right' charity and internally battling how much he should give, he started the process of trying to donate many times. He never got around to actually donating a dollar. Through this frustration and the entrepreneurial spirit, which rubbed off on him at Eventbrite, he decided to create Friday5, now aiming to be the one to overhaul the industry.

Friday5 is still in its infancy, but is gaining traction in an industry where over $316 billion was given last year. The average giving per week for Friday5 has increased monthly by an average of 27%. Members are also supportive of the site. There is an option to 'tip' Friday5 each week for the work they are doing. Over 80% of users tip, averaging $0.96 a user.

Friday5 is rapidly expanding while helping those in need. You only need to forego a coffee a week to join. Or to hail a cab instead of using Uber tonight. Help revolutionize the act of giving? I think so.