Why I Love MicroGIVING and EchoAge.com

Posted by Howard
on September 9th, 2008

One of my newest investments is in EchoAge.com and a company you must all check out ad pass along to your friends.

Instead of giving you a long winded explanation, take a look at The Financial Times piece on the Company. In a nutshell:

ECHOage, an online party-planning tool that integrates philanthropy with gift-giving to the birthday child, she jumped at the chance to minimize the stress of her nine-year-olds celebration. ECHOage would e-mail invitations to her daughter’s friends, collect responses and relevant information such as allergies and parents’ contact information, and send “thank you” notes. Ms. Towey saw a chance to teach her daughter Hannah to value her own gifts and use her good fortune to help others. Instead of bringing a present to the party, ECHOage (www.ECHOage.com) asks guests to donate between $10 and $30, the average amount spent on children’s birthday gifts. The money is pooled and split; half goes to the child for the purchase of one big, memorable gift and half is donated to one of seven charities ECHOage sponsors.

I have been wanting to invest in a Toronto start-up and with EchoAge, I get to do that. Better yet, I am backing two awesome ladies, one who I was friendly with in high school and college. They are having fun and executing. To date, they have organized 1,000 parties in 30 States and 10 Provinces since launching early this year.

This idea and business category is a win/win/win and I am glad to be involved.

I am really interested in ALL your feedback on this one as there are many things we can do in the space.

The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.