Volunteer Engagement Platform Secures Additional Funding
Geng Wang is co-founder & CEO of Bloomington-based Civic Champs. (photo provided)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA software startup which helps nonprofits manage and track their volunteers has recently completed a round of funding, including $130,000 from the IU Angel Network.
Bloomington-based Civic Champs says its digital platform helps nonprofit organizations spend more on their missions and less time manually recording volunteer hours.
Company co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Geng Wang says conversations with nonprofits revealed some of their pain points, leading to the development of the program.
“I learned that one of the executive directors of a local nonprofit was spending 80 to 100 hours a year to track volunteer hours,” said Wang. “This did not include the onboarding, engagement and follow-up that volunteer management involves.”
Wang says seeing the binders and sign-in sheets used to track everything showed him the problem that Civic Champs could solve. At the same time, the software improves the ability to seek donors.
“Passionate volunteers are twice as likely to give, and historically give more, but they are often never asked,” said Wang. “By helping organizations identify their most engaged and satisfied volunteers for these requests, we add even more value for both our clients and their supporters.”
In making its investment in Civic Champs, the IU Angel Network says it recognized the innovative approach the platform is taking.
“That planning allows Civic Champs to serve both single-unit, local not-for-profit organizations while also scaling up through large organizations with hundreds or thousands of individual chapters,” said Jason Whitney, executive director of the IU Angel Network. “The ability to cover both sides of the market is unique and a testament to the strong leadership and technical teams they have assembled.”
Civic Champs recently announced plans to find bigger office space and add 30 people over the next several years.