1. Meherunissa Tariq
Executive Memo Draft
MEMORANDUM TO: Tammy Tibbets, Founder and CEO and Perrie Rizzo, Director of
Resource Development She’s The First
FROM: Meherunissa Tariq, Consultant, Columbia University Communications Practice
DATE: 04/19/2016
SUBJECT: Potential use of Venmo for She’s The First
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Venmo “is a free digital wallet that allows you to pay and request money from your friends.”
With its seamless and lighthearted tone, it is very popular among millennials. And, is a viable
platform to encourage donations and create a buzz around them. Ultimately, it serves as a
platform to fundraise innovatively to reach a larger audience base in a shorter time span.
II. BACKGROUND
Venmo was started by Andrew Kortina and Iqram Magdon-Ismail in 2009.“Venmo
transactions are personal, with SMS notes that make payments feel like conversations.
Venmo’s medium for maintaining these social nuances along with the ability to make
payments, allows Venmo to take the stress out of exchanging money” explained Kortina, co-
founder of the app. The app is free to download and set up an account in.
According to Adweek, Millennials comprise 27 percent of the U.S. population, 66 percent of
whom follow brands on social media and 90 percent of whom are active on Facebook. This
trend forces app makers to focus on a growing audience segment. Comscore an audience
analytics company reported, Venmo is one of the top twenty apps to have the highest
concentration of millennials at 94 percent.
Since the launch of the app, Venmo has recorded revenue of $2.5 billion in the last quarter of
2015 and has shown a growth of 174 percent year over year. The app has become so popular
among millennials, that they use the product name as a verb, “Just Venmo me!” which is
synonymous to pay me back.
Millennials are the ideal target audience to focus on to get more digital donations because
they are more inclined to donate using mobile technology. According to CNBC, “Millennials
give through charity apps, email blasts and text messaging — 62 percent gave via mobile
phone in 2014, according to the Blackbaud report. The one-touch donating capability makes
it easier for the younger generation to give, Feldmann said, often donating about $25 a pop.”
A hefty 84 percent of millennials made a charitable donation in 2014, according to the
Millennial Impact Report by the research group, Achieve.
Finally, Venmo has already been used to raise donations for various charitable causes.
Venmo raised $50,000 during the Haiti earthquake in 2010, when quick turnaround was vital.
It also partnered with organizations like GiveDirectly, an organization that identifies poverty
stricken households in Kenya and Uganda, to support them.
Venmo connects the organization, donor and the end beneficiary making the transactions
transparent, efficient and easy. It also works with the Malaria No More charity, to help pay

2. Meherunissa Tariq
Executive Memo Draft
for treatment of children in Africa. It incentivized donors by offering $1 to them in return for
their charity. And, once this is seen on the donor’s newsfeed, it serves as a way to accelerate
the word of mouth to for the cause.
Venmo’s newsfeed is a log of its user’s activities, very similar to a Twitter feed. It also has an
option to share information on Facebook if the user wishes to. Recently, Venmo introduced
the option to place their icon on websites, to allow people to pay through their app.
III. ANALYSIS
She’s The First is an organization that aims to provide girls with education in the developing
world. “She’s the First is committed to connecting sponsors, student campus leaders and
scholars around the world in innovative, mutually beneficial ways to foster mentorship,
philanthropy, equality, and leadership” according to their website.
Keeping this in mind, Venmo serves as an innovative platform that connects sponsors to the
organization. It will serve as a platform that focuses on the objective to reach potential donors
and will not aid in recruiting people who might form vibrant campus groups in the U.S.
Creating a Venmo account is free. As a donor, it will cost nothing to transfer cash, if the
payment is being made with a debit card. And, if the payment is via a credit card it will cost
the donor 3%, which is the standard with all apps.
The time that it would take to set up a Venmo account and link the bank details is less than 10
minutes and for the donor to donate a few taps with a status message. What needs to be
considered, though, is if She’s The First would like to partner with Venmo officially, similar
to Malaria No More or GiveDirectly. This cost should be verified with the company directly.
It allows users to tailor messages every time a payment is made, such as, “Nisha paid She’s
The First to make sure Laya can continue high school.” The messages also add a lighthearted
aspect to the platform and allow options to ‘like,’ ‘comment,’ ‘share’ and ‘tag’ similar to
Facebook.
On creating an account, She’s The First, should “request” existing donors to start donating
via Venmo. This would send a message to the donor directly. And, on making a donation via
Venmo it will automatically populate the donors and friends newsfeeds. This can be liked,
commented on and shared on Facebook as well. Additionally, Venmo can be used as a
method to donate at existing bake sales and events being help to encourage passersby who do
not have cash to participate.
IV. Recommendation
Considering the objective to reach more potential donors, Venmo would be a viable platform
to consider. She’s The First can set up an account on Venmo directly. The process can be
evaluated after 6 months and based on its success, She’s The First can choose to approach
Venmo and integrate it as part of every donation option, including on its website.