Giving Compass' Take:

• TechCrunch explores the San Francisco-based Bright Funds, a platform that aims to help employees make the most of their charitable giving through corporate donation matching. (Disclosure: Bright Funds is a Giving Compass partner.)

• What can we learn from this grassroots enterprise about democratizing the engine of philanthropy? Will more companies join the push for more social responsible among their ranks?

• For more on how Bright Funds is solving for workplace giving, check this out.

In tech circles, it would be easy to assume that the world of high-impact charitable giving is a rich man’s game where deals are inked at exclusive black tie galas over fancy hors d’oeuvre. Both Mark Zuckerberg and Marc Benioff have donated to SF hospitals that now bear their names. Gordon Moore has given away $5B — including $600M to Caltech — which was the largest donation to a university at the time. And of course, Bill Gates has already donated $27B to every cause imaginable (and co-founded The Giving Pledge, a consortium of billionaires pledging to donate most of their net worth to charity by the end of their lifetime.)

For Bill, that means he has about $90B left to give.

For the average working American, this world of concierge giving is out of reach, both in check size, and the army of consultants, lawyers and PR strategists that come with it. It seems that in order to do good, you must first do well. Very well.

Bright Funds is looking to change that. Founded in 2012, this SF-based startup is looking to democratize concierge giving to every individual so they “can give with the same effectiveness as Bill and Melinda Gates.” They are doing to philanthropy what Vanguard and Wealthfront have done for asset management for retail investors.

In particular, they are looking to unlock dollars from the underutilized corporate benefit of matching funds for donations, which according to Bright Funds is offered by over 60% of medium to large enterprises, but only used by 13% of employees at these companies.

Read the full article about Bright Funds and employee philanthropy by John Chen at TechCrunch.