KarmaGoat uses Facebook to bring buyers, sellers together and send proceeds to charity
KarmaGoat head of marketing Tony Vassiliadis, left, and CEO Jonathan Lehmann, far right, show potential customers how to sign up for their online marketplace startup. With KarmaGoat, people can buy and sell items while donating proceeds to a charity of choice.
By Samantha Masunaga
July 25, 2011 2:13 a.m.
Upscale charity fundraisers weren’t exactly on Jonathan Lehmann’s post-grad radar.
But then his online start-up company KarmaGoat caught the eye of the Somaly Mam Foundation at a UCLA Mighty Mic event. The foundation became the newest way to promote his fledgling business, previously focused heavily on social media.
Alongside two business partners he met while attending the UCLA Anderson School of Management, Lehmann worked to spread the word about KarmaGoat, an online charitable marketplace, at the Somaly Mam’s Project Futures Global launch party Saturday in Beverly Hills.
“This has been amazing,” said Lehmann, with a grin. “I’m 33 and this is the first time I’m doing something that has meaning.”
The Somaly Mam Foundation, an organization that combats human trafficking, is only one of the 900 charities with which KarmaGoat is connected. Other charities include the American Red Cross and the UCLA Foundation.
So far, the business has raised about $1,500 in donations, despite launching only two months ago.
Lehmann described the KarmaGoat as a mix between Craigslist’s local marketplace and a charitable donation site. Users access the site through their Facebook accounts and can list items or services for sale.
The profits then goes to a charity of the seller’s choice.
The opportunity to list personal lessons ““ such as golf or tennis ““ for sale attracted the attention of the Somaly Mam Foundation, said Amy Merrill, a program director at the organization.
“KarmaGoat is interesting because it offers a platform for our volunteers and their skills,” she said. “I think (our relationship) is going to grow with their growth.”
In addition to their shared emphases on charity, both organizations rely on social media to attract new followers.
From the very beginning, the three founders knew they wanted to make KarmaGoat a fully social media-integrated site that relied on Facebook for the initial connection.
“There was never, in our minds, a version of KarmaGoat that utilized a KarmaGoat-specific log-in,” said Jamie Voytko, chief financial officer and chief operating officer of the company and a recent Anderson graduate. “At the end of the day, Facebook is the 800-pound gorilla in the social-media room; being Facebook-integrated is such a great way to support sharing.”
In the last 18 months, the social networking giant has tried to become the crux of social online interaction, Lehmann said. As a result, it allows sites like KarmaGoat to use its services and log-in capabilities without prior approval.
The exclusive friend networks of Facebook fit perfectly with the company’s charitable donation slant, Lehmann said.
“You don’t want to sell to friends for profit,” he said. “But sending to a cause is different ““ asking (friends) for money for nonprofit charities is okay.”
The familiarity and privacy aspect also differentiates KarmaGoat from other online marketplaces like Craigslist. On their site, a buyer can see a seller’s profile picture and full name ””mdash; a small touch that can make transactions more comfortable.
“We feel that it provides a sense of community and that is really beneficial,” said James Chung, one of the company’s partners and a recent Anderson graduate.
This use of social media to reach potential customers is not new, said Steve Peterson, a lecturer in the communication studies department.
About five years ago, companies jumped on Facebook and other forms of social media as an opportunity to gain insight into potential customers’ interests and friends, he said.
From there, these sites help businesses to tailor their brand, making it unusual if a company is not connected on Facebook or Twitter, he said.
Since May, KarmaGoat has logged more than 200 registered users and averages 100 to 200 views a day, Chung said.
Though most of the users are the partners’ friends, friends of friends or start-up enthusiasts, Lehmann said he hopes the UCLA community will adopt the website as its own local online marketplace.
“KarmaGoat is all about UCLA for us,” Lehmann said. “Our barometer of success is UCLA students.”
