Hiya Product Hunt - I'm excited to share Project 501 with you all! Project 501 matches non-profit organizations with talented professionals who want to donate their skills.
I'm fascinated by the gig economy and the freedom and flexibility that it offers to so many people. It's easier than ever for professionals to work when and where they want, and work is shifting towards shorter, outcome/project-based engagements. This applies to not just how we work, but how we give as well.
Skill-based volunteering gigs offer high-leverage opportunities for people to help an organization and make an impact. It allows us to do some good by doing what we do best, and what we love to do. Skill-based volunteering gigs adds to the value of the gig economy by helping us further refine our skills, exposing us to new challenges, and building out our portfolios of meaningful experiences.
Continue to donate money to organizations in need, and stay involved in your local community, but consider volunteering your skills as well. Project501.com is live and ready for volunteers (and organizations!) to sign up.
There's still some rough edges in the experience, and a healthy backlog of things that need to be built. I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's feedback!
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Great idea, I see these projects pop up a couple times a year. You seem to have an edge with the similcity of the interface but I'm wondering what kind of traction you're seeing. Did you build it in partnership with any organizations?
Some of the design asthetics remind me of http://www.pollenmidwest.org/ and thats a good thing.
@paulprins Appreciate the kind words, Paul! I started the project about a month ago, and have only released it to the wild a week ago. In that time we've had three organizations join and four projects posted to the platform. I've seen a warm response from several other organizations as well. The focus of the next month is to build out both sides of the platform.
@robinsongreig On a more serious note, I don't think many organisations in need of volunteers are willing / can afford to pay $150 a month, isn't that a bit steep for startups? And what about a plan for non-profits?
@ambonium thank you sir! As for the pricing - I'm not sure of that either. I tossed that page up quickly last night with the expectation it would change many times. May or may not be right to charge non-profit organizations, or might make more sense to partner with larger enterprises. /shrug future me will figure this out :)
@robinsongreig First of all, I'm still in school, so please don't call me sir :P and I love how your Twitter bio mentions "and more failed experiments" cause that's very relatable; that's how we all learn. Would love to help any which way I could cause I could use Project 501 to find volunteers for the stuff I'm working on too..
Yes, I worked at Microsoft and Accenture in a previous life. Both had very extensive corporate citizenship programs. Consulting companies in particular would be interesting to partner with, as they often have people who are between projects and have some extra hours to dedicate to skills-based volunteer projects. Also, there might be opportunities to "white label" this and provide an internal tool where employees can find company-approved projects to work on.
@kleneway yeah, this makes a ton of sense. Those types of programs give employees a bit more meaning to their work, and it great for the companies because their employees are refining their abilities. Appreciate the great thinking Kevin!
This is a very cool idea. Have you reached out to any larger companies yet? Many have corporate citizenship initiatives that would be perfect for a platform like this.
@kleneway I haven't yet, but I definitely agree that there's an opportunity work with larger enterprises here. Have you worked at a company that does that sort of thing?
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