The Sandy Springs Civic Roundtable has created a new online resource to help residents and businesses looking to volunteer and help out local nonprofits.
Springboard connects the city’s nonprofit organizations with volunteers and donors. The online resource was created with the help of Georgia Tech students, said Jan Paul of the Civic Roundtable.
“What I truly love about the site is, honestly, it is like a search engine for nonprofits,” Paul said.
The Civic Roundtable – which is an organization made up of the city’s nonprofits – wants people to visit Springboard, but Paul said they want to push website visitors right back out to the nonprofits. Springboard aims to help website visitors identify their passions and connect them with groups that match those interests.
“I think that’s the real beauty and value of it to the nonprofits, is its direct contact,” Paul said.
Paul said that over a year ago while Civic Roundtable members were discussing calendars, they discovered a lot of overlap between the nonprofits with events and volunteers. Springboard arose out of a need to minimize that overlap.
The Roundtable approached the city looking for a solution. According to Paul, Assistant City Manager Kristen Smith – who leads the Innovation, Business, and Technology team at the city – connected the Civic Roundtable members with a group of Georgia Tech students who were helping the city with other municipal projects.
“We jumped at the chance because, really, we saw that it could be much more than just a calendar,” Paul said. “It could be really a coalition of nonprofits working together. And the more we talked about it, the more excited that we got.”
The students completed their research and created the structure and implementation plan for what became Springboard. Paul said the Civic Roundtable members wouldn’t have been able to do this on their own because they don’t have the software or expertise necessary.
“They dug deep into academia level and research level, and solidified everything that we had hoped and dreamed that we could do,” Paul said.
According to Paul, the Georgia Tech students completed the research as their senior cornerstone project.
The Springboard website has profiles and links for volunteer and donation opportunities for 34 nonprofit organizations so far. Paul said three or four more should be added to the site soon. The site lists upcoming events for the nonprofits, with ongoing programs highlighted.
Nonprofits can be separated by category, including Arts & Culture, Community Development, Educational Services, Environment & Conservation, Health & Human Services, and Youth Services. The mini profiles of each nonprofit include links to websites, addresses, and in many cases EINs needed to make tax-free donations.
Nonprofits’ social media feeds are linked to the site and update automatically.
