After tech success, exec goes for social impacts
After he sold two successful Pittsburgh- based tech firms, Geng Wang wanted his next venture to have a strong social mission.
“Startups can be tough with lots of ups and downs,” Mr. Wang said. “Something with real social impact can carry you through the darker moments.”
His initial idea was a Pokemontype mobile game that would enable volunteers for local governments to collect data on infrastructure like potholes and fire hydrants.
But conversations with nonprofit leaders about their needs led him to tweak the app and create web and mobile platforms that streamline volunteer scheduling and check-ins and donations.
Mr. Wang’s 2-year-old firm, Civic Champs, recently was named one of 10 winners in a national competition funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to identify innovative digital solutions for charitable giving.
A $ 10,000 prize from the Reimagine Charitable Giving Challenge recognized Civic Champs’ technology that helps nonprofits ask volunteers for micro-donations.
The Reimagine Charitable Giving Challenge said the winners — selected from 400 entries worldwide — demonstrated “potential to make the giving experience more inclusive and equitable for all givers.”
Civic Champs’ app asks volunteers whether they want to make a small donation or matching gift to the organization, “and that can be a new revenue stream” for a nonprofit, said Mr. Wang, chief executive of the company.
“When you talk to people, they usually say they don’t give because they’ve never been asked,” he said. “And many nonprofits are reticent to ask for money from volunteers because they’ve already given a gift of time.”
Demand for Civic Champs’ service surged during the COVID-19
pandemic as nonprofits and their volunteers scrambled to provide basic needs for people hit by the virus and its economic fallout.
The Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank never closed its Point Breeze warehouse during pandemic lockdowns. It uses Civic Champs’ app for volunteer scheduling.
“The demand for diapers increased because people weren’t working,” said Cathy Battle, the agency’s executive director. “Diapers are a basic need so we were on the front lines.”
About 800 individuals volunteered at the diaper bank last year, and by using Civic Champs’ app they could sign in and out on their own, allowing staff to tend to other tasks, said Ms. Battle.
Volunteers typically sort and package diapers and menstrual supplies at the warehouse.
Besides tracking the volunteers hours and their donations, the app includes the diaper bank’s required volunteer waivers and COVID-19 policies, said Ms. Battle.
“Previously, that was all paperwork and more work for us,” she said.
The diaper bank is also participating in Helping Hands, a pilot program developed by Civic Champs to match volunteers with specific tasks such as driving people to medical appointments or cutting their lawns.
Diaper bank volunteers deliver incontinence products to seniors through Helping Hands.
The Hillman Family Foundations provided $ 40,000 and the Jewish Healthcare Foundation contributed $20,000 to underwrite the pilot.
Mr. Wang, 35, launched Civic Champs in 2019 using $50,000 from the sales of his last two companies — RentJungle.com, a rental housing search engine and Community Elf, a social media marketing firm.
“My wife and I benefited from having some successful outcomes” with prior startups, he said.
The company has also raised funds from friends, family, Innovation Works and TechStars Iowa Accelerator.
In March 2020, Civic Champs received $60,000 after placing third in UpPrize, a social innovation challenge sponsored by BNY Mellon of Pennsylvania. Days later, the state issued lockdown orders.
“Organized volunteering just plummeted to zero from March to May but we saw a nice rebound in
June” as restrictions were gradually lifted, said Mr. Wang.
Revenue jumped from $9,000 in 2019 to $200,000 last year and the company now has about 60 paying clients, including Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania and 17 national affiliates of Habitat for Humanity including its Pittsburgh agency.
Mr. Wang aims to grow the customer base to 200.
The firm’s 11 employees are split between an office at Nova Place on the North Shore and one in Bloomington, Ind.
“With COVID [cases declining], knock on wood, we’ve seen a pretty dramatic shift in our conversations,” Mr. Wang said. “Now people are bringing on more volunteers as facilities reopen.”