Grantoo is a gaming network with a socially responsible mindset. We help college students reduce the burden of their tuition and increase the reach of their philanthropy.

The Future We Are Creating

We are creating a future where students worry less about the rising cost of eduation. Grantoo is an innovative platform helps students pay for college. We take a form of entertainment that students already actively participate in, and take it a step further, to help foster their education. On our site, students play free online tournaments for educational grants donated by sponsors. At Grantoo, students have someone else on their team to help them pay for college; America’s corporations.  

We don’t stop there. Grantoo has a strong culture of giving back. When a student enters a tournament, she pledges a percentage of her potential winnings to a charity of her choice. Grantoo believes that involving students in charitable giving will encourage lifelong generosity and social awareness. When a student has an opportunity to give a donation that they normally could not afford, he will be more inclined to give later on in life when he has a job and is financially capable.

With Grantoo, we see a bright future. We see more students going to college and completing their studies with the help of scholarship grants from our tournaments. We see the public more aware of the charitable donations of corporations. Most importantly, we see philanthropy rooted into college students, as they help their favorite causes.

Note: Grantoo has a for-profit and non-profit segment. Grantoo the gaming website is a for-profit, but the Grantoo Foundation is a non-profit. All of the donations go through the Grantoo Foundation and have a 100% pass through rate. 

How We Are Creating It

Yes, the future we are creating does seem too good to be true without an explanation of how we create it. The base of our GooD is our game tournaments; we create our future through holding as many tournaments as possible. Our tournaments are held every Sunday. In the future, we will increase the number of tournaments per week. The more tournaments we hold, the more people Grantoo and our tournament sponsors will help. Here is a description of how our site works:

Students play three social games on our site: Quiz Night, a challenging trivia game with a surprising twist; Wordy Bird, a fast paced tile-game that includes special tiles with unique properties; and Grantoo Hold ‘Em, similar to Texas Hold ’Em. Students can play these games at any time for free on the site. To play in a Grantoo tournament (which will only feature one game per tournament), students need to register ahead of time and be available at the tournament time. All tournaments are sponsored by the business providing the donation. The minimum donation is $5,000. We hope to increase this to $10,000 after the success of our initial tournaments. Depending on the amount of the donation, the size of the scholarship grant and the amount of students who will win a scholarship will vary. In every tournament, the students with the highest scores will win a scholarship grant. Every winner will receive a check from the sponsor written directly to the student registrar, housing, or bookstore.

 We want the students to have a piece of this giving as well. This is where their charitable donations come in. When students enter a tournament, they pledge a minimum of 10% of their potential winnings to a charity of their choice from our pre-approved list. This is not money coming out of their own pocket, but it will be deducted from their prizes and given to the cause they chose if they win in the tournament. At this time we are partnered with 7 amazing charities. On our site you can read about and follow every charity.

We are in the beginning stages of creating our future. Our launch date is March 25th, 2012 – and we are working hard to make everything smooth for our first big tournament. With our first Hold ‘Em tournament, we will begin creating our future by handing out the very first scholarship and charitable donation. We are working with the national Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, and students from chapters across the country will play. The winner will win a $3,000 scholarship and a $2,000 donation to Sharsheret (Aepi’s philanthropy) in his chapter’s name. Verizon wireless will be the sponsor for this tournament. Grooveshark will sponsor our California tournament the next week. After this, Grantoo tournaments will become public and any college student across the nation will be able to register. Our sales team is working hard to sign with more businesses and charities and get them a piece of the GooD we are spreading.

 

With our innovative business model, everyone wins. The students get help with their tuition bills and are given the opportunity to give substantial donations to charity. The businesses gain brand likeability from the students and their social networks from their branded tournaments. The charities gain awareness and develop a bond with those who have donated to them. It is this synergy between sponsor, student, and charity that makes Grantoo unique.  After our launch this March, we will be moving fast towards creating a bright future. Together, we can change the world!

Our Story & Why You Should Support Us

In 2007, Dimitri Sillam had a world-changing idea: a gaming website that was a step above the rest - a platform where playing games could help students pay for college. Dima was busy paying his own tuition bills, and he knew he would need help to make it happen. Fortunately,he mentioned the idea to exactly the right person: his best friend from high school. Mikhael Naayem jumped on board immediately and aimed even higher: “Why stop at tuition bills? What if we also helped students donate to the charities they care about?”
And so Grantoo was born. From the start, Grantoo was a tricky proposition: create a gaming platform, a social network, a new advertising model, and a non-profit foundation, all under the roof ofone Internet startup with two employees. Turns out that a good idea is actually pretty robust. After all, it’s2012, and Dima’s idea is now a company with offices in San Francisco,New York, and Geneva. The world needs revolutionary way to help students pay for college and donate to charity. The timing has never been better for a company like Grantoo. 

Support us, and our goal to help all students pay for college. If you are a charity interested in working with Grantoo, a business who would like to sponsor a tournament, or you just want to say hi, please reach out! We’re a friendly bunch.

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