Why should I give as a private donor?

Footbridge helps both individuals and society-at-large in six key ways:

1. It meets financial obligations that families face during a short-term financial crisis at the time they need the help, as opposed to when it’s too late.

2. It reduces the burden on the overall social welfare system by preventing people from needing to rely on more costly safety net programs.

3. It collects and provides accurate data on the real needs that families face, which enables social welfare providers to develop better solutions for these problems.

4. It gives frontline professionals a tool to help families, which strengthens the relationships that they have with families.

5. It gives community members an opportunity to support their neighbors by directly meeting their most pressing needs, which ultimately helps build stronger communities.

6. It addresses the important need among community members to feel a sense of agency in today’s society by truly helping others. Unfortunately, the magnitude of need that families face has given rise to a difficult-to-navigate market of nonprofits. Families, who are meant to always benefit from these services, sometimes do and sometimes don’t. Most importantly, the actual needs they face—the ones that could be met that would enable them the most dignity —are not prioritized in today’s nonprofit sector. Footbridge cuts through the noise of founder-driven missions by giving primacy to families’ stated needs.