Nonprofits not only are canceling their major annual fundraisers because of Covid-19, they’ve also lost volunteers to the pandemic.
Swoovy, an app that melds dating and volunteering, has stepped in to help organizations with a self-service dashboard. The Austin-based company has shifted in-person volunteer events to virtual ways for volunteers to connect during what is a lonely time for many. It also is rolling out a dashboard that it says will give nonprofits management and marketing support and is expanding its platform to help couples, friends and groups schedule service projects and events online.
“We not only need to find a way to continue to allow people to foster relationships during this time, even if virtual; but we also need to prepare our nonprofit partners to activate a large swell of people who want to volunteer and contribute after the restrictions are lifted,” Brooke Waupsh, CEO and co-founder of Swoovy, said in a news release. “People will be looking to get involved when it’s safe to go out. We want to make it easy and fun to find volunteer opportunities and invite others to come.”
Swoovy — a mix of “swell” and “groovy” — is working with close to 100 nonprofit organizations, Waupsh said in an interview. Swoovy launched in late 2018 and has about 3,000 user profiles. The app connects people through volunteer activities as a date.
Now it’s trying to help nonprofits in a more direct way.
“I spent weeks on the phone with nonprofit partners just trying to understand what they were going through. They’ve been very hard hit by this as 60 to 70 percent of their efforts are supported by volunteers,” she said. “They’re not only canceling fundraisers, but they can’t use volunteers on site. We’re shifting opportunities online so people can help from home.”
Swoovy also is helping organizations with online orientation and training.
Swoovy’s virtual connection opportunities include:
- Virtual concerts benefiting organizations such as the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians -- also known as HAAM.
- Viewing art galleries from Art from the Streets
- Virtual tours of UMLAUF Sculpture Gardens
- Coffee chats with artists through Big Medium
- Virtual fundraisers
- A “Lunch In” with Emancipet and users’ pets
Kelley Worden, executive director of Art from the Streets, an organization that helps support people who are homeless, said in the news release that Swoovy has been “so attentive, engaging and supportive to our needs — helping volunteers find us before, and even during the pandemic, engaging them through digital awareness. We look forward to the future and all Swoovy has to offer the community.”
Waupsh said it’s been rewarding to step up online opportunities.
“The Salvation Army has a number of opportunities,” she said. “You can make movie baskets for people in their shelters in Austin. Colin’s Hope, a water safety organization to prevent drowning, is anticipating a spike in drowning incidents. One of the opportunities we have is they will drop off a kit of water safety information.”
Right before Covid-19, Swoovy had rolled out a couples experience, giving people already together options for date nights that go beyond dinner and a movie.
“We had a lot of feedback this year that couples have a lot of challenges finding new types of date nights. Volunteering has proven to strengthen relationships,” Waupsh said. “Early users are enjoying it for at-home date nights.”
Swoovy, which is available to anyone over age 18, is in final testing for video and voice chat. The app is free for people who are single. Swoovy for Couples starts at $4.99 a month for a three-month membership.
“We find our sweet spot is between 30 and 55 years old,” Waupsh said. “They’re at a life stage where they’re more serious about dating. Maybe they’ve been divorced or widowed. They’re more intentional about dating.”
At the same time, “people who are most likely to volunteer are around the age of 35,” she said.
