The Si Se Puede Foundation allows students to get hands-on experience in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Students design, construct, and program robots, and they often get the opportunity to take those robots on the road, traveling to competitions across the United States. The Foundation works “to bridge the STEM divide in underserved populations in our community to prepare them for the 21st century workforce.”

Background

In 1998, a few dedicated Arizonans wanted to help their community engage with the world on their terms. The organization was started as a way to engage Hispanic youth in Phoenix and show marginalized groups how to advocate for themselves. And so the Si Se Puede Foundation was born.

The organizers started youth soccer and Folklorico dancing for kids. These healthy outlets for youthful energy were immediate successes, helping kids from underserved communities channel their energy into productive outlets after school. They also started English classes for adults in the community, so that parents could help their kids navigate their college applications. 

That purpose, to engage youth from underserved communities and help them pursue their potential, has never changed. But over the decades, the Foundation’s strategy has shifted. Today, the Si Se Puede Foundation’s programming focuses on STEM programming to offer students extra training for their futures. They started with a Lego robotics team, which students loved so much that they started another. Now, the Si Se Puede center has four robotics teams serving the Phoenix, Arizona, metro area.

For years, the Si Se Puede Foundation used PayPal to fundraise. As you might imagine, robotics isn’t the cheapest of subjects to teach. The Si Se Puede Foundation has a campus to maintain, an expensive array of equipment and materials to acquire, competition entry fees to pay, and team travel to fund. 

Every month, PayPal fees cut $400 to $500 out of the Si Se Puede budget. Faridodin "Fredi" Lajvardi, who leads one of the competition-winning robotics teams at Si Se Puede, says that the fees sometimes left them wondering what necessities to cut for the month.

“As a small nonprofit, every dollar counts. So even losing a few hundred dollars can make a difference when having to purchase office supplies, toilet paper, or whiteboard markers. It also has an effect on donors, who probably feel more comfortable contributing, knowing that 100% of their contribution will be given directly to us,” "Fredi" Lajvardi

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Lajvardi shared a list of things those PayPal fees could have covered. Every month they faced a difficult choice between one of the following:

• 1 month’s rent & utilities for our STEM Center  OR
• The entry fee for one of our regional robotics competitions  OR
• Air travel for 30 participants to Houston for the Robotics World Championships  OR
• The cost of materials to design and build a robot for our annual competitions

On top of all of those choices, PayPal was just difficult to use. 

“They did not have a good interface for the owners and users. No webpage creation and poor tracking of donors related to specific campaigns,” Lajvardi says.

The Si Se Puede Foundation has changed a lot over the decades, and Lajvardi knew the fundraising technology landscape must have progressed past clunky interfaces and high fees. Even more importantly, they were getting some complaints from donors.

“We were not happy with PayPal and our supporters did not like the fact that Paypal took the percentage they did from each donation. So I did a search for funding platforms that do not require a fee for donors to make a donation,” Lajvardi says.

They decided to switch right away.

Since Zeffy was the only fee-free platform on the landscape, Lajvardi was nervous that it was too good to be true. Instead, Zeffy was everything he’d hoped for. “Once we started we never looked back,” Lajvardi says. Zeffy offers easy campaign management, from donation page publishing to integration with social media and other websites.

“The thing that really convinced me that Zeffy was the platform we wanted to use was the fact that you can create a funding page and did not have to alter your own organization’s website. Zeffy also lets you integrate your funding page with social media! The Zeffy website is easy to use and it helps keep track of your donors! The main thing is I was able to start any fundraising campaign we wanted in minutes! “ Lajvardi says.

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For the past three years, the Si Se Puede Foundation’s high school robotics team has qualified for the World Championships robotics competition, which is held in Houston, Texas, every year. To get their students the opportunity they deserve, Lajvardi and the Foundation fundraise to cover as much of the travel expenses as they can. In that time, the Foundation has raised over $140,000, and every cent has gone to maintaining and expanding its robust STEM education programs. With PayPal, they would have lost over $7,000 of that money to fees.

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 At first, they were delighted by how easy everything was to set up in Zeffy. Now, they wouldn’t accept anything less. 

“[Zeffy is] easy to use and is very effective. Our organization has greatly benefited from using Zeffy. It makes it more likely for donors to donate because they know how much of their donation actually gets to the organization.”