Former Obama Tech Guys Raise $1.6M From A-List Backers For Their Charity Marketplace
A Chicago-based marketplace for non-profits that spawned from Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign raised $1.6 million from some well known investors.
Public Good Software, Inc, which helps people donate to the causes and charities they care about, announced the Seed Round Tuesday, which was led by Chicago’s Hyde Park Angels. Other notable investors included WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg, OpenTable founder Chuck Templeton, former Orbitz COO and current Signal CEO Mike Sands, and Chicago-based Firestarter Fund.
Public Good Software works with both non-profits as well as people looking to give. Organizations that might be struggling to find supporters and collect donations online turn to Public Good to create customized tools that are integrated into their websites. Since launching 2013, more than 90 organization have joined the site supporting causes from homelessness, to hunger, to youth development. Public Good also integrated a “Take Action” button on the Chicago Sun-Times’ and Chicago Reader’s websites to allow readers to donate directly to causes they read about in those publications.
On the donor site, PublicGood.com gives individuals a variety of causes to support.
“The nonprofit marketplace has been complacent for too long,” Jason Kunesh, CEO of Public Good Software said in a news release. “The current players servicing this $30B market have failed to innovate. We’re filling that gap with products that are meaningful and user-friendly. Organizations and investors have responded to that.”
“We expect that there will be explosive growth in the donation marketplace,” added Peter Wilkins, managing director of Hyde Park Angels. “Public Good Software has the potential to be to nonprofits what GrubHub is to restaurants.”
Public Good’s founders Kunesh and Dan Ratner created the company while building the technology that powered President Obama’s 2012 run for re-election. Using that model, which was one of the most successful grassroots online giving campaign in history, Public Good thinks it can provide that same impact on the non-profit space.
“Public Good has the potential to be transformative to the nonprofit marketplace by providing a simple way to get involved,” said Chuck Templeton. “Their users are left with every possible reason to participate and no excuse not to. Public Good exemplifies the kind of entrepreneurial spirit I love to see in Chicago.”
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