Civic Champs

Civic Champs is a Bloomington, Indiana-based software company offering a web and mobile platform for volunteer management at nonprofit organizations. The product covers volunteer onboarding and profiles (personal and emergency contact details, digitized waivers, credentials, questionnaires, notes), grouping and categorization, event and shift creation with online registration links, scheduling calendars, messaging, and reporting. Volunteer hours are captured through multiple check-in modes: a kiosk mode that turns a laptop, desktop or tablet into a sign-in station, a volunteer-facing mobile app, an admin mobile app, and geofenced check-in and check-out.

Beyond tracking, the platform includes engagement and fundraising features. Post-shift feedback collection feeds volunteer retention efforts, newsletters and donor reports, while a micro-donations feature prompts satisfied volunteers for small-dollar gifts immediately after their service, creating a donation stream from the volunteer base. Reporting and export tools across volunteer, activity log, event, group, registration, admin, role and questionnaire data are positioned to support board reporting, grant writing and ROI calculation. The company integrates with fundraising systems including Little Green Light and Blackbaud Raiser's Edge, and has worked on a Raiser's Edge NXT integration through the Blackbaud Social Good Startup Program.

A product module called Mentoring Works, supporting mentoring programs for opportunity youth ages 16-24, was under development in 2022 alongside a self-service version of the core platform aimed at smaller nonprofits.

Founding story

CEO and co-founder Geng Wang started the company in early 2019 (April 2019) while working as vice president of product at Ardeo Education, where reflecting on corporate social responsibility partners and his own limited on-site volunteering led him to examine nonprofit volunteer engagement. His original concept was a mobile game for volunteering, described as a "Pokemon Go for doing good," but conversations with nonprofit executives and volunteer managers surfaced a recurring pain point: reliance on binders, paper sign-in sheets and manual tracking. He cited one local nonprofit executive director who spent 80 to 100 hours a year simply tracking volunteer hours, excluding onboarding, engagement and follow-up. Wang had previously co-founded Rent Jungle and Community Elf, both later acquired, and is a former McKinsey consultant with an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Business model

Software-as-a-service sold to nonprofit organizations, with a core volunteer management platform and plans for a lower-touch self-service tier for smaller nonprofits. Customer testimonials reference affordability for small-staff nonprofits. The platform also enables nonprofits to solicit micro-donations from volunteers, which the company positions as an additional revenue stream for its customers.

Subscription-style sales of the volunteer management platform to nonprofits, with a planned self-service version for smaller organizations. The company doubled its revenue during the coronavirus pandemic period reported in 2020.

Traction

Served more than 60 nonprofit customers as of November 2020, with revenue doubling during the pandemic period; the company later described working with hundreds of nonprofits across 40+ states and Canada. It has won $150,000 in non-dilutive prize money, including $50,000 from MassChallenge, $50,000 from UpPrize, $20,000 from the IU Kelley CLAPP Competition and $19,000 from INTAP. Inside INdiana Business reported the company had received more than $1 million from Elevate Ventures since 2019. Customer references include Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania (12 clubhouses), Habitat for Humanity affiliates, animal rescues and food pantries.

Latest developments

In June 2022 the company announced a $615,000 pre-seed round earmarked for launching a self-service version of the core platform for smaller nonprofits and for the Mentoring Works module for opportunity youth ages 16-24, with pilot programs planned with local nonprofits, alongside an integration initiative with Blackbaud through the Social Good Startup Program. The about page lists Peter Haralovich as Chief Executive Officer alongside a listing for founder Geng Wang as Chief Executive Officer, with Mike Jeffery as Chief Technology Officer. Civic Champs was included among 40 Pittsburgh startups recognized in HackerNoon's Startups of the Year 2023.