Team Rubicon bridges the critical time gap between large humanitarian disasters and conventional aid response.
Video$35,723 Raised
Within Hours Joplin, MO
First-Responders Are Funded by
Online Donations
In the immediate aftermath of a catastrophic event there is a gap between the initial destruction and the arrival of humanitarian relief. Team Rubicon bridges that gap. An organization comprised of military veterans, many with medical backgrounds, Team Rubicon is an elite first responder force. They save lives by deploying quickly and supporting victims until larger organizations can react.
Formed in the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the organization embodies a truly heroic ethos of service… operating entirely for free. Powered by dedication and donations alone, this nimble force recently used StayClassy's equally agile donation processing platform to help fund its efforts to assist the victims of the tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri.
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"We were on the ground within hours after the tornado struck. We quickly built a donation page through StayClassy, and immediately started receiving donations. That funding allowed us to stay a full seven days."
Jacob Wood President
Team Rubicon
- Create Custom Branded Donation Page
- Link to Your Website
- Collect Donations Anywhere
- Track & Manage Donors
In Crisis, You Shouldn’t Worry About
PRODUCT RELIABILITY
Absolute destruction. The Team Leader arrived in Joplin within 12 hours of the tornado touching ground to discover just that- absolute destruction. Flattened houses. Uprooted trees. Injuries. Fatalities. Just destruction. Absolute destruction. With residents and local emergency responders overwhelmed by the disaster, over 25 Team Rubicon members would pour into Joplin over the next 24 hours to provide critical support to the recovery effort.
This was Team Rubicon's first domestic mission. As a young organization, it didn't even have the federal certification it needed to act in a medical capacity in the U.S. yet. And while no amount of red tape would stop Team Rubicon from doing everything in its power to assist the recovery efforts in Joplin, the mission still needed to be financed. Fortunately, shortly before the tornado struck, Team Rubicon had created a custom StayClassy donation page linked to its website. The page was branded to fit seamlessly with the rest of the organization's web design, creating the appearance that supporters were "staying in one place." And so, as the veterans rolled out over the broken terrain of Joplin, the donations rolled in from the concerned American public. Aided by the simple steam-lined donation page provided by StayClassy, Team Rubicon was able to take in $38,000 in a few days to support its efforts on the ground.
Those efforts on the ground made a huge impact in Joplin. By conducting search and rescue missions over areas that had only been checked hastily, Team Rubicon freed up local responders to focus on previously unsearched locations.
With their debris removal efforts, the veterans were able to clear away between 100 to 200 trees from roadways and houses. And, by following a tiered response plan, the team was able to operate with maximal efficiency, starting with buildings in danger of losing structural integrity and families that lacked insurance coverage to fix the damage.
As might be expected of a group like Team Rubicon, even fundraising is converted into an on-the-ground effort. During natural disasters, members of the team use iPads and StayClassy's checkout page to collect donations from Americans across the country. Empowering Americans to help their fellow Americans struck by disaster, the $38,000 fundraising effort represented the third time in Team Rubicon's history when total contributions actually exceeded mission costs.
In a move of true organizational humility, Team Rubicon would later use StayClassy's donor tracking and management features to reach back out to its generous donors to offer them a refund on the portion of donations that did not go directly to the efforts in Joplin. Most donors chose to invest in Team Rubicon rather than take the refund offer. Wise decision.
"An organization like Team Rubicon needs to be able to trust our product in any situation. One minute they’re receiving online donations from a dozen Countries, and the next they’re going door-to-door with an iPad. Reliability is an absolute must."
Pete NystromVP of Engineering
StayClassy
