Ben is the CEO of Charitybuzz – the leading impact marketplace – and its sister company, sweepstakes-for-good platform Prizeo. The Charitybuzz businesses work to maximize fundraising strategies for nonprofits, celebrities and brands. One of the first Charitybuzz employees, Erwin has fostered the company’s growth from a small startup 15 years ago, and helped raise $550M for cause to date. Now leading both Charitybuzz and Prizeo, Erwin leverages his extensive industry knowledge and network to create and grow a powerful ecommerce marketplace that brings people unmatched access in order to unlock new funds for cause. Erwin is a member of YPO, and has contributed to and been featured in various media outlets, including Entrepreneur.com, Thrive Global, CNBC, Barron’s Penta, Golf Channel, Dallas Morning News and CheddarTV. He supports a variety of causes and organizations, and is the founder of RFK Young Leaders –a program of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights that is dedicated to empowering human rights defenders and motivating a diverse community to take action for social justice. Erwin holds a BA in Political Science from The George Washington University.
Episode Highlights Here:
Brett
Before we jump into this episode, I want to invite you to join our community to help you become a better steward scale to billions and ultimately give more or all of it away. All I want you to do is to click the subscribe button right now. I love your support. It’s incredible to see your comments, and we’re just getting started. I can’t wait to go on this journey with you. Thank you so much for subscribing. It means the world to me. Welcome to the build it to millions podcast where we got successful entrepreneurs and investors on their journey from millions to billions. And we believe that the key to scaling your business and compounding your wealth starts every single day with a mindset and practice of stewardship over ownership, also applying billionaire biblical principles. Our ultimate goal is to help you scale and compound your wealth in life so you can give more or all but away to help. MVPs, hey, I’m your host today. Brett Swartz, in every episode, we feature some of the world’s top entrepreneurs, millionaires and billionaires. They share their principles, values, secrets and wisdom, providing each of us with the insights we need to reach the next level of success, faith and impact. I’m excited about our next guest. He’s out of Connecticut, and he is leading charity buzz and charitybuzz.com that is he’s a CEO there, and he is on a mission to deliver the coolest and most unique inventory for good. As his tenure as CEO at Charity buzz, he’s been marked with innovative strategies that have significantly scaled revenue and profitability. Revenue and profitability with over two and a half years at the helm, his focus is compelling people to give in new ways, while building an excellent team to unlock millions of dollars for impact for charities and so much more. Please, welcome to the show with me.
Ben
Ben Ehrman, Ben, how we doing? Doing great. Thanks for having me. Man, absolutely. And
Brett
why are we talking today about better ways to give? Before we dive into that, can you just give our listeners a little bit more about your story and your current focus?
Ben
Yeah, so you did a good intro about charity buzz, we offer up the coolest and most unique stuff on the internet, and every transaction or purchase on charity buzz, a portion supports a terrific charitable organization. Our niche is really in the unique access so typically offering up things that people never thought were available to purchase, and that allows them to give more or compel people to give money they weren’t otherwise planning to give away to charity, and in return, they get access to the world’s most exclusive people, places and things. So everybody wins and and they have fun doing it
Brett
phenomenal. I recently had the pleasure of going to the Super Bowl because I have a good friend who works for the Super Bowl for 10 years, and I got the golden ticket. This is the 40 Niners versus the Chiefs about four, you know, five years ago now, when? But right before COVID hit. And, I mean, we had everything. We had. We had the tickets to the Snoop Dogg and the guns, guns and roses and Lady Gaga concert. We had tickets to the pre tailgate party, which was phenomenal. I met Mr. What’s that guy’s name? He’s a doctor, Dr Oz, Dr Oz. And I talked to him. I mean, it’s cool, of course, the game was incredible. So stuff like that, as we’re talking about here, like, talk about, like, these types of things that typically people wouldn’t think about, but you’re able to deliver. And then tie in how the charity part works.
Ben
Yeah. So we’ve been pioneers of the experience economy for the better part of 15 years. So we kind of saw this mega trend coming, and now think like seven or eight out of 10 consumers will say they value experiences over things. So what most people want are the things that they don’t think are available. They want to be able to do the impossible. So that’s really what we focus on. So whether it’s going to the Super Bowl and getting into one of the many VIP parties, going to the Grammys, being able to sit down across the table from a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, an A list movie star, go backstage at a concert with your favorite musician. We’re offering up these really unique opportunities, and the way that we’re able to secure them, and the way that I think we’re also able to alleviate people’s guilt of spending ridiculous amounts of money to do these things, is everything is connected to a charity. So most of the time, the charity is connected to whoever is providing and or putting together the experience, so they feel really good about being able to leverage their time, their access and their connections, to raise new incremental dollars for charitable organizations. Okay?
Brett
And then the big question is, if I pay 1020, 30, $50,000 for this experience, is it a? Is it is it a? Is it a terrible write off for me,
Ben
depends what you’re buying, so anything that’s in excess of the fair market value of goods and services received. So when you’re talking about a vacation, well that’s a fair market value, and most people don’t spend a lot more than the rack rate, but when you talk about an experience, there is no fair market value of sitting down with a a list movie star. So in those situations, the IRS will say that there is. There’s quite a bit of room for deductibility. But of course, we’re not tax professionals. Consult with your accountant and figure out how it affects your personal situation. Okay,
Brett
awesome. So Ben. Ben Irwin, here, everybody, charity buzz.com, charity buzz.com, so what’s been the most rewarding part of what you do, Ben, and maybe what’s been the secret to how you guys have grown so fast. If you like, this little short clip of the interview I just did. Click over here to watch the full interview, and please don’t forget to subscribe. Thanks so much, everybody. You
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About Ben Erwin
Ben is the CEO of Charitybuzz – the leading impact marketplace – and its parent company Charity Network. Charity Network also includes sweepstakes-for-good platform Prizeo, which works alongside Charitybuzz to maximize fundraising strategies for nonprofits, celebrities and brands.
One of the first Charitybuzz employees, Erwin has fostered the company’s growth from a small startup nearly 15 years ago, to joining Charity Network, helping to raise $550M for cause to date. Now leading both Charitybuzz and Charity Network, Erwin leverages his extensive industry knowledge and network to create and grow a powerful ecommerce marketplace that brings people unmatched access in order to unlock new funds for cause.
Erwin is a member of YPO, and has contributed to and been featured in various media outlets, including Entrepreneur.com, Thrive Global, CNBC, Barron’s Penta, Golf Channel, Dallas Morning News and CheddarTV.
He supports a variety of causes and organizations, and is the founder of RFK Young Leaders – a program of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights that is dedicated to empowering human rights defenders and motivating a diverse community to take action for social justice.
Erwin holds a BA in Political Science from The George Washington University.
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