GiftDrive's Mission

How It Started

GiftDrive began with a simple act of giving.

In 2024, one of GiftDrive's co-founders, Logan, participated in a local holiday Angel Tree program, a tradition his family had enjoyed every Christmas for as long as he could remember. After selecting a child's tag from a tree at a local Walmart, Logan and his family set out to purchase the requested gifts.

What they expected to be a quick and meaningful experience quickly became anything but.

Finding the exact items in the correct sizes and quantities proved difficult. The store was crowded with last-minute holiday shoppers, making checkout a lengthy process. After purchasing the gifts, the family still had to drive more than 30 minutes to deliver everything to the collection site. What was intended to be a simple act of generosity became an all-day commitment. Despite the time and effort, there was little connection to the organization they were supporting or the child they were helping, and no easy way to stay involved after the donation.

That experience raised a simple question: how can we make giving more accessible and impactful?

Could technology make donating needed items easier, more personal, and more impactful for everyone involved?

To answer that question, Logan met with the nonprofit organizing the drive and began interviewing nonprofit leaders across Vermont. Alongside fellow University of Vermont students Miro and Corinne, the team spoke with hundreds of organizations to better understand how they managed in-kind donations.

They discovered a common pattern. Most organizations relied on spreadsheets, paper wish lists, email chains, social media posts, or basic Amazon wishlists to coordinate donation drives. These systems made it difficult to communicate changing needs, track incoming donations, collect donor information, send tax receipts, and measure the success of campaigns. At the same time, donors often struggled to know exactly what was needed and how to contribute in the most meaningful way.

GiftDrive was built to solve both sides of that problem.

Today, nonprofits can create customized donation drives in minutes with branded wishlists, real-time inventory tracking, shipping and drop-off options, monetary donations, automated tax receipts, donor management tools, and powerful campaign analytics. Donors can browse exactly what an organization needs, purchase items directly through the platform, or make a monetary contribution, creating a faster, simpler, and more engaging giving experience.

Since launching in September 2025, GiftDrive has grown from a classroom idea at the University of Vermont into a platform serving … nonprofit organizations across the United States. Together, those organizations have collected … donated items worth …, helping provide food, clothing, hygiene products, school supplies, pet supplies, and countless other essentials to people in need.