Giving as a service

Giving as a Service (GaaS; pronounced ) is a philanthropic software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. GaaS is a derivative of software as a service adhering to the same tenants set forth by it, though with a philanthropic focus.
GaaS is typically accessed by users using a thin client via a web browser. It allows any product or service developer to incorporate philanthropic activities and actions and efficiently processes and tracks monetary, time, and goods contributions to non-profits, non-governmental organizations, and other causes.
The term "giving as a service" (GaaS) was developed by Encast, Inc.
History
Encast, Inc. pioneered Giving as a Service in 2014 with its Hero philanthropic platform.
Distribution
The giving cloud (or GaaS) model has no physical need for indirect distribution because it is not distributed physically and is deployed almost instantaneously.
Pricing
Unlike traditional software, which is conventionally sold as a perpetual license with an up-front cost (and an optional ongoing support fee), GaaS is priced using a subscription fee, most commonly a monthly fee or an annual fee.
Architecture
GaaS is based on a multitenant architecture. With this model, a single version of the application, with a single configuration (hardware, network, operating system), is used for all customers ("tenants"). To support scalability, the application is installed on multiple machines (called horizontal scaling). In some cases, a second version of the application is set up to offer a select group of customers with access to pre-release versions of the applications (e.g. a beta version) for testing purposes. This is contrasted with traditional software, where multiple physical copies of the software — each potentially of a different version, with a potentially different configuration, and often customized — are installed across various customer sites.

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