GiveTide x Beyond Type 1


 2017-12-05

Editor’s Note: Beyond Type 1 is excited to introduce you to GiveTide, read more and download the app here.


GiveTide is an iOS app that lets you round up electronic spare change and donate to any 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Simple, right? That’s why it’s awesome.

My name is Peter Ghiorse, and I, along with Peter Tight and James Ghiorse, co-founded GiveTide this year. This is the story of GiveTide’s humble beginnings and Beyond Type 1’s role in making our dream a reality. GiveTide is ready to be the easiest, simplest way to support Beyond Type 1 every day.

Let me be the first to admit it: I have enjoyed a privileged life with space and time to chase big ideas. My father was his own boss at a philanthropic consulting company, so he was able to spend lots of time at home with me and my brother James. As a result, we grew up in an environment that encouraged individual passions and risk-taking.

One day, my mother came home with a big plastic pretzel jar with “Helping Hands” written across the front in purple sharpie. Then she broke out the finger paint, and James and I went to town, pressing our then-tiny hands onto the plastic. Our whole family made a point to drop all of our spare change into that jar. Every month the four of us would decide where to donate it. Every year, James and I would add another layer of handprints its exterior. Over time, the clear plastic began to resemble a mosaic of textures, colors and passing time.

This giving mentality, combined with a very simple idea, gave me the courage to take a risk, quit my job and start a company with an even simpler mission: to reduce the barriers of giving and to make philanthropy the easiest part of your day: financially, procedurally and socially.

Getting Giving

After college graduation, Peter, myself and all of our friends started receiving phone calls from our university asking us to support the school by making a donation. As a former alumni fundraiser himself, Peter understood what it was like to be the one making those calls. Peter also knew the importance of those donations to meaningfully improve the education of future generations, and did his best to relay that impact to the rest of us. Nevertheless, our peers quickly associated calls from a specific area code with being asked for money. One by one, they stopped giving. The hassle of the phone calls was too big an inconvenience. Every single one of those friends has resumed their support using GiveTide.

Another cool thing about GiveTide—it’s a tool that even broke college kids can afford. I recently got a call from a current student at my Alma Mater—he had been in charge of his fraternity’s annual campus-wide fundraiser for the Huntsman Cancer Institute. The response he got was incredible. Not only did the app encourage participation from students, but the spare change added up to a significant sum.

I’ll never forget the time when a long-time friend broke down in tears. She worked 80 hours a week, and had been desperately searching for a way to reconnect, beyond simply cutting a check, with the local Special Olympics chapter she had supported since childhood. That was the first time I realized that all of the blood, sweat and tears that we had poured into our mission were going to mean something.

Beyond Type 1 + GiveTide

When we first approached Beyond Type 1, we had nothing to offer but a rough napkin sketch, and what we thought was a powerful idea. We expected a few head-nods and a polite, “Reach back out in a few months.”

We were wrong. From the very first phone call, Beyond Type 1 saw GiveTide not for what it was at the moment, but for what it could be.

Beyond Type 1 took a risk on us. They showered us with resources and guidance, despite a high risk of failure. In doing so, this incredible organization showed us their dedication to their mission, your mission: to bridge the gap between a diagnosis and the cure with education, advocacy and a powerful community.

Since that first phone call just nine months ago, I’ve come to think of GiveTide as that jar my mom made for me and James as kids. Though I cannot relate to the challenges of being diagnosed, or having a loved one diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I can witness firsthand the collective handprint of your incredible community on the philanthropic landscape as a whole.


Download the GiveTide App now!

WRITTEN BY Pete Ghiorse, POSTED 12/05/17, UPDATED 10/20/22

Pete Ghiorse is co-founder and CEO of GiveTide, which he started with his younger brother and college roommate after quitting his corporate job.