Nonprofit Blueprint for Success: Our Project Menu

“What’s something you wish you could get off your desk?”

It’s a common question posed to nonprofit staff who are overextended, under-resourced, and faced with a growing number of projects on their plate.

The responses shed light on the many roadblocks nonprofits face when they know what they need but don’t know where to begin.

• “I know what our organizational needs are, but I don’t have the expertise or time to put together a specific project description.”
• “I don’t have time to find a volunteer or consultant. How do I set expectations when I don’t have the time to manage them?”
• “I’m nervous about getting pro-bono help. What should I expect, and does it create more work for me?”

That’s where Catchafire’s project menu comes in. Our responsive catalog of timely needs addresses all of these questions, and provides over 150 comprehensive templates across 8 critical department areas:

1. Marketing and communications
2. Fundraising
3. Technology
4. Finance and operations
5. Human resources
6. Professional development
7. Program management
8. Executive leadership

Our team has done the heavy lifting to scope and curate project templates that nonprofits can easily use. These are regularly assessed to ensure that it’s easy for nonprofits to post projects and for volunteers to find the right projects for their skills. Our detailed templates allow staff to outline their volunteer requirements, the project support they need, and the deliverables they are seeking so that nonprofits and volunteers are aligned on expectations.

This approach has been built with nonprofits in mind. Most nonprofits have a number of needs and our catalog helps them identify and prioritize their needs – not just for getting started with an initial project, but for receiving continuous capacity support from highly-skilled volunteers on the platform. Surrounding the menu, nonprofits are provided with a comprehensive suite of support, training, and education.

Nonprofit staff are given guidance on outlining what they need from a volunteer: what are the skills that would make this project successful? How does managing and collaborating with a volunteer affect staff bandwidth? We have a network of over 84,000 experienced professionals, guaranteeing quick matches and support for all the projects on our menu. Each template has specific skills and experience requirements to ensure that volunteers are qualified for the project. Our templates state how much time staff can expect to allocate and what needs to be prepared for the volunteer beforehand.

We’ll provide data on how much time and money nonprofits are saving by working with a volunteer on Catchafire. Volunteers are also able to see an impact statement from the nonprofit, allowing them to see how their work will directly benefit the cause area and community. There is an instant, tangible impact to working with highly-skilled volunteers, allowing nonprofits to focus their attention on their mission and community.

Our project plan scopes out a step-by-step outline that individuals can follow along with volunteers so that there is a clear understanding of expectations and workload.

At the end of the project, nonprofits have a clear outcome, deliverable, and savings in hours and expenses that can be invested elsewhere towards the mission. It doesn’t end with one project; nonprofits often develop long-term relationships with volunteers, who typically become repeat volunteers, donors, Board members, and advocates for the organization.

By reducing this burden on staff, nonprofits can focus on what they need instead of worrying about how to get it done. The templates solve for nonprofit staff needing to take time to scope out project proposals from scratch, ensuring high-quality work from skilled professionals, and clear project deliverables, setting both the nonprofit and volunteer up for success.

The project menu creates a blueprint for success, providing nonprofits on Catchafire with the resources they need to sustain and expand their programming and operations for their communities.

“Catchafire is the new Sears catalog…I got really excited and started creating the things that I wanted, because Catchafire was the answer to my wish list. It also gave me the opportunity to wish for things that I know I would not be able to afford to have. Thanks to Catchafire, I’m able to do so much. The thing I got excited about was no limit on projects.”

-Lisa Woolfork

Founder of Black Women Stitch

Since November 2020, Black Women Stitch has posted 172 projects, saving them close to $445,000.

There’s many ways to get involved with Catchafire:

• Sign up to volunteer and support critical programming for nonprofits.
• If you’re a grantmaker and would like to learn more about equipping nonprofits in your community with responsive, high-quality operational support, let’s connect. Email us here.