Welcome! We're glad you are interested in Impact Match.
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So far, the story of our company is relatively short. But the journey has been much longer.
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I'm Impact Match's founder, so I'll tell you the story. And through this, I hope you will join us on a journey to transform the social impact space.
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As the son of missionaries to Russia and having the opportunity to visit over 30 countries, I have seen extreme poverty and the challenges people of many backgrounds must endure. These experiences created in me a desire to positively impact the world. That has remained a vital motivation for everything I set out to do.
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After college at Buffalo State and brief stints at Cornell and the University at Buffalo, I leaped into joining Westminster Economic Development Initiative as an AmeriCorps member to gain some practical experience. And I got it. Over the span of seven years, we launched the West Side Bazaar (a refugee-focused small business incubator), became a community development financial institution, and tripled our after-school programs. At the end of my time leading these organizations as their Executive Director, we were not only financially stable, but our programs could demonstrate a tangible impact on our community.
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We created this impact through tenacity while wading through turbulent rivers of inefficiencies. I could not help but feel the need to change some of the fundamental and systematic problems in the nonprofit sector, so I launched Impact Match. Well, first, I created spreadsheets and systems that turned a 30%-of-total-administrative-cost organization into one that spent only 5% on accomplishing the same things. But this only helped one organization with one mission. As I thought about my life and what could impact the world the most in my short time here, friends mentioned things, including:
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"You should be an entrepreneur. I always thought you'd be great at that." - The friend who always tells me what I want to hear
"Why don't you create software that does all these things instead of these spreadsheets. Maybe it will even work." - A bit more practical of a friend
"Go do something productive with your life, Ben!" - Dad and Mom
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So THEN, I launched Impact Match. Well, sorta. I began discussing ideas with others. And these ideas started to merge into one practical and straightforward concept. I was shocked to see that nothing like it existed. I mean, I would be comfortable building something better, but nothing? Really?
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Yep. Nothing (unless you create it now).
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A marketplace for the charitable sector
A dating app for nonprofits and foundations to connect
A tool that collects all of the data that nonprofits generate by writing grant proposals at least once each month
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That's the vision and the practice.
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Join me on a journey to save nonprofits crucial time and money so that they can focus on solving the world's most pressing issues.
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-Ben Bissell, Founder

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