The Wayfinder alum team, Givsum, has found a home in Irvine to expand their business.
Volunteering, donating to charity, lending a helping hand – no matter what, it is important to “give some.” At least, that’s the philosophy of Shawn Wehan, CEO and co-founder, and Robert Kollar, general counsel and co-founder, of Givsum. The UC Irvine startup is a donor-facing online platform where users can engage with a variety of charities.
The company provides information about philanthropic events, volunteer opportunities and charitable purchases on one platform. Once users create an account, Givsum logs all of their activity onto profiles, which serve as a digestible summary of the user’s philanthropy for the year. Givsum can then recommend charities based on engagement. To increase interaction on the website, Givsum uses a social media model. Users can follow different profiles, engage with the community and compare Givsum scores, which the website generates and adapts based on user activity.
“We know small-to-medium sized charities need a great tool that helps them get their mission and vision out,” said Wehan. “We know that regular donors would love to have all their donations in one place for their taxes at the end of the year.”
And they have had success. Currently, Givsum has an office in Newport Beach with a 15-person staff, which includes nine interns and two full-time software developers in addition to an executive team. They also have relationships with over 300 local charities, 20 of which have provided beta assistance while the team built their platform. The company has over 26 investors and has raised $1.3 million in funding. In 2019, Givsum’s beta charities raised $843,000 in donations – their highest year yet.
But like most startups, they had to build from the ground up and the Wayfinder program at UCI Beall Applied Innovation, which they joined in 2017, allowed them move in the right direction. Besides offering office space at the Cove – Applied Innovation’s headquarters – and business advice, Wayfinder helped jump-start Givsum’s success and invited them to Startup Scrimmage. This is an event where members of the business community gather to watch Monday Night Football and hear startup pitches at the Cove. And it is also where Givsum connected with a former CEO of a publicly traded company. Givsum’s pitch resulted not only in an investor, but also a valuable advisor.
“Being at Applied Innovation contributed to the success of our seed round, as it allowed us to invite investors to a legitimate startup space,” said Wehan. “It was a real innovative space where entrepreneurs are building their companies.”
As for the future, Givsum hopes to onboard 5,000 service clubs in the next five years. They also want to increase donations to benefit more charities and encourage philanthropy.
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Main photo: Givsum CEO and co-founder Shawn Wehan and Robert Kollar, general counsel and co-founder, working from their new office location in Newport Beach.
All Photos: Amy Vong
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