AWS vets lead new startup that aims to connect workers with nonprofits through ‘volunteerism’
- ByStartupStory | December 18, 2021
Since the beginning of 2020, the workplace has been turned upside down. First came the COVID-19 work-from-home policies, which put workers in isolation. Then the great resignation exposed widespread employee discontent.
Founder of Portland, Ore.-based startup field day Wants to help workplaces rekindle some of their collectivity and connect with their wider communities. Their solution is a platform that allows companies to find volunteer opportunities and sign up with local nonprofits.
Launched earlier this year, Field Day is launching a private beta version of its platform in January for a six-month trial run with a limited group of companies and nonprofits. The startup announced an initial round of investment led by DeFi, a San Francisco-based early-stage venture capital firm. Neither party shared the investment amount. Voyager Capital, Cascade Seed Fund, and angel investors also participated in the round.
“We are really excited about the way Field Day is building out the features and products needed to build local communities,” said DeFi partner Madison McElwain.
Field Day was created by the co-founders elle blackman And Jason Lapierre. Blackman is the startup’s CEO and LaPierre is the chief technical officer. The two previously worked together at video processing startup Elemental Technologies, which was acquired by Amazon in 2015 and became AWS Elemental. Both remained on Amazon until earlier this year.
Blackman spent his nine months working on employee engagement at Amazon, building on community projects he had done at Elemental prior to the acquisition. Whereas in both organizations, Blackman found that the software tools available for managing community engagement were ineffective and resulted in a lot of unnecessary work. He said there was often a greater focus on facilitating employee donations.
Follow Startup Story
Related Posts
