Hope.ly is the world’s first link-shortener that raises money for a good cause. This social fundraising tool allows people to actively support the Red Cross by placing fundraising ads at no cost to the user or the Red Cross.

It works as follows: a Hope.ly link adds a web banner at the top of any website shared, which prompts the viewer to make a donation, so every share results in more visibility and more potential donations for the Red Cross.

Hope.ly works just like any normal link shortener, but with a twist. When you share a Hope.ly link, a small ribbon is added to the top of the website shared. The more people who see your link, the more people will be prompted to donate to the Red Cross.

To launch Hope.ly, we partnered with link-shortening service Bitly, integrating Hope.ly into Bitly’s homepage and browser extension. In addition, we created a mobile-friendly web experience, allowing people to easily create and share Hope.ly links.

We created a new social fundraising tool, which in turn created a new cost-effective online media channel. In the first month alone, more than 80,000 people supported The Red Cross online by creating Hope.ly links, which were clicked on over a million times.

Leading social influencers started sharing Hope.ly links right after launch. The media followed suit, with features in the New York Times, Huffington Post, on Yahoo! and more.

The success resulted in the Red Cross and Bitly making this an ongoing partnership, so Hope.ly will continue to encourage support for the charity.