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![]() Once Upon A Time: Our Story Impact Online was founded in 1994 because of a market need -- there are many individuals that have good intentions to get involved with their community but it needs to be easier. There is a large and growing population of people online. In 1994 there was little or no information about nonprofits online for those people that wanted to get involved. Using Internet technology to facilitate and increase community involvement was the idea behind Impact Online. For the inside story about how we got started, read our story as told by Steve Glikbarg, Co-founder of Impact Online:
Pure fantasy? Not anymore. Last Fall, all this was the vision of four MBA's interested in how the "information superhighway" could help make it easier for individuals to become more involved with local nonprofits. Working together, Mark Benning (MBA '94), Joanne Ernst (MBA '94), Cindy Shove (MBA University of Toronto) and I (PMP '94) created a business plan for starting a new kind of nonprofit -- one that would operate entirely online to promote community involvement. Just one short year ago, the vision looked pretty outlandish. Being well-trained MBA alumni, we diligently developed a business plan, made financial statements three years into the future, extrapolated the rapid growth of the Internet and explained how this new medium could revolutionize community involvement. But we were early and few people seemed to grasp the potential. At first the main problem was that no one had heard of the World Wide Web (WWW). At the time we wrote our business plan Netscape hadn't made its first browser yet, none of the commercial services offered access to the Web and, more importantly, businesses and the media hadn't yet discovered the Internet. After explaining e-mail, the Internet, the World Wide Web and hypertext links in all our proposals, charitable foundations assumed we were looking to fund a technology project (something few do) instead of funding a community outreach project (which many do fund). In hindsight, we were just early and operating like entrepreneurs who act quickly when they see an opportunity. We could have waited to get funding. Maybe we should have, but my guess is that we would still be waiting. When Edison invented the telephone and offered it to Western Union, they responded, "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." (Western Union internal memo, 1876.) Getting an innovative project funded has always had its challenges. Now, a year later, we can show potential funders that the concept works. For example, a recent survey showed that over 75% of those online say they would do more community service if volunteer information was available online. Today, Impact Online operates an award-winning Web site boasting information on volunteer opportunities from around the country, in-depth profiles of organizations such as the Points of Light Foundation and California Commission on National Service and links to nonprofits around the world. In addition, Impact Online's Web site features information on such social issues as homelessness and public education and a course for nonprofits interested in using online technology for social change. By the Fall of 1995, more than 30,000 people had visited Impact Online registering in excess of 300,000 hits (page views). Funders include Applied Materials, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, National Semiconductor and the Roberts Foundation. While proving the concept of Impact Online through the creation of a Web site has worked to raise interest among funders and the public, Cindy Shove and I devoted nearly all of 1995 to working on the project without pay. Was it worth it? If someone had told me how much work it would take to get this project off the ground, I might have had second thoughts. The lure of funding, which always seemed just around the corner, kept us going month by month. Moving Impact Online from my home to a cubicle in shared office space, Cindy Shove and I have gone through all the pain of a true startup. With clients around the country, a rapidly changing industry and a new product, we've been using all our MBA skills to the hilt. Marketing our organization nationally, developing a focused service and responding to clients -- all while keeping costs to a minimum -- has meant relying heavily on the core concepts we learned at business school. Impact Online is a real bootstrap operation where the return on equity is the social capital created when new sources of creativity and energy are used to support social change. While Impact Online is still seeking a major investor, the word on the street is that our product is hot and the need is real. In the last few months, Impact Online has grown tremendously. We've hired a fulltime Webmaster, established a national board of directors and opened up a second office in the Washington, D.C. area. While the road ahead has many challenges, looking back, I'm proud at how far we've gotten in such a short time. -- Steve Glikbarg |
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