Were you one of the lucky ones at the Catachafire event last week? If not, here’s what you missed! And a little background, Catchafire connects professionals who want to use their skills for a good cause with nonprofits and social good organizations who need professional services but can’t afford them. Catchafire was founded two years ago, and they’ve already raised more than $2 Million worth of professional services for great causes all over the New York area.
The evening started out with light networking with some really interesting people, exactly what you’d expect from an event that attracts professionals who want to donate their time to help non-profits. The event was held in the offices of The Morris + King Company, which looked more like an art gallery than an office and there was plenty of Terra Fossil wine to go around. (Red and white, I preferred the red.)
Judith R. King started off the event with a great talk on her inspiration for starting Morris + King and why they love to hosts events like this; inspiring social good.
Catchafire reps, Ryan Letada, Ruti Wajnberg, Thomas Whitaker, Andre Davis and Jessica Kantor spoke about why Catchafire was founded, its mission and what it means to work pro brono. They also gave us the various reasons why professionals have donated their time and skill-sets to help non-profits. Then they walked us through the Catchafire platform and how to search for and bid on projects that fit our specific interests.
After the presentation, everyone introduced themselves with their names, what they did and an interesting fact about themselves. There were many world travelers in the room, weird nicknames, and a chocolate-hoarder (the under-the-bed-as-a-reward-kind).
We then split up into groups to discuss all the reasons why giving what you’re good at is a fantastic idea – both for the nonprofits and for personal and professional development.
The event was very relaxed, I met with a diverse group of people and I got to learn how to put my skills to good use. (Marketing and advertising don’t have to be evil!) Check out the links below to learn more:
Catchafire // www.catchafire.org
The Morris + King Company // www.morris-king.com
Terra Fossil Wines // @terrafossil // www.fb.com/terrafossilwines
Check out the rest of our event photos here.
