David Pazdernik founded Dideo (pronounced like “video”) after realizing there was space in the marketplace for an easy way to give and receive donations for timely and relevant causes. Dideo is a social online platform that allows any organization, individual or business to easily give and receive financial support.
“We realized very early on that intrinsically many people want to help when they see an individual in trouble or a story like the disaster in Japan or other timely events,” Pazdernik said. “They want to help, but unless there’s a massive organization collecting donations or funds for natural disaster victims there isn’t always an easy way to do that.”
Dideo is on online giving platform that gives individuals and organizations the ability to set up a Dideo profile and begin receiving funds and support almost immediately. The company launched the Beta version of its platform about a month ago.
“It takes as little as 90 seconds in some cases,” Pazdernik said.
Small organizations and companies don’t have the time and resources to dedicate to building a website or develop a back-end merchant account especially if it needs to be done quickly, he said.
“Dideo can give all that to a user in a matter of seconds,” Pazdernik said.
Any organization or individual can set up an account on Dideo and create a vanity URL they can send out, link to or mention, he said.
“Dideo users can also embed a Dideo widget on a website or Facebook page that can link visitors directly back to their Dideo profile,” he said.
Businesses, schools, churches and nonprofit organizations have already been approached by Dideo. Small organizations and fundraisers for individuals or class reunions have also found use on Dideo.
“The great thing about Dideo is that it’s equally valuable to a small local organization, with limited time and resources for fundraising, as it is to larger organizations. Our goal is to create a platform people will want to use and that also provides a real sense of community.”
While it’s relatively easy for organizations or causes to sign up for a Dideo profile, there is a vetting process they go through to make sure the individual or organization receiving funds isn’t doing anything unethical or illegal, Pazdernik said.
“We’ve intentionally made it very easy for groups or individuals to use their Dideo profile for just about anything,” Pazdernik said. “But we’re very careful and have a rigorous verification process that we do before we release funds to a group. We want to build this as an honest and trustworthy community for both donors and receivers so we take that responsibility very seriously.”
Users and organizations can sign up for a Dideo profile for free, Pazdernik said.
Aside from credit card transaction fees that are automatically deducted, Dideo does not pass on additional fees and doesn’t intend to in the future.
For more on DIdeo, check out the BizTimes Innovation column from late February.
