Rachael Chong
Founder, CEO, Catchafire
Catchafire's Chong has caught some fire
How To Make People Enjoy Volunteering
Rachael Chong runs what amounts to an eHarmony for not-for-profits--a service matching volunteers with charities, built with the help of former Hulu and Etsy engineers. It was based on this observation:
"If you're a banker or designer and your volunteer experience involves painting a house instead of applying your talents, you probably don't feel your time was well spent," says Chong, a former investment banker at UBS and a regular volunteer. Her site now matches nearly 2,500 not-for-profits and 10,000 "pro bono professionals." One of the keys to those happy marriages: Not-for-profits pay Catchafire a fee, creating an incentive to make good assignments. "You need skin in the game," says Chong.
Timeline
2003
Works as a credit derivatives sales analyst at Goldman Sachs
2004
Graduates magna cum laude from Barnard College with a double major in economics and political science
2004
Works as an investment banker at UBS
2009
Receives masters degree in public policy at Duke University
2009
Begins contributing to the Huffington Post
2012
Builds out Catchafire database to include 2,500 nonprofits and 10,000 volunteers
Photograph by Dorothy Hong; Infographic by Brian Rea
A version of this article appears in the June 2012 issue of Fast Company.