Catchafire is a website that connects professionals who want to apply their on-the-job skills to nonprofits and social enterprises that need their help in areas such as marketing, public relations, design, social media, strategy, and finance through pro bono service. You can think of us as an eHarmony for skilled professionals and social mission organizations.

There are many great reasons to give your skills through a Catchafire Project. These include making a bigger impact for a cause you care about, challenging yourself, and expanding your professional network. Learn more about why you should use Catchafire.

Pro bono service through Catchafire is easy. Learn the steps here.

Pro bono service is an effective way to give your skills for the public good. It means that you utilize your specific skills (usually your professional skills/expertise/background) to help a nonprofit or social mission organization. For example, a finance or accounting professional by trade might use these skills to help a nonprofit develop a budget.

Yes, if you are located anywhere in the United States. We have now launched virtual pro bono, which means that professionals from all over the country can apply to do pro bono projects with our social good organizations. If you're keen to give your skills to awesome causes, register today. Most of our projects can be conducted virtually, but if we can't offer you a virtual opportunity for whatever reason, we'll certainly let you know when we begin to serve organizations in your area. Visit our Best Practices Guide blog post here to learn more about virtual pro bono.

Catchafire Projects are defined by three main characteristics. First, they are short-term. Each project requires 50 hours or less of flexible pro bono time to complete over less than three months. Second, they are discrete. Each project has a clearly defined deliverable. Third, they are individual. Each Catchafire Project is designed to be completed by one skilled professional rather than a team.

Catchafire offers projects in the areas of marketing, public relations, communications, design, multimedia, social media, fundraising, strategy, finance, human resources, and technology. If you don't see a Catchafire Project that fits your skill set, please use our Feedback tool or email ProjectMenuTeam@catchafire.org to let us know what type of projects you’d like us to add. We're always looking to add new Catchafire Projects to utilize various professional talents and meet more nonprofit and social enterprise needs.

While the time commitment varies between Catchafire Projects (and can be found in the detailed description of each), all Catchafire Projects are designed to take no more than 5 hours of time each week, and can be completed in less than 3 months.

Since all Catchafire Projects are designed to be completed by one individual, you will not be able to work with a team through Catchafire’s regular service. There are great benefits to individual service, including the opportunity to challenge yourself by taking on a leadership position. As a Catchafire pro bono professional, you’ll have ample opportunity to interact with others. You'll be assigned one main point of contact - your project manager, but you will likely have opportunity to interact with other staff members at the organization. You’ll also enjoy the social aspect of service through regular Catchafire networking events designed to connect you with like-minded professionals. If you’re adamant about working on a team, our Corporate Solution allows for small team pro bono projects. Please contact rachael@catchafire.org if you’re interested in doing pro bono through your company.

First and foremost, we will match you with an organization that has made a strong commitment to working with you on a Catchafire Project. We’ll also connect you with an organization whose cause you care about and whose mission you support.

Catchafire takes all the hard work out of having to find a meaningful service opportunity. We ask for basic information about you (the type of information that’s in your LinkedIn and Facebook profile) so that we can provide you with a customized list of pro bono projects that match your skills, work experience, cause interests, and time availability. We've scoped out all Catchafire Projects in advance to make it easy for you to give your skills while carrying on with your busy life. Through Catchafire, you know exactly what you're getting into before committing your time. We help you avoid the hassle of searching for the right opportunity, so you can devote your time to actually working on the project!

Catchafire's Project Menu offers you a detailed description of each type of pro bono project. After talking to hundreds of nonprofits and social enterprises about the services they need, we took their requests to a crew of industry professionals who helped scope out the details of each Catchafire Project Template. These industry professionals have made sure that all Catchafire Projects are well-scoped with specific deliverables so you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into and our organizations know what to expect from you. We’ve estimated the time each Catchafire Project requires and the prerequisites needed to successfully complete it.

Catchafire Industry Experts are movers and shakers in their industries who provide valuable insight and advice related to their profession. These experts offer valuable industry knowledge and help us scope Catchafire Project Templates and target outreach to professionals who want to serve their skills. Our experts represent a wide range of professions, including marketing, public relations, communications, design, multimedia, social media, fundraising, strategy, finance, human resources, and technology. Check out our current panel of experts here.

Yes, but we're selective! To become a Catchafire Industry Expert, the first thing you must do is complete at least one Catchafire Project from our menu to better understand our service and demonstrate your commitment to our mission. We request that our experts help grow our menu by developing a few Catchafire Project Templates or help improve existing Project Templates. We also ask that our experts help us identify new avenues for recruiting professionals in their field. If you're interested in becoming a Catchafire Industry Expert, email ProjectMenuTeam@catchafire.org for details.

Catchafire Nonprofit & Social Enterprise Experts are on top of the latest trends and best practices in the nonprofit and social enterprise space. These experts offer valuable knowledge to help develop Catchafire Projects to address the most pressing needs of nonprofits and social enterprises. Our experts represent a wide range of organizations, cause areas, and various areas of expertise from volunteer management to fundraising, and overall nonprofit management. They also connect us to other organizations and help spread the word about Catchafire. Check out our current panel of experts here. If you're interested in becoming a Catchafire Industry Expert, email ProjectMenuTeam@catchafire.org for details.

Once you've been matched with an organization, we give you a two-week grace period to decide if you're happy with the organization we've matched you with. If you don't think we've made a good match, let us know, and we'll do our best to connect you with an organization and project that better suits your background experience and interests. After the two-week grace period, we expect you to remain committed to your project and see it through completion. You’ll be expected to work out any issues that may arise with your organization. Our organizations are depending on your help. We limit all Catchafire Projects to approximately three months so it is easy for you to commit to a project.

We send you potential matches as they become available. Unlike some other volunteer programs, there is no deadline to apply or be matched. Our matching occurs on a rolling basis as soon as we identify organizations that need your help and whose mission matches your interests. If you're eager to serve immediately, browse our current projects and apply today for a project that suits you.

Yes! If you’re not ready to be matched to an organization, on your Catchafire dashboard you can change your status to "Not looking for a project”. This way, we won’t bother you with projects when you’re busy. When you’re ready, remember to change your status back to “Ready to work”. This lets us know to send you projects that suit you. We offer you the flexibility to search for an opportunity when you're ready, and take a break from do-gooding when life has you busy with other priorities.

To help increase the likelihood of having a great pro bono volunteer experience, we charge our organizations a membership fee to gain access to our pool of amazing and talented professionals. By charging this fee, we motivate organizations to prioritize their needs and think about your time as a valuable resource. It's simple logic: people and organizations value what they pay for, and we want our member organizations to value our professionals' time. This increases the quality of the experience for both our pro bono professionals and the organizations they work with.

Nonprofits and social enterprises aren't just looking for more volunteers and interns; they're looking for people who have specific skills to help them accomplish specific goals. They need results, so look to Catchafire projects which have been structured to ensure that your contribution results in a deliverable that can be immediately utilized to make a big impact. Our organizations want access to professional services but can't afford them at market rates. We help connect them to do-good professionals like you who can offer the help they need without the large cost.

Our projects aren’t suited for everyone. We are very careful to match organizations with professionals who can offer the types of services that these organizations cannot otherwise afford. Rule of thumb is that you should have at least 2 years of experience in the field you’d like to give pro bono in before you apply to that type of Catchafire Project.

Register here today. Be sure you fill out your profile completely! We won’t be able to provide you with matches unless you complete a full profile.

General

Catchafire is a membership-based online service that matches social good organizations with professionals who want to offer their skills and expertise in areas such as marketing, public relations, communications, design, multimedia, social media, fundraising, strategy, finance, human resources, and technology through pro bono service. You can think of us as an eHarmony for social good organizations and skilled professionals.

There are many great reasons to utilize Catchafire. These include getting big results while saving big money, saving time recruiting, vetting and managing talent, and connecting with professionals who are passionate about your cause. Learn more about why you should use Catchafire.

Connecting with Catchafire pro bono professionals is easy! Learn the steps here.

Pro bono service is an effective way for an individual to give their skills for the public good. It means that an individual utilizes their specific skills (usually their professional skills/expertise/background) to help a social good organization, typically on a specific project. For example, a finance or accounting professional by trade might use these skills to help an organization develop a budget.

Catchafire can find the right professional for your organization's short-term and discrete needs. Once you sign up as a Member, your dedicated Account Manager will be able to answer any questions you have about the best projects to select from our Project Menu. Catchafire Projects are designed to help build your organization's capacity so that you can do more with your limited resources and staff. We then match you to professionals with the right skills, work experience, cause interests, and time availability. We save you significant time and resources in vetting and managing the right talent for the job. It's easy, cost effective, and, finally provides you with access to professional services that you can actually afford. Learn more about what Catchafire can do for you.

Catchafire members are nonprofits, early-stage social enterprises, and entrepreneurs that are in the process of forming a nonprofit or social enterprise. If you're unsure whether your organization falls under these guidelines, email consultant@catchafire.org to see if your organization is eligible. We have officially launched in New York and Boston but partner with great organizations across the United States. We’ll be expanding into 5 cities this year so stay tuned!

Check out our Project Menu. Catchafire offers projects in the areas of accounting and finance, design, fundraising, human resources, marketing, multimedia, public relations and communications, social media, strategy and technology. If you don't see a Catchafire Project that suits your needs, please use our Feedback tool or email ProjectMenuTeam@catchafire.org to let us know what type of projects you’d like to see. We're always looking to add new Catchafire Projects to meet nonprofit and social enterprise needs.

Catchafire Projects are defined by three main characteristics. First, they are short-term. Each project requires 50 hours or less of flexible pro bono time to complete over less than three months. Second, they are discrete. Each project has a clearly defined deliverable and scope. Third, they are individual. Each Catchafire Project is designed to be completed by one skilled professional rather than a team. We design these projects in response to social good organization’s project needs by working with both industry and social good experts.

When you register with Catchafire, a Catchafire Service Officer will contact you to learn more about your organization to determine whether it is a good fit for Catchafire, tell you about our service, and see how Catchafire can help you. Your Service Officer will also discuss your customized membership package.

Projects are completed virtually when the two parties are not located in the same area. The only difference between virtual pro bono and local pro bono projects is the physical distance between the social good organization seeking assistance and the pro bono professional completing the project. In these instances, meetings and document sharing will need to be done via Skype, video conference, Google Chat and other online forums, leveraging today's technologies to bridge the distance.

Catchafire projects are well suited to virtual pro bono and nearly all project steps are the same whether the project is being completed locally or virtually. There are only a few projects which are not suited to virtual pro bono, and we have indicated in the "Professional Prerequisites" section of those projects where proximity of the professional and the organization is necessary. Visit our Best Practices for Pro Bono blog post here to learn more about virtual pro bono.

Membership

We have a 99% match rate. Professionals apply for your projects, and the success and timing of each match will depend on the popularity of your projects and cause to our professionals. In the very few cases where we cannot find a professional that is interested in doing your project, we will replace your project with another one. It’s important to let us know if your match is time-sensitive, so we can do our best to accommodate your deadlines.

In these rare cases, we will gladly swap your project for another one without counting it toward the number of projects included in your Membership.

No, however, we do ask that all projects in a given Membership package be requested within the 12-month Membership. Your Account Manager will help to ensure you are requesting, sequencing and using your projects in an effective manner over the course of your Membership.

A project can take anywhere from weeks to months to be matched. The timing of each match depends on a number of factors, including the project type and the popularity of your project to our professionals. We will provide you with average match times for each project as a guideline; however, there are factors that we cannot predict, such as the popularity of your cause to our professionals. We will help you create an appealing profile to encourage professionals to apply for your projects. We can also generate appeal for your projects by promoting them through our social media platforms.

It’s important to let us know if your project is time-sensitive, so we can do our best to accommodate your deadlines. We cannot guarantee meeting your deadlines, but we need to know about them in advance so we can provide you with a realistic date if you need to look elsewhere. In the very few cases where we cannot find a professional that is interested in doing your project, we will replace your project with another one.

Quality Assurance

Catchafire puts a great deal of effort into vetting and screening our professionals to ensure that only highly skilled and dedicated individuals make their way into your inbox. We believe that a high quality output comes from successful engagement and collaboration between you and your professional.

In the few cases where an organization did not end up using the deliverable provided by the professional, the organization still felt that the process of having an outside perspective was greatly beneficial.

All of our projects have specific requirements that an applicant must possess before s/he is eligible for the project. We review the profile of each and every professional before matching them in order to ensure they meet these requirements. Additionally, each applicant must answer a series of questions to verify that they have the experience to complete a project. We recruit the best professionals from top companies in their respective industries. Our Corporate Solution allows companies to offer our pipeline of pro bono opportunities to their employees, which in turn guarantees that our organizations are being matched with the top professionals in their industry.

Catchafire’s Project Menu offers you pro bono projects that are designed to be short-term, discrete, and individual. Each project is clearly scoped and has a specific deliverable so you know exactly what to expect from the skilled professional we match you with. Our pro bono professionals manage themselves and deliver concrete results, which saves you the time of managing an additional resource. Plus, we’ve estimated the value of each project at the market rate so you know how much you're saving with Catchafire.

When an applicant registers with us, we ask them to fill out a complete profile of their skills and interests so we can match them appropriately. When the applicant selects a project, they also have to complete an application to demonstrate that they have the skills, experience and passion needed to successfully complete your project. Organizations then review these answers and the professional’s application. We make every effort to match you with the best skilled professional for your needs.

All our projects have a two-week trial period. If you aren't satisfied with your match within this time you can let us know, and we'll find you another match. After the two-week trial period, we expect you and your skilled professional to be committed to completing your project, which means working together to resolve any issues that arise with your pro bono professional. We will, of course, invite you to offer feedback and updates on how things are going, and are happy to get involved whenever necessary.

If your match does not prove successful, you must communicate this to us in a timely manner (within two weeks of realization). Remember, the sooner you let us know, the faster we can fix it. We will reach out to the professional, and if the professional cannot complete the project, we will provide a re-match. We will not provide a rematch if you decide you've selected the wrong project OR you are unsatisfied with your match after the 2-week period OR the relationship doesn't work out because the volunteer manager from your organization was unresponsive.

Please ensure that you fill in your organization’s profile, your pro bono manager biography, and provide an appealing and detailed project description to make your projects enticing to professionals.

Process

Register today! A Catchafire Service Officer will be in touch with you within 3 business days to set up a time to connect over the phone and learn more about your organization’s needs and eligibility for our membership.

We find that while many organizations know that they need help, they are not always able to (nor should be expected to) articulate clearly what they need. Catchafire Projects take into consideration the fact that our pro bono professionals are busy with full-time jobs and many other commitments. We've worked with Catchafire Industry Experts and Nonprofit and Social Enterprise Experts to structure Catchafire Projects that offer a realistic deliverable and time commitment from our skilled professionals, while providing valuable services to our member organizations. When you request a project, you have the chance to add specific details about your needs. If you don't see the right project on our Project Menu, use our Feedback tool or email ProjectMenuTeam@catchafire.org to let us know what type of projects you'd like to see.

Yes, it is possible to have multiple, simultaneous projects. In fact, our Membership is designed for multiple needs to be addressed alongside one another. By taking on several projects simultaneously, you can also allow for group orientation of pro bono professionals into your organization, providing a sense of community for your professionals. We suggest that organizations limit themselves to 2 projects at a time, in order to ensure that the pro bono manager has the capacity to give each project his or her full attention.

While it is the organization's responsibility to provide an engaging pro bono experience, we provide you with support. Once your project has been matched, an Account Manager reaches out to your pro bono professional to tell him or her more about your organization and answer any questions he or she may have. We also proactively check in with the pro bono professional to ensure that nothing has disrupted the progress of the project, and are happy to step in for customer service issues that cannot be worked out directly with your pro bono professional.

We also empower our organizations and professionals to work together directly and build a strong relationship. We consider it a success if you are able to turn a short-term pro bono professional into a life-long advocate, and have seen organizations develop board members and donors out of their Catchafire pro bono professionals.

Timeline

Minimal. Our projects are all designed and created in partnership with our Council of Experts to minimize the time spent scoping and managing pro bono projects, so that your time is freed up to focus on critical path work.

While we definitely require a strong commitment from organizations to provide positive experiences for our pro bono professionals by being welcoming, flexible and thankful - our professionals have several years of experience and are used to working independently. The frequency of communication and contact is determined by the organization and pro bono professional.

The speed of each match will depend on the popularity of your projects to our professionals. Our matches can take between several weeks to several months. Please ensure that you fill in your organization’s profile, your pro bono manager biography, and provide an appealing and detailed project description to make your projects enticing to professionals.

After registration, a Service Officer can provide you with more information on current estimates for match times of specific projects.

The project timeline varies based on the project - but ranges from 1 month to 3 months and from 20 hours of donated time from your pro bono professional (Press Kit) to 80 hours (Salesforce Database Customization). Please refer to the “Pro Bono Time” section within each project’s Project Template for the estimated time frame of a project. This time does not take into account match time, which varies.

Payment

By charging this fee, we motivate organizations to prioritize their needs and think about pro bono time as a valuable resource. It's simple logic: people and organizations value what they pay for, and we want our members to value pro bono time. This increases the quality of the experience for both our skilled professionals and our member organizations. Additionally, our pro bono professionals are motivated to work with organizations that demonstrate their commitment. The membership fee also allows Catchafire to operate and offer our service to organizations like yours.

Our mission is to serve all social good organizations. We offer membership on a sliding scale designed to suit all organizations regardless of their size and operating budget. Inquire about a membership package for your organization today! Register today to be contacted by a Catchafire Service Officer.

Our process is proactive in order to ensure that your project is positioned for success. We do everything in our power to provide you with value that is at least 10x your membership fee, but if you're still not satisfied, you may cancel your membership within 90 days of activation and receive a 50% refund.

Testimonials

Please visit the Testimonials page on our website. There, you'll find several videos and blog posts from organizations and professionals outlining their experience. Also, we often feature new success stories on our blog.

We are currently in the process of collecting completed projects to display on our website - stay tuned! If there is a particular project deliverable you'd like to view, let your Catchafire Service Officer know.

Community

Catchafire Nonprofit & Social Enterprise Experts are on top of the latest trends and best practices in the nonprofit and social enterprise space. These experts offer valuable knowledge to help develop Catchafire projects to address the most pressing needs of nonprofits and social enterprises. Our experts represent a wide range of organizations, cause areas, and various areas of expertise from pro bono management to fundraising, and overall nonprofit management. They also help connect us to other organizations and help spread the word about our service. Check out our current panel of experts here.

Yes, but we're quite selective! To become a Catchafire Nonprofit or Social Enterprise Expert, the first thing you must do is become a member in order to better understand our service. We also request that our experts help connect us with other organizations in their cause area and beyond. If you're interested in becoming a Catchafire Nonprofit & Social Enterprise Expert, email ProjectMenuTeam@catchafire.org for details.

Catchafire Industry Experts are movers and shakers in their industries who provide valuable insight and advice related to their profession. These experts offer valuable industry knowledge to help Catchafire scope our projects and target outreach to professionals who want to offer their services. Check out our current panel of experts here.