Locally based RealResponse got its start as a fast, safe and anonymous communication system for college athletes.
As a former college basketball player, founder and CEO David Chadwick sought a solution for players and others in athletic departments to be able to report — in real time — abusive behavior, mental health struggles and anything else affecting their lives on campus.
The company, started in 2015, has moved into other sports and leagues as it’s grown. Within the last month, RealResponse has added two clients that could power rapid expansion: One is Charlotte-based Pi Kappa Phi, a national fraternity system; and the other is the Boy Scouts of America, soon to be known as Scouting America.
Fraternities and youth scouting have both endured widely publicized safety lapses over the years, prompting reform and updated policies.
“As we began to expand beyond our college sports roots, one of the first areas of focus was leveraging our platform beyond student-athletes into the broader campus ecosystem,” Chadwick told CBJ. “That’s everything from student conduct to hazing to Title IX, bias discrimination. After we saw tremendous success, we began to get interest from the fraternity and sorority national offices.”
RealResponse’s system — a tool that can help curb or lessen problems through early reporting — is attractive for fraternity and sorority leaders, members and others, he said.
Chadwick said the scope of Greek life on campuses offers extensive opportunity for the company to foster a better environment for students. It also offers a chance to expand RealResponse’s business.
According to one estimate, there are 750,000 undergrad fraternity and sorority members across 800 campuses in the U.S. and Canada.
“This makes a lot of sense for our Greek members,” Chadwick said. “(Pi Kappa Phi) is the first but we have several others that are working through the contract process. There are more coming.”
Ryan Lugabihl, Pi Kappa Phi’s chief collegiate officer, told CBJ that the fraternity system learned about RealResponse as part of a presentation by their insurance broker.
“We looked into it and thought it was a good fit,” Lugabihl said. Pi Kappa Phi established a portal using RealResponse’s system throughout its affiliate system. The portal went live this month.
Questions, concerns and other communications can be received and answered much faster through the portal, he said. Pi Kappa Phi has 162 chapters in the U.S.
Chadwick said the company already has the capacity to handle the additional business; it’s unlikely to spur additional hiring for RealResponse because the organizations monitor and answer communications from their members. RealResponse employs 13 people.
Speaking about the Boy Scouts, Chadwick said, “Kudos to them for putting a new focus on child safety and reporting. I think they were really excited about (our platform).”
Because scouts are children and adolescents, they are, naturally, most comfortable communicating through technology. Texts and QR codes are part of the new monitoring system using RealResponse.
