Pre-Series A Investment in Congrant, a Donation Settlement and Donor Management Service Provider for Non-Profit Organizations
Genesia Ventures, Inc. announced that it has invested in the Pre-Series A Round of Congrant from Genesia Venture Fund No. 3 (“GV-3”), a provider of donation settlement and donor management service for non-profit organizations.
About Congrant
Congrant Inc. is a social company that contributes to fundraising for social organizations around the world. The digital fundraising system — Congrant — for non-profit organizations provides a one-stop service for all NPO operations, including collecting donations, payments, and CRM. More than 1,400 organizations have adopted Congrant, and the amount of donations processed had exceeded 3.1 billion yen.
Solving Corporate Donation Issues
Currently, 290,752 corporations in Japan (10.5% of the total 2,758,420 corporations) are making corporate donations, with total corporate donations amounting to 672.9 billion yen.
▼ Number of corporations ma donations: 290,752
▼ Total corporate donations 672.9 billion yen
- General donations 481.4 billion yen (71.5%)
- Specified public-benefit promotion corporations, certified NPOs, etc. 85.7 billion yen (12.7%)
- Designated donations, etc. (national and local governments, etc.) 105.7 billion yen (15.7%)
Source: Japan Fundraising Association, “White Paper on Donations 2021
On the other hand, the current situation highlights a number of needs and issues experienced by corporations, such as not knowing which donation recipients are suitable for the corporate’s core business, finding it difficult to select donation recipients based on the person-in-charge alone, and wanting a dedicated service to provide support. By neglecting these issues, a major problem exists that results in a gap between corporate donations and major NPOs. Organizations that work on various local issues throughout Japan, as well as smaller issues that are often overlooked in specific areas, lack the resources to devote to awareness and fundraising for their activities.
About the new NPO database provided by Congrant
In response to the above issues, Congrant is building a new database of NPOs that can be accessed by corporate representatives interested in solving social issues and in SDGs. This database will include not only the currently available information disclosed by the Cabinet Office and other organizations (basic information and financial data PDF), but will also collect information on three aspects — people, performance, and certification — making it possible to compare these data across multiple organizations and contact them. In addition, companies can receive support from Congrant team in selecting a donation recipient.
By circulating corporate donations, corporate sponsorships, etc. to a wider variety of NPOs, the database will provide a new mechanism for NPOs and NGOs that tackle small but important social issues with a place to raise funds, and for impact NPOs [*1] that are responsible for solving social issues to grow. In the future, in a society where this NPO database becomes the norm, national and local governments, corporations, and individual investors can donate to and collaborate with impact NPOs to solve social issues through knowledge and dissemination of information.
[*1] Impact NPOs are defined as NPOs, regardless of the size of the organization, that are continuously engaged in business activities to solve social issues in a clear and specific area, and that have the potential to propagate solutions to social issues on a broad scale in the future. (This includes NPOs that are already making an impact in a wide range of areas.)
Purpose and Background of Fundraising
Congrant Inc. launched its service in September 2017 as a payment service for non-profit organizations. Since then, it has provided its main product, Congrant, a digital fundraising system for NPOs, and currently more than 1,400 organizations are using Congrant to fundraise for donations and membership fees. With this latest funding, the company will promote the construction of an NPO database that will serve as the basis for expanding new services for corporations in addition to existing services for NPOs.
About the investment
Masafumi Kawai, Partner and Chief Sustainability Officer, Genesia Ventures
There are countless social problems in the world, and there are many vulnerable people who are left behind due to lack of support from the government. We support the sustainable activities of NPOs and other social organizations by providing them with tools to support their fundraising activities, with the aim of realizing an inclusive society. In addition, we hope that our services, including the provision of an NPO database to promote collaboration between corporations and NPOs, will serve as a platform for collective impact, in which corporations, governments, and NPOs work together beyond their respective boundaries to solve social issues.
Company Profile
Company Name: Congrant Inc.
WEB: https://congrant.com/jp/
Establishment: May 11, 2020
Headquarters: Nishi-Semba Tatsumi Building 6F, 1-22-17 Edobori, Nishi-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka
Director and CEO: Masataka Sato
