Skills-Based Volunteering Startup Catchafire to Build Founding Member Class in Philadelphia

Catchafire, an online pro-bono community which helps match skills-based volunteers to organizations, is building a founding class of 20 nonprofit organizations in Philadelphia over the next few weeks.

“Philly faces real challenges, like all major cities, but the people we’ve met there have been tough, passionate and hungry to make the world a better place,” said Jason Everitt, partnership team lead at Catchafire.

“Walking around organizations like KIPP and Philabundance, you just know that things are going to get better because of these incredible people. We feel honored to work with them and help them as best we can.”

They have already partnered with Center for Literacy, Children’s Crisis Treatment Center, Diversified Community Services and more.

Catchafire will be looking for additional partner organizations through the end of October before hosting a launch party for their founding members in early November.

“A Founding Member exemplifies all of the qualities of a Catchafire partner  – compelling mission, impact, and commitment to pro bono capacity-building,” said Everitt.

“Founding Members have the opportunity to work with the Catchafire community on capacity-building projects in order to gain firsthand experience with the Catchafire platform and act as ambassadors to the local nonprofit community.”

In addition, Founding Members will have the opportunity to use the Catchafire platform to connect with a professional on one capacity-building project. They’ll also act as ambassadors and help connect Catchafire with other social good organizations of similar quality.

While they’re currently focused on building relationships with nonprofit organizations and social enterprises, they’ll be working with local businesses in the near future to engage employees in meaningful volunteer opportunities.

In order to become a Founding Member in Philadelphia, a nonprofit organization must be nominated by a community leader or nonprofit organization, go through an interview process, and submit a project during the launch period by November 1st.

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