Brandon Litman founded his philanthropic startup Kindly in his native New York City. However, his previous experience as a documentary filmmaker drew him to the Twin Cities robust nonprofit sector.
So in 2020, Litman relocated to Minnesota in order to tap into the area’s more substantial growth opportunities. Now, the St. Paul-based company’s mobile app is combining two facets of the nonprofit industry that are usually separated: volunteers and donors.
Kindly works as an end-to-end marketplace that pairs would-be volunteers directly with nonprofits in need of help. Rather than acting as a directory that refers volunteers to each organization’s website, Kindly partners directly with the nonprofit itself. This allows volunteers to schedule their appointment within the app.
“We see ourselves as being the Kayak or Expedia of the volunteer sector,” Litman said. “There needs to be a place where jobs are listed, and that it works in a way that feeds directly back to the organization.”
But Litman said Kindly’s “secret sauce” is the way in which the platform channels donations to the nonprofits themselves. This process starts when a donor opens an account, called a wallet, and specifies an organization or causes they want their money to go, and in what amount.
After a volunteer completes their act of service, Kindly’s algorithm matches them to a donor to unlock a small amount of that donor’s fund. At the same time, the app prompts the volunteer to match the donor’s monetary contribution.
“That's the moment that you want to ask the volunteer to match,” Litman said. “Right in the moment their heart is open the widest, and they're most connected.”
Litman said the donation feature addresses the need to give the average person access to a giving plan.
“The traditional donor advised fund plans cater to the wealthy. And there's also a lot of criticism about how liquid those plans are,” he said.
Accounts paired with Kindly are designed to be highly liquid because they’re moving at the rate the community is engaging.
“Our plan is to all funds move out certainly within the year, but hopefully within six- to eight months,” Litman said. “The reason why this is important is because the more money moves, the more we evangelize the giving process, and the more that we can convert more people into givers.”
The company operates on a subscription-based model, allowing its nonprofit partners to participate for free, while charging donors a small setup and monthly subscription fee.
Kindly’s lead partners in the Twin Cities include Minneapolis-based Pillsbury United, Minneapolis-based Open Arms of Minnesota, Minneapolis-based Gifts for Seniors and Coon Rapids-based Feed My Starving Children. But Litman said that list will grow much longer in 2022 as the company accelerates into new metro markets.
“This year, I’m most excited about watching this expand at the exponential rate that I think it can,” Litman said. “There are 77 million American volunteers, and the majority of them don’t have a product in their pocket that actually elevates their impact in the way that Kindly can.”
