A new Latino startup is on the scene, with the aim of taking the power of crowdfunding to Latino communities across the Western hemisphere. HIPGive is a new crowdfunding site by Hispanics in Philanthropy, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

As we previously reported, Hispanics in Philanthropy, or HIP, is a charitable organization that helps sponsor initiatives that help ensure access to things like a quality education, economic stability, and healthcare. HIP has been doing this for 30 years, funding and supporting more than 600 Latino organizations across the country.

HIP's funding has helped organizations with the goal of strengthening the Latino community and increasing opportunities for Latinos, providing grants, training, webinars, and conferences to give leaders networking opportunities and grow their organizations in the U.S. and Latin America. "In every corner of the United States and across Latin America, you will find Latinos working hard to bring about positive change and opportunity for others. At HIP, we have had the pleasure and the honor to play a part in this," said Alexandra Aquino-Fike, Senior Manager for Corporate Relations, to the Latin Post in an exclusive interview last year.

Now HIP is getting into the "hippest" trend in charitable giving -- crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is the term that applies to organizations and websites you might have heard about like IndieGoGo and KickStarter. The concept has its origins in crowdsourcing, an internet phenomenon where many individuals make small contributions to a greater project (think Wikipedia), except in the realm of donations.

HIP, to celebrate its 30th anniversary, is blending "technology and tradition" in the new online crowdfunding platform HIPGive, which was announced at HIP's 30th anniversary gala. As a way to "kickstart" the crowdfunding platform, in a partnership with the Western Union Foundation, HIP is launching Hipgive.org with a fundraising contest, where donations to Latino organizations featured on the website will be matched by HIP's grant funds.

"As Latinos embrace social technologies faster and insert themselves into political and civic forums at an exponential rate, HIPGive will connect everyday individuals with model programs that make a real difference," said the announcement from the Latino nonprofit's release. "From expanding effective education models in North Carolina and Puerto Rico to increasing Latino college graduation rates, to strengthening care and services for elders in Colorado, the nonprofits in HIP's network have proven models for inspiring and affecting change."

Besides tapping into the growing internet savvy of Latinos to help community organizations all over the Western Hemisphere, HIPGive will additionally help teach nonprofits to grow their skills and resources, as well as network with other Latino organizations. "Today, through innovative social media campaigns, organizations like us can go beyond raising awareness about our cause to actually becoming change agents," said Elicia Gonzalez, Executive Director of GALAEI: A queer Latin@ Social Justice Organization in HIP's announcement. "HIPGive provides us with the opportunity to inspire our community to donate at all levels and be a part of something bigger. We are so grateful to be able to raise funds and make a difference for GALAEI."

The Latino nonprofit web startup hopes to leverage the growing Latino population and its trailblazing use of digital technology to help fellow Hispanics who are less fortunate. "As we witness the growth of the Hispanic population, Latino nonprofit organizations are just starting to attract substantial investments from organized philanthropy. These investments will pay off handsomely in every community in the US and for our countries of origin," said HIP president, Diana Campoamor.

"HIPGive aims to make philanthropy more accessible across the Americas. We built the online platform as a tool to galvanize our generous culture of giving," she added.

You can check out the cutting-edge of digital Latino philanthropy at HIPGive.org.

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