It is a paradox that volunteers can be expensive and time consuming for the schools, nonprofits and businesses that use them. GiveGab is a social network for volunteers (think LinkedIn for unpaid workers) with features aimed at both those that manage volunteers and volunteers themselves.
Volunteer managers use GiveGab to create and manage events, promote their programs, recruit volunteers, track hours and report on all the good they're doing to funders, alumni and other interested parties.
Founder Charlie Mulligan offers this example. Marywood University in Scranton strongly encourages volunteerism. Last year, students donated 71,000 hours with each student filling out and submitting written documentation. “At the end of the year, they had 71,000 hours of paperwork,” says Mulligan, and, without GiveGab's technology, it took two nuns an entire summer to enter the results into the school's database.
Individuals interested in volunteering use GiveGab to find opportunities, log their hours, create a resume and connect with others.
GiveGab was founded in 2011 and already has 122 universities (including Ivy League and other big-name schools), about 1,800 nonprofits and more than 10,000 users. Now the company has raised $1.6 million in venture capital and is launching a premium service that will offer more robust reporting, communications and tracking tools. GiveGab is targeting universities as its prime market for the new, subscription service because with their vast number of students and relationships with nonprofits, “each university is its own ecosystem,” says Mulligan.
The company is headquartered in Ithaca, NY, where it employs 11, and maintains a four-person office in Dunmore. With a $35,000 loan from Ben Franklin Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania to boost sales and marketing of the new premium service, GiveGab expects to add about three more to its sales team, likely in Pennsylvania.
Source: Charlie Mulligan, GiveGab
Writer: Elise Vider