Fintech startup Amicus.io raises $8.7M in Series B funding to make philanthropy as easy as banking

Amicus.io, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based fintech company that enables non-profit organizations to turn their supporters into advocates and fundraisers, today announced that it has raised $8.7M in series B funding from mission-driven investors in philanthropic and banking sectors hailing from the US and Canada. The round was led by The FR Group, a Vancouver-based family office. Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator also joined the round as a new investor.

In conjunction with the funding, Amicus announced the launching of DAF 2.0, a philanthropic platform and a white label solution designed for consumer banks, to the benefit of private bank divisions, digital wealth management, wealth managers, and asset managers as well the entire philanthropic community.

Savvy philanthropists have been turning to donor-advised funds (DAFs) at a tremendous rate, with an 86 percent increase in contributions to DAFs in the last five years, totaling $37.12 B in 2018 – with $121.42B in assets under management, according to the 2019 Donor-Advised Funds Report from the National Philanthropic Trust (NPT).

Traditionally used for the large-scale philanthropic donations of family foundations and high net worth individuals, DAFs have been late to the digital transformation seen in mainstream investment options like online-only stock portfolio management.

Increasing demand for DAF flexibility, like lower minimums and the ability to make smaller grants to charities, has been driven by sponsors of new DAF accounts, which have jumped by more than 50% in the last couple of years thanks in part to favorable regulatory changes.1

Experts anticipate a spike in demand for DAFs with the introduction of user-friendly online tools that make it easier to contribute to and grant donations from DAF accounts – putting DAF market projections at $1Trillion in the next 10 years, based on current growth rates and a move to meet the demand for flexibility by modernizing the financial instrument, which is more than ninety years old.

“Amicus and the DAF 2.0 platform is our answer to making the world a more generous place,” said Walt Ruloff, founder and chairman of Amicus. “By lowering the barrier to entry with a highly cost efficient consumer-oriented DAF, we set a ripple effect in motion that will impact the entire philanthropic community, paying dividends to each party involved. Consumer banks play a key role in democratizing access to a modernized DAF, and will finally get in on one of the most trusted and proven tools for philanthropic giving.”

“We understand deeply that when people donate to a cause, they want to actually make a difference. Today’s philanthropists expect transparency, whether they’re in the 1 percent or the 99 percent,” said Cor Hoekstra, co-founder, and CEO of Amicus.io. “The DAF 2.0 platform puts consumer banks at the heart of a strategic move to empower motivated donors at scale, to the benefit of all.”

Founded by Walt Ruloff and Cor Hoekstra, Amicus empowers cause-driven organizations to leverage the social networks of their supporters, raise more money, attract more members, and win more votes.