Meet TrueGiving, Infillion’s Nonprofit initiative

Since its inception, Infillion has been values-driven – something that extends outside the company’s client work, and even pre-dates Infillion itself. When Infillion was formed from the merger of TrueX and Gimbal, both companies brought in an extensive commitment to pro-bono and nonprofit work, from TrueX’s testing of new connected TV ad tech with a campaign for Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen to Gimbal’s award-winning work with Samaritan. The obvious next step was to join forces.

Now called TrueGiving, Infillion’s nonprofit arm is spearheaded by two Infillionaires, senior product manager Alex Steady and senior creative strategist Isabel Stanish. We asked Alex and Isabel to share a bit about TrueGiving’s recent wins, and what they’re hoping to do next.

What is the mission of TrueGiving?

TrueGiving is Infillion’s community-building arm, dedicated to using our advertising expertise and resources in service of purpose-driven nonprofits and organizations. Basically, we donate our expertise to select nonprofits so that their marketing and advertising can be on par with big, for-profit brands. 

What is TrueGiving’s origin story?

As you likely know, Infillion was formed out of the merger of TrueX and Gimbal, two advertising tech companies that were both committed to making the industry better – but, at the time, didn’t have much to do with one another. And this happened during COVID lockdowns, so it’s not like we could get to know each other in person immediately. Right after the merger, there was an interest on the TrueX side of expanding the pro-bono efforts that the company had been undergoing to test out new features by deploying free advertising for nonprofits. It turns out that on the Gimbal side, Alex had been doing this exact kind of work through the Gimbal Foundation. They had run very successful campaigns for over 25+ nonprofits over the years including Samaritan and Teens Exploring Technology. 

Isabel (from the TrueX side) and Alex started working together, under the guidance of board member Susie Franklin, along with several other talented volunteers from both Gimbal and TrueX. The vision of the new “pro-bono committee” was to use our collective expertise within the ad tech space to educate and garner awareness & donations for nonprofits enabling access to advertising prowess alongside the larger, paid players. This initiative kicked off working with Power Over Parkinson’s, an organization near and dear to Susie’s heart. 

Sadly, Susie passed away from Parkinson’s shortly thereafter. She left behind a wonderful legacy of charitable work that TrueGiving has made a mission to continue to honor and emulate in her name. Since then, TrueGiving has created a brand for itself under the Infillion umbrella, worked with several more wonderful non profits, and keeps expanding its efforts and volunteer base today.

What nonprofits did TrueGiving work with in 2022, and how did you get introduced to them?

We worked with three nonprofits: TeachRock, CLARE Matrix, and Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF). We received contacts at both TeachRock and Clare Matrix through Susie, and at SRF through Alex. The Gimbal Foundation had actually worked with Clare Matrix several years ago as well. 

What’s one surprising thing you learned over the course of your work with TrueGiving since the merger?

Working with nonprofits versus our paid partners has been a bit of a learning curve for all of us. Each organization is run differently – some have a full marketing team and brand guidelines, but others need to completely defer to our expertise. We’re still developing a cadence to best serve each one’s mission, instead of working towards a rigid set of KPIs and other metrics.

How has TrueGiving worked with Infillion’s products? 

TrueGiving was the first to charter a campaign that utilized both the TrueX and NeXt products, and in turn created a roadmap for this process across product and tech, creative, production, and execution. This is what ultimately became InfillionX. Also, TrueGiving was the first to test XtendedView, a solution for longer-form video ads that work extremely well in the advocacy, political, and healthcare space where an extended narrative may help drive a brand message more than interactivity. We’re also going to be testing new inventory sources that we have integrated, as well as new creative formats for engagement advertising, such as portrait mode video (exciting!)

What would your advice be for other ad tech companies looking to start a pro bono program?

Take all of the time you need to determine the mission, vision, and pillars of your pro bono efforts, including how you want the organization to function. Even the best of intentions can fall short if there’s no way to put the mission into action in a way that allows your efforts to continue evolving within your organization.

Are you a non-profit leader looking to benefit from digital marketing and advertising expertise? You can apply for TrueGiving’s next cohort. Contact Infillion for more details.