Giving University is a private foundation. We’re not a church. Or a fundraising arm.
We are experienced givers — a group of people who have practiced generosity for decades and seen how powerful it can be. But we’ve also learned that not all giving creates impact. Some charities do incredible work with real accountability. Others look good on paper but fall short where it matters most — on the ground, in people’s lives.
We started GU to teach you how to tell the difference — how to become a more discerning giver whose generosity creates the greatest possible good.
Giving University started because we realized that anyone can give, but not everyone knows how to give wisely. Including us. As longtime givers, we had to learn “smart giving” ourselves — the hard way.
Over the years, we traveled the world, asked the tough questions, and funded nonprofits and charities that met our rigorous standards. We started recognizing organizations that truly changed lives and those that didn’t.
Rather than keeping that knowledge to ourselves, we built a free program to share it — Giving University.
We rarely talk in specifics about what we’ve done over the years. But to help you better understand our program, here’s a snapshot of what we’ve accomplished since starting GivingU:
Giving University students not only learn in class, GivingU also gives them $1,000 to donate to a local nonprofit they propose and our grant committee approves — guided by the principles of transparency, accountability, and measurable impact they learn through the course.
Everyone at Giving University believes generosity is too important to waste on ineffective giving. GivingU exists because:
Real generosity isn’t about dropping loose change in a jar. It’s about creating tangible, lasting impact in someone’s life.
Not all nonprofits use resources well. We help you say “No” to mediocrity so your “Yes” can support organizations that actually make a difference.
After years of traveling, evaluating organizations, and giving, we’ve seen what works — and what doesn’t. We teach you what we’ve learned so your generosity can grow stronger.
We want to be transparent. Most of us at Giving University are Christians. Our personal faith informs how we think about and explain generosity, justice, and compassion. So yes, sometimes we reference the Bible — just like baseball fans refer to box scores, or cooks refer to recipes. But GivingU isn’t a ministry, a church, or an evangelical program. Here’s what that means:
Students repeatedly tell us GivingU feels like a safe, inclusive space to explore generosity without judgment or pressure. That’s by design. From our first group of students in our very first class, we’ve always accepted everyone of every faith, belief and background – or none at all. And we always will.
Giving University is a private foundation, not a nonprofit. Which in the simplest terms means:
Every dollar that GivingU gives away comes directly from us — not from public donations. We underwrite the program ourselves so that students can learn freely, nonprofits can be vetted objectively, and generosity can flow with no strings attached.
Instead, they talk about kids being fed, families being housed, communities being restored, opportunities being created.
So don’t look for us to recruit, advertise, or measure your giving. We’re just experienced givers sharing what we’ve learned — so you can protect your generosity, maximize its impact, and discover the joy of giving.