Leading gay social networking app Scruff is donating more than one billion ad impressions over the course of the next year to non-profit organisations that work within the LGBT community.

Scruffs new ad platform, Benevolads, will enable charities to connect with its worldwide base of more than 7m members. The ad space will be free to all non-profits and community organisations, with roughly 80 per cent of the space reserved for local ads, so that members will see messages from hometown organisations as well as global charities. The value of the donated ad space is estimated to be worth over $1m (£606,000).

“Organisations reach out to Scruff every day asking for help getting the word out about things like events, fundraisers and sports leagues,” said Johnny Skandros, founder of Scruff. “Benevolads enables us to say yes to everyone. Since 2010, the mission of Scruff has been to connect gay men with one another and to the global gay community. With Benevolads, Scruff further fulfills this mission, at a global scale.”

“We heard from our members that they were disappointed in the ads placed by our ad partners, and we wanted to give them something better,” said Jason Marchant, founding partner and chief product officer for Scruff. “As gay men have moved online and to mobile, it has become critical for non-profits to meet their communities where they gather. Using Benevolads, with just a logo and a headline, any organisation can reach their community with mobile ads on Scruff.”