Hilarity for Charity (HFC), how we adore you! We first met the HFC team at the 2022 spring American Society on Aging Conference. At the time, Artifcts was in the process of competing for funding to study the potential of the Artifcts platform to be used as a screening tool for mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Spoiler: We won! The more we at Artifcts learned about HFC's focus on care for families impacted by Alzheimer’s disease, inspiring the next generation of Alzheimer’s advocates, and advancing brain health research and education, we knew this was an organization we had to find some way, any way, to support.

Today we're honored to lead periodic, free, virtual HFC Caregiver Lounges for two of the groups that HFC supports: caregivers to those with dementia and youth ages 15-25. In all cases, we're seeking to bring people together through a new tool, Artifcting, and the ease, joy, and meaning made possible with each Artifct created.

"I know firsthand the joy that's possible when you simply ask a loved one, "What is this {thing}?" and then give them the space to tell their stories and reminisce about days past," said Ellen Goodwin, cofounder of Artifcts. "It's also remarkable how you can break through those uncomfortable silences and awkward moments between grandparents and grandchildren who are unaccustomed to spending time with each other and can lean into Artifcting as a win-win, meaning time together and capturing stories for always."

Last fall, HFC also invited Artifcts to a private fundraiser event in Austin, Texas, where the guests delighted in what Artifcts has built and is now doing within the brain health community. One guest remarked, "Imagine if all for-profit companies built with the vision AND the heart of Artifcts? It would be a different world, a better world." 

Yes, Artifcts may be a young startup, but we have a vision that means transforming all of our relationships with 'stuff' and each other, one Artifct at a time. It's about meaningful connection meeting the practical realities of life: We collect a lot of stuff, and we need to know what it is, why it matters, and what we'll do it with it next. 

We appreciate the humor and truth behind this quote from Lauren Miller Rogen, "Everyone with a brain is at risk for dementia." Begin Artifcting today. Begin learning more about brain health today. Follow along with Artifcts (IG: TheArtiLife) and HFC (@WeAreHFC) for tips and events from Artifcts and HFC!

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

As Washington D.C. headquartered Artifcts celebrates its 3rd birthday, it also welcomes Gina Buchalter to its strategic advisory board. Gina's storied career reaches across popular consumer brands, such as Aura Frames and Fitbit, as well as the world renowned Paramount Pictures.

Gina's deep experience delivering consumer products through new channels and partners will help Artifcts to expand its own footprint within core consumer segments.

"Gina's creativity and ability to connect dots that no one else even sees is captivating and carries with it the revenue basis to help startups and 'grownups' alike to flourish. It's going to be a great year 4 with Gina rounding out our advisory board," enthused Artifcts co-founder Ellen Goodwin.

"I am honored to join Ellen and Heather and the rest of the Artifcts team. It's such important work to help people chronicle their things and memories into one great cohesive story. I'm excited to be part of that journey."

The Artifcts Strategic Advisory Board also includes:

• • Aravinda Gollapudi, Technology Executive, Sage
  • Matt Paxton, Downsizing, Cleaning, and Organizing, Legacy List with Matt Paxton on PBS
  • Ora Solomon, Product management

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

We interrupt your normal Wednesday ARTIcles story to offer you greetings from Boston, Massachusetts. The Artifcts co-founders flew to Boston yesterday to take part in a multi-day launch of the MassChallenge Early-Stage Accelerator program, one of the world’s top accelerator programs. What’s that? Read on!

As a self-funded, patented startup poised to become a household name—because, let’s face it, who doesn’t have stuff or stories—the team at Artifcts wants to ensure that we’re delivering to you not just the best product to capture the stories, history, and value of all you collect, accumulate, and inherit in life, but that we do so always with an eye toward the best in tech, the best in how we operate (lean!), and more.

MassChallenge is a global network for innovators working to solve massive challenges. MassChallenge connects startups, experts, corporations, and communities to grow and transform businesses and does not take any equity from companies who participate. According to Mass Challenge, the early-stage accelerator has facilitated a remarkable $9B+ in funding for its cohorts.

Of the 1,300+ companies to apply, Artifcts was selected along with approximately 120 others to work together over the next 3 months with industry mentors and partners to challenge how we operate, means to improve, and of course how to grow. While you won’t see any immediate change at Artifcts as we work through the program, we hope that we’ll come out stronger than ever and with new ideas for how to better connect with you and help you to enjoy all that Artifcts offers.

In the meantime, please, continue to Artifct. Share Artifcts with friends and family. We may not have the marketing budget of a goliath corporation, but we have amazing community members who want to see Artifcts succeed. We’re so grateful. And, if you have ideas of what you’d like to see next at Artifcts, or even suggestions for what we could do to make your experience better, let us know! We love and take feedback from our ARTI community to heart.

Wish us luck as we roll up our sleeves and dive into the MassChallenge world!

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Curious about what else we've been up to?

Explore some of Artifcts' other "As featured in" and awards through the years.

© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Artifcts' growing resonance with and persistent innovation supporting genealogists, family historians, and those who simply love a good story, has helped it retain its status as one of the best genealogy technology tools of 2024, according to Family Tree Magazine.

Last year marked Artifcts' premiere in the annual "best of" list from Family Tree Magazine. The Artifcts team was delighted and surprised by the honor, in nearly equal measure.

"In our minds, genealogists were beyond our reach at Artifcts because their research is organized around people and ancestorial lines. At Artifcts, we organize around the object first and foremost," said Artifcts Co-Founder Ellen Goodwin. The reality is, by Artifcts moving the world to take a new view on 'stuff' and the importance of retaining the stories, history, and value behind the objects we collect and inherit, Artifcts resonates with people of all ages and walks of life.

Artifcts delivered a variety of new features over the last year that genealogists and historians have celebrated.

Artifcts timelines was the first. The ability to now snap your Artifcts collection into a timeline view powers you to see gaps, identify trends, and even make note of these with "time period notes" directly on your timeline. And unlike a photo gallery, a very familiar feature of most genealogy platforms, each image in your timeline is clickable, revealing more photos and videos, supporting documentation, and, of course, the story connecting the dots.

Another new feature resonating with genealogists, many of whom are what we refer to as the family keepers, is the Artifcts QR code stickers. "People need the easy button. Scan, complete the Artifct, and place the sticker on your photo sleeve, archival box, or item. Your Artifcting progress is now visible and the stories even more accessible," said Artifcts Co-Founder Heather Nickerson.

Family Tree Magazine's 101 Best Genealogy Websites are organized into roughly a dozen categories, including Best "Big" Genealogy Websites, Best Genealogy News Websites and Blogs, and Best Genealogy Tech Tools (including Artifcts!). And this year 19 sites newly made the list. We wish a warm congratulations to all awardees!

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Artifcts® is proud to announce that its co-founder Heather Nickerson has been named 2024 NAPO Washington DC Metro Chapter (NAPO-WDC) Business Partner of the Year. The nominating committee noted, "Heather offers her expertise during [NAPO-WDC] discussions and generously shares her Artifcts experiences to support our efforts with our clients."

“I am humbled and excited that our local NAPO chapter recognizes the value we bring to the organizing industry,” Heather stated. “We know Artifcts and organizing go better together, and we love working with our NAPO-WDC professional members to help them help their clients.”

From decluttering to organizing to making sense of life’s ‘stuff,’ Artifcts is designed to pair beautifully with the organizing industry, from solopreneurs to nationwide franchises. Artifcts Advisory Board Member Matt Paxton added in response to the news, “I tell clients all the time that Artifcts is THE perfect tool to help them keep the memories and let go of the ‘stuff.’”

Start Artifcting today. Create your free membership here ->

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Artifcts® has partnered with Susan G. Komen®, the world’s leading breast cancer organization, to support its ongoing cross-sectional work in research, community health, global outreach and public policy to find the cures for breast cancer.

“There’s nothing like a breast cancer diagnosis to clarify your focus and guide you to ask, “How can I help?” said Artifcts co-founder Ellen Goodwin. 

“I knew I was lucky in catching my cancer early. But that’s not the only way in which I’m lucky. I also have access to excellent healthcare services, health insurance, an amazing network of friends, family and survivors, and let’s be true to the data, I’m lucky too because I am white. Black women in the U.S. are more than 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than white woman.”

According to experts, about one-third of breast cancer deaths could be prevented if everyone received the breast cancer treatments that exists today. For this, and many other reasons, Artifcts is proud to support Susan G. Komen’s efforts.

Artifcts’ partnership with Susan G. Komen includes a commitment to support the organization’s fundraising efforts. Beginning today (through March 15, 2025), Artifcts will donate to Susan G. Komen® $23.80 of the purchase price for each Artifcts Unlimited Membership sold here and $9.00 of each Artifcts Lite Membership sold. Artifcts will make a guaranteed minimum donation of $2,500 to Komen. We’ll also strive to raise funds through community walks and other initiatives nationwide. 

Join us today to help support the cure. Purchase or gift an Artifcts membership!

For more information on Susan G. Komen's mission to save lives by addressing critical community needs and advancing research to prevent and cure breast cancer, or to donate, please visit komen.org.

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Angela Haupt, journalist with TIME magazine, featured Artifcts this week in an online article that united experts in mental health and decluttering to share tools and tactics to "kickstart a realistic decluttering routine." We especially loved this insight from our own strategic advisory board member and popular TV host Matt Paxton:

Many people struggle to declutter because they don’t want to part with items that remind them of someone or something they love, Paxton says. A simple mindset shift can make a big difference: Think of getting rid of stuff as a way of unearthing your family’s history. 

A history you can then easily capture, preserve, and share here at Artifcts. 

The full article is now available online at TIME as part of the health + mental health coverage.

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

TheGerontechnologist™ is an online media platform that covers the global age tech ecosystem and offers online courses and education. It was created by Keren Etkin, gerontologist, entrepreneur and author of The AgeTech Revolution.

Etkin's background and ongoing research, entrepreneurship, and advising of startups in the AgeTech space means she has a unqiue vantage point from which to view the shifting landscape of AgeTech and the sister concept of LongeviTech. TheGerontechnologist™ map focuses on:

• • • Startups that develop technology to tackle the challenges of aging and serve older adults and/ or family caregivers and/or elder care organizations
    • Startups that are venture-capital backed or have a commercially available product

This year Artifcts was featured in the TheGerontechnologist™ AgeTech Market Map within the category of Legacy.

"When the latest TheGerontechnologist™ map came out and everyone dug into the trends, it was painful to realize on the one hand the amazing innovation emerging and on the other how damning current market conditions are for the survival of AgeTech companies. Some call it the 'Great Extinction,'" said Artifcts co-founder and CEO Heather Nickerson. "We've persevered and made amazing in-roads in 2023 to provide key services and benefits to Artifcts members across legacy, planning, insurance, and even brain health. We're grateful to be featured."

Download your own copy of the map and explore the companies featured. We all need support, whether as caregivers or direct beneficiaries of the featured products and services. You might discover the solution meant for you and your lifestyle, life milestone, and life changes!

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Reading time: 7 minutes

We’re so grateful for the enthusiastic and warm support from across the spectrum of Arti Community members over the past two and a half years. You are parents, collectors, genealogists, organizers, planners, and people who love good stories and reflective moments! We want you to know we appreciate you. We would not exist but for you! And in a time being called the "great extinction" of startups, we are, again, nothing if not grateful.

As such, please know that the changes we're about to announce will not affect our existing Arti Lite and Arti Unlimited community members.  

Effective Jan 1, 2024, we will move on from our introductory membership rates. Our new prices will be as follow: 

• • • Arti Lite, $45/year
    • Arti Unlimited, $119/year
    • Artifcts Membership + Arti Virtual Concierge, starting at $165 

Why the Price Change?

You expect quality products and services, we want to deliver on that and then some.  

Our pricing increase will help us to ensure we can keep up with unlimited Artifcting demands (our most popular membership by far), new product enhancements and integrations with other products you love and need, and stellar support, always.  

Please know that we are simultaneously and continuously taking steps to optimize costs and operate lean, lean, lean, taking advantage of every start-up offer we can find or negotiate with our services providers and using help from services providers’ AI-tools to identify efficiency gains, too.

You Know Us, It Keeps Getting Better!

We must make Artifcting fun and easy and deliver great value to you, too, as a reward for Artifcting! In just the short two years of our existence, we have regularly delivered valuable enhancements: 

• • • Audio and video can be added to enrich your Artifcts. There's nothing like here it in your voice, their voice.
    • Unlimited circles allow you to create mini communities to privately share Artifcts with each other
    • Personal timelines organize your Artifcts by year and decade, showing you gaps in your timeline, helping you with family research, too
    • Personalizable in-app and online notifications ensure you hear about updates and changes from friends, family, and Artifcts only when and how you want to
    • Inter-linking of Artifcts and people with the @ feature makes for easier story telling and connecting those dots across objects, memories, time, and people
    • Easy storage, retrieval, and download options helps you to work with estate planners, insurance companies, and even friends and family who can easily download photos and videos you share directly with them to add to their own projects, framed moments, and more.

You can revisit all our past product update announcements here.

What’s Next, You May Wonder

So much. In our current roadmap, in the new year we’ll deliver on a few big promises: 

• • • In-app audio and video recording and trimming,
    • Multi-select of Artifcts for sharing, downloading, and more,
    • Community engagement with our brain health research study.

Our team is also planning to raise our first investment in 2024 so we can provide you in-demand product features to help you know and learn more about your Artifcts, still greater support, and more! You’ll also have more in-person opportunities to join Artifcts events. 

Your Next Steps

If you are already an Arti Lite or Arti Unlimited member, you are all set! You are locked in at our introductory rates for the duration of your current membership and future renewals. Consider sharing the experience (at the same introductory rate) with your loved ones and gifting them an Artifcts membership before yearend.

If you have yet to take the plunge into Artifcts, please join us now. We’d so love for you to experience the joy and the power of Artifcts.  

On the fence? There is still time to join now free and create up to 5 Artifcts before you buy a membership and lock in our introductory rates.

If you have questions, we're here for you. Write to us at Hello@Artifcts.com.

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[Washington, D.C.] – Artifcts, redefining the 'stuff' space with its powerful consumer platform, announced today that in November it secured a US patent for its novel approach to organizing, generating, and sharing multi-media data about the objects we all collect and accumulate in life. The patent demonstrates Artifcts' commitment to creating a positive experience for people of all ages to capture the financial and sentimental value of their belongings.

Co-founder and CEO Heather Nickerson reflected on how the patent reinforces the very foundation of the company: "You need read only as far as the patent's abstract to understand our laser focus on transforming our relationships with stuff and appreciating the value it has (or does not) in our lives. What is an Artifct? 'A unique, multi-dimensional, transferable digital representation of an idea, memory, or history tied to [an] object.'"

"And of course, we overachieved," chimed in Co-founder and CSO Ellen Goodwin. "Our patent landed in the top 1% of patents by claim count. It wasn't a goal, but it's an interesting fact. Our platform is deceptively simple for being so powerful."

The U.S. Patent 11,816,189 comes on the heels of the company winning multiple awards in 2023, including in inter-personal connection, genealogy, and brain health, and just two months ahead of Artifcts' first appearance at the goliath Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas from 9-12 January 2024.

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

When "friends" come calling, you show up! In this case, when the National Aging in Place Council (NAIPC) decided to publish a follow-on to its original book, "Aging In Place Conversations," focusing this time on "difficult" conversations, the co-founders of Artifcts got in line to contribute.

"Almost every conversation we have with a member of the community is difficult in one way or another. We at Artifcts are sitting at the intersection of all of life's transitions, into adulthood, parenthood, phases of careers, the exciting "golden years," and of course end of life and loss. Channeling our learnings to help others, that's another reward to the work we do," said Heather Nickerson, Co-founder and CEO of Artifcts.

The book includes contributions from nearly 30 authors with expertise and credentials spanning senior living, universal design and engineering, gerontology, real estate, finance, orthopedics, and beyond. The book launched at #1 on Amazon this weekend in four categories: Geriatrics, Nursing Home Care, Aging, Medical Conditions & Diseases, and Family Health. You can purchase your copy through Amazon.com by clicking either of the images below.

"Single-stop resources from trusted experts to point you in the right direction and make you feel less alone in emotionally and financially taxing scenarios are what we all want on our bookshelves. We're grateful to NAIPC, all the authors, and the other collaborators who brought this important work to life," said Ellen Goodwin, Co-founder of Artifcts.

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.