Catchafire Provides Talented Individuals with Pro Bono Experiences to Build Capacity for Nonprofits
data-via=”" >
95% of nonprofits struggle to afford basic professional services like accounting, marketing, design, technology to scale and achieve their missions. On the other hand, less than 2% of Americans volunteer professional skills and there’s no easy way for them to find skill based volunteer opportunities.
In 2009, Catchafire was founded with the dual mission: to provide skilled individuals with meaningful pro bono experiences, and to unlock effective pro bono to help nonprofits and social enterprises build capacity. In the past three years, Catchafire has catalyzed the movement of pro bono with a rapidly growing network of more than 10,000 pro bono professionals and 2,500 social good organizations across the United States. The website launched in 2010, and since then Catchafire’s online matching platform has saved U.S. social good sector over $7 million by helping organizations successfully leverage pro bono to build capacity and serve their causes with greater impact.
How did it all begin? A successful young investment banker just a few years out of college, Rachael Chong was shocked by the lack of opportunities to volunteer with her hard earned professional skills. She quickly realized that, beyond her own frustration, this was an urgent deficiency being felt across the U.S. Between 2007 and 2009 less than 2% of Americans volunteered their professional skills. On the other hand, 95% of nonprofits in the U.S. need pro bono professional services in accounting, marketing, communications, design, technology but don’t know where or how to access the talent. Rachael decided to challenge the status quo and quickly assembled an initial team. After diligently studying the issues and talking to over a hundred social good organizations and numerous skilled professionals in New York City, a business plan was formed, a pilot program was set up, and Catchafire was born. As the first scalable online pro bono service provider, Catchafire’s goal is to create a more efficient and effective social good sector, and a world where it is commonplace to serve for the greater good.
Catchafire is committed to helping all social good organizations change the world by accessing the top pro bono talent and to revitalize the ethic of service in America by providing people with meaningful, impactful and delightful volunteer experiences. The Company is already serving organizations and professionals all around the country but to speed growth Catchafire has conducted marketing launches in Durham, NC and Boston, MA after establishing a stronghold at headquarters in New York City. Catchafire will continue to invest in scaling the business in multiple cities across the country to serve as many social good organizations and professionals as quickly as possible.
Catchafire believes: ‘All social good organizations should have access to top talent. And all people should have the opportunity to be transformed by a positive volunteer experience.’
More About This Charity
Region
Northeast
Category
Philanthropic Business of the Year
Name
Catchafire, Inc
Impact
- This Business helped save $7 million for nonprofits.
- Completed 1,000 pro bono projects.
- 10,000 professionals and 2,500 social good organizations have joined the movement.
Works In
United States
Learn More
