Meet Shawn Wehan of Givsum in Irvine

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shawn Wehan.

Shawn, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up in a household with parents that loved to discuss social justice issues and the challenges facing our nation. Our dinner table conversations involved references to John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Pope John XXIII; men who advocated for change and justice for all. This had a strong influence on my upbringing and following college I chose a career path focused on service and advocacy. In 2009, I formed a nonprofit called Future Leaders of Our Community (FLOC), a young professional organization focused on awareness and hands-on volunteering with local nonprofits. I grew the organization throughout San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles, working with hundreds of nonprofits and thousands of young professionals. It was during this time that technology and especially smartphones began to present a new opportunity for engagement with nonprofits. With just a few clicks one could donate to a charity, purchase a ticket to an event or sign-up to volunteer for an organization. This was extraordinary technology and I saw it as an opportunity to build a larger community of philanthropists. In 2013, I co-founded, Givsum (short for giving summary), with the goal of bringing all elements of philanthropy (donors, nonprofits, schools, and businesses) onto a single platform. A bold, audacious goal that remains my daily focus and life’s ambition.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Learning how to build a technology company is really, really hard. It’s expensive, complicated, and it takes much longer to get traction than expected. What I’ve learned is that tenacity wins the day and longevity is built on overcoming mistakes and pushing through valley experiences. Looking back over the last five years, there are certain things I would have done differently, however, the decision to build a technology company from the ground up has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I look forward to continuing down this road for many years to come.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Givsum – what should we know?
At Givsum, we are focused on building a global philanthropic platform that (1) inspires individuals to give; (2) promotes charities through a digital marketplace; and (3) creates valuable data for schools and businesses. People often want to give, but they don’t always know where to start. The primary idea behind the platform is to create a single location in which a user can quickly find opportunities to engage in their community and then rewards them with a philanthropic resume and Givsum Score™ as they do. Givsum is social so users can share their profiles and activity with others, inspiring further engagement.

For a nonprofit, Givsum is an operational tool for finding volunteers, soliciting donations and selling tickets to events. All nonprofits struggle with finding new people to engage with them, so creating a single marketplace in which users can search for opportunities is extremely helpful.

Finally, the data generated from user activity can be anonymized and shared with large institutions and businesses to better understand philanthropic behaviors within the larger market of philanthropy. This data can set the course for greater engagement and donor development.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Without question, we owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to our early adopting nonprofit customers. They have helped us through their feedback to continually refine our products and services to better satisfy their supporters/our users. At Givsum, we know that the world is a big place with some pretty big problems, but when we work together, we can make the world a little smaller and those problems a little more manageable.

Pricing:

• There is a small credit card and platform processing fee of 3.9% + .30 for donations and 4.9% + .30 (but no activation or monthly access fees) for tickets purchased. 95% of users choose to cover these fees for the nonprofit, making the platform cheaper than any other on the market.

Contact Info:

• Address: 5171 California Ave. Suite 150, Irvine, CA
• Website: www.givsum.com
• Phone: (224) 244-8786
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/givsum/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gogivsum/

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