Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Greer.
Anna, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
In the winter of 2020, my friend Sachin came to me to ask if I’d like to lead the marketing team and be a co-founder for a nonprofit he had been thinking about creating called Cathartic. After hearing his pitch, I almost immediately answered yes– because I believed so strongly in the idea, its impact, and its potential. Cathartic aims to be a matchmaker between companies with health and hygiene products and community organizations that work with people who face health inequities. Those groups typically include very low-income or unhoused individuals who cannot afford basic health and hygiene products such as soap, sunscreen, socks, menstrual products, etc. Access to these products is essential for helping prevent serious health issues down the line, which can even be fatal for those that are unhoused. The problem is that community organizations oftentimes do not have the capacity or time to be reaching out to companies asking for donations, and companies usually don’t know about these smaller community orgs that need their products. Therefore, we act as a middleman and a one-stop-shop for giving relationships. We do the legwork to get donations from companies. We store and distribute the products to community orgs that we’ve built relationships with, effectively taking the burden of coordination and operations off of all parties. Further, our goal is to create long-term giving relationships wherein we provide photos, data, and written content back to suppliers so they know where their products have gone.
Once I agreed to join Sachin, our CEO, and Joseph, our chief of operations, the three of us got to work building relationships and ideating the future of Cathartic. We launched a pilot program called the Skin Protection Program and gained about $50,000 worth of sunscreen donations in the first three months. Several months later we launched our Period Care Program, which distributes pads and tampons to unhoused individuals. Now, we have upwards of $300,000 worth of donations going towards these two programs, and we are launching a third program for foot health soon!
We also have grown from 3 to 27 employees, and it has been so exciting to bring in college students who are eager to make a difference and passionate about our mission! We also earned and participated in the Clinton Global Institute, attending conferences with amazing and passionate speakers and change makers.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think there are always bumps in the road when it comes to startups. It’s especially difficult when you as a founder, have such a clear vision of what the future of the company could look like, but it’s taking slower than you’d like for this vision to come to fruition. One struggle has been building out the tech platform we need to have companies and community organizations log in and see all of the information about their donations on an easy-to-navigate dashboard. We have had ups and downs in building this, but now have an amazing team of 6 student programmers working on it. Another challenge has been getting suppliers to be long-term partners rather than just one-off donations. It is difficult to establish relationships, especially virtually, so we are working on establishing a more formalized process for welcoming suppliers into the Cathartic family and supplying them with exciting updates from their donations. Also, of course, finances are tight, so we have not been able to pay our employees yet. As a result, our team members are all very busy USC students, so we really appreciate them making time for Cathartic. Thankfully, we are all so passionate about our health equity mission, so everyone is willing to tackle each hurdle as they come our way!
As you know, we’re big fans of Cathartic. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Cathartic aims to be a matchmaker between companies with health and hygiene products and community organizations that work with people who face health inequities. Those groups typically include very low-income or unhoused individuals who cannot afford basic health and hygiene products such as soap, sunscreen, socks, menstrual products, etc. Access to these products is essential for helping prevent serious health issues down the line, which can even be fatal for those that are unhoused. The problem is that community organizations oftentimes do not have capacity or time to be reaching out to companies asking for donations, and companies usually don’t know about these smaller community orgs that need their products. Therefore, we act as a middleman and a one-stop-shop for giving relationships. We do the legwork to get donations from companies. We store and distribute the products to community orgs that we’ve built relationships with, effectively taking the burden of coordination and operations off of all parties. Further, our goal is to create long-term giving relationships wherein we provide photos, data, written content, and even social media content back to suppliers so they know where their products have gone and can talk about their impact internally and to their audience.
Essentially, we want to reinvent the giving space by making donating easier for all parties– we think that giving donating should be easy for suppliers and receiving donations should be easier for the community organizations that need them. Some of our suppliers include Bare Republic, Sun Bum, EltaMD, Joni, Megababe Beauty, and HoneyPot and our clients include Share-a-Meal and Mutual Aid LA.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Although I am American, I grew up mostly in China and Malaysia, and I plan to live in several different countries throughout my life. In fact, after graduation, I will be moving to Costa Rica for three months to surf and work on a project for the Climate Institute before starting a job in San Francisco. I will be shifting to a Cathartic board member at this time and look forward to staying engaged with the organization well into the future.
Contact Info:
- Website: cathartichealth.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cathartichealth/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cathartichealth/
Image Credits
Anna Greer
