Gena Rotstein's blog

Some major developments have happened with the technology at Dexterity Ventures Inc. (DVI)! Here is the overview of what has been going on:

GIVE_api Version 2.5

We have been busy working on updating our GIVE_api. The latest version will be release early in Q3, and will include the ability to make real-time payments.

Developers Libraries

To aid developers in implementing our GIVE_api in their projects, Dexterity Ventures Inc. has created a series of libraries for some of the more popular development languages.

Developers can download the GIVE_api development libraries for Android, iOS, ASP/.NET, JAVA and also PHP. Each of the packages contains the full library, a detailed readme file and a useable demo. If you have any questions regarding the libraries, please contact us at .

Today I attended the Toronto Vital Signs event hosted by the Canadian Club, with keynote address by the CEO of the Toronto Foundation, Rahul Bahardwaj.  There were six things that Mr. Bahrdwaj highlighted that Toronto, and in fact, other major cities should focus on when thinking about the social fabric of their communities.  Of the six things that were highlighted, there was one in particular that I want to touch on - that of TRUST.

We are excited to announce that we are finalists in a contest to win up to $25,000 in marketing services from William Joseph Communications’ RPM Project. Now that we have been announced as a finalist – this is where you come in. The winner is chosen by the public through a social media vote to determine the winners.

I recently presented at the RSD4 summit on systemic design and philanthropy held at the Banff Centre.  Below is a copy of the presentation and what follows are the key concepts that I shared.  We are at a critical point in North American policy history where we can fundamentally shift the way that money flows between and around charities, non-profits and social businesses.  Whether you think these issues are complex or complicated, at the core there is a groundswell of people who are striving to change a system that is fundamentally flawed - the way we transact for social change.

This week I've had the honour and privledge of leading a day-long summit on philanthropy alongside Deborah Goldstein, Enlightened Philanthropy and John A. Warnick of the Purposeful Planning Institute.  This summit covered five key areas within the giving space and drew upon expertise from the likes of Bruce Deboskey, Tracy Gary and Joanie Bronfman.

The news lately has focused on the bad economy, growing personal debt and the downward trend toward a recession.  It’s times like these that the media also focuses on the vibrancy of the charitable sector and increased demands on front-line agencies like food banks to meet the needs of newly laid-off individuals and others affected by a down market.

Here’s the thing with giving, the true philanthropy, it is non incentivized. It is a transactional response to an emotional experience.  In a down economy we still have those same emotions.  My observation is, that in some cases, these emotions are heightened under the constant reminder of financial insecurity.  So when charities cry poverty during a down economy, my guess is that they were heading this way long-before the economy took a turn.  The financial environment accelerated or exacerbated the situation.

I walked into the Co-op liquor store the other day and the woman in front of me said - “Oh you’re that woman who works with philanthropists.”  I smiled, laughed, and confirmed her statement. I then asked how she knew who I was and she mentioned she heard me speak at an AFP conference a couple of years ago.  When she left the cashier, a man in his late 50’s, turned to me and said, “I don’t think I have ever met a philanthropist before.”  That made me laugh. I have previously written about who is a philanthropist and the mindset hasn’t shifted much.  

It is for this reason that I created myPlace2Give.  A site dedicated to creating your own personalized micro-foundation. You get to pick the charities, set the disbursement amounts and the timelines, share with your friends and we take care of all the reporting.  Why did we do this?  Because anyone can have their own foundation, you don’t need to have millions of dollars to create meaningful impact in the world.

It has been busy here at Dexterity Ventures Inc. (DVI) over the second quarter of 2015. Here is a quick snapshot of what the Tech Team has been working on:

Version 2.0: In May we released Version 2.0 of our GIVE_api, which provides access to the data that DVI has gathered on 1.6+ million charities across North America. The XML/JSON web service gives developers the ability to quickly add philanthropy into a web or mobile based application. Developers were also able to use the GIVE_api at The Change Tank, a social good idea and pitch event that took place May 22-24, 2015.

I attended a workshop hosted by Debian IT the other day and one of the topics was on the Internet of Things, and how this industry is shaping the way that small businesses operate, specifically with regards to consumer behaviour.  This got me thinking as to how wearables and smart technology will be influencing the way that we engage with the charities that we support AND how charities will adopt some of the technologies into their daily operations.