Donations aren’t Japan’s forte. Many Japanese non-profit organizations (NPOs), especially the smaller ones, do not have a homepage and rely heavily on street fundraising activities to collect donations.

This is where the idea of “Syncable”, an easy-to-use platform that enables organizations to create a donation site and connect with supporters via the internet came from. Although other similar services exist, what sets Syncable apart is its ability to build a fan community around the campaign rather than just collecting funds.

Syncable is not just another fundraising tool

Syncable believes that providing a platform to non-profit organizations is only part of the solution. What these organizations need is a tool which could help them better deliver their message

“Every day in the media, we see refugees and people in hunger. What we really need is a means that would actually move an individual,” says Sato. “How can we resonate with the person who receives the information and link it to action?

A celebration with a cause

It’s nice to give people presents and it’s nice to donate to charities. In Europe and the United States, when hosting a birthday party more and more people celebrate with a cause or an organization they care about. Hosts will ask their guests to bring “no-gift please”, and instead contribute to a monetary donation of their choice in its place.

Inspired by this idea, Syncable launched its “Birthday donation campaign” which calls for donations on social media on birthdays.

Typical fundraising campaigns usually goes unnoticed. “Being creative about how the message goes out by linking it to a cause can help,” said Mr. Tanaka

Credit card payment is essential for Syncable. Acceptance marks for international brands such as Visa and Mastercard means being able to receive donations from supporters across borders.

Recently, bitcoin donations have been added to the Syncable platform, and the range of choices has been expanded. An environment where you can collect donations globally is necessary especially for emergency assistance such as natural disasters and terrorism.

Besides making it easy for people to donate, keeping the environment secure is as equally important. STYZ and Omise are working together to do a screening of all new organizations that come on board.

Syncable is expecting to expand overseas, mainly to countries in Southeast Asia. Buddhist countries like Thailand and Myanmar have a well-established culture of donations. Japan itself has got room to improve on issues to do with website creation and donation collection methods.