We're on a mission to bridge the gap between trusted organizations working to save our planet and individuals like you who care about our world and want action now.
The 21st century is marked by a democratic decline, with severe consequences for civil society around the world. This means people fighting for human rights, the environment, and conservation are constantly exposed to threats and challenges. We want to support and empower these local heroes in everything we do.
Grassroots organizations often live ‘hand-to-mouth’ with limited financial predictability. Applying for funding takes valuable time that could have been invested in the cause itself. We want to change the game by bringing together a dedicated community of monthly donors, resulting in more security and efficiency for those in the field.
Becoming truly digital is practically impossible for grassroots organizations as it requires massive resources and know-how. They’re unable to dedicate enough funds to fundraising and marketing as this will have a negative effect on their rating. We invest heavily in tools and infrastructure for the grassroots so they can punch above their weight.
Every organization on our platform is screened and vetted by our impact team to ensure they are legitimate and meet the highest standards. We aim to support reliable, knowledgeable and locally-rooted civil society organizations. We’re currently focusing on four of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; #6 Clean water and sanitation, #13 Climate action, #14 Life below water, and #15 Life on land.
We take pride in being fully transparent and doing everything we can to support the projects and organizations on our platform. We guarantee that at least 90% of any donation on Milkywire go to the impacter you’ve chosen. 80% goes directly to their hands on work in the field, and 10% supports the impacter with everything from compliance and marketing to establishing corporate funding partnerships. The remaining 10% covers transaction costs and the development of digital tools and infrastructure.
We offer a giving experience that brings you closer the people and organizations doing the work you’re supporting. On the Milkywire app you get to follow the work as it happens through weekly video updates from the people in the field. You always know where your money goes and who the people doing the work are. Connect with them, ask questions and learn from their expertise.
Nina Siemiatkowski
Milkywire Founder
The Milkywire app
Allows users to explore, directly donate to, and follow the progress of grassroots projects over time
Milkywire.com
Fundraising pages tailored for different causes, impacters or other partners
Milkywire corporate employee engagement program
A modern and engaging experience empowering employees to take action for what they care about
API integrations
Milkywire connects into other tech platforms, so your users can save the planet while using your product
Brand partnerships for impact
Partner with us to build impact into your brand in a new relevant and modern way
Impacter empowerment
Tools and infrastructure to support the projects in the field
Milkywire’s founder, Nina Siemiatkowski has never been one to do things by the book. At the age of 15, she wanted to be a photographer, but she played it safe and went to business school. Following her studies, she entered the world of finance and diverged to become the head of marketing at one of Sweden’s biggest consumer firms. It was here that Nina realized that her career trajectory wasn’t making her happy. And so it was that, at 31, she quit, went back to photography school and decided to embark on a documentary project, following the lives of a pride of lions in Kenya. Between 2012 and 2016, pausing here and there to have a couple of kids, Nina spent five months in Masai Mara following the same family of lions. The results were published as the Book of Leon.
It was during this time that Nina was struck with the realities of the situation facing the planet, amplified through her lens. The world’s wild lion population had halved in numbers in the space of just 20 years, down to 20,000. Nina began working with nonprofit organizations that were working to protect the lions and began to see the difficulties that local organizations faced. Limited in resources, facing many risks, they were run by passionate individuals who despite the challenges kept an optimistic outlook where most would give up. Fuelled by her frustration of a broken charity system Nina embarked on a different sort of journey, an idea for a platform that would change the way we give back to the planet and the grassroots organizations who fight for it on our behalf.
Create an account, set up a profile and join our community of monthly donors. Every dollar you donate makes an even greater impact.
We work closely with partners to develop mutually-beneficial campaigns, media, and experiences that have an impact on the world.
We are a team of over 40 developers, impact managers, designers, marketers, editors, controllers, and more. We spend our time creating solutions to inspire and empower everyone to take action for our planet.