
Our Story...So Far
Welcome! We're glad you are interested in Impact Match.
So far, the story of our company is relatively short. But the journey has been much longer.
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.
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.
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.
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:
"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
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?
Yep. Nothing (unless you create it now).
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
That's the vision and the practice.
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.
-Ben Bissell, Founder