Purposely's Year In Review 2020

I think more than anything else this year, we've had to accept and embrace vulnerability. That's a hard thing to do personally, and it's just as hard to do as a company. But one of the beautiful things about vulnerability is that for a brief period of time, it allows a window to open.

Looking through that window helped us take a hard look at our missteps, learn from them, and keep moving forward. And ultimately it led us down the path of helping companies run smart, efficient, and worthwhile employee volunteer programs.

So to wrap up the year on a good note, we want to share what we've found ourselves grateful for along this wild ride that was 2020!

Starting the year, we were feeling confident about our volunteer management platform. We were building out key pieces of software for big names like the Canadian Mental Health Association. We're grateful to have had this opportunity to hone our customer interview and market-fit skills.

When COVID reared its ugly head, everything in the nonprofit volunteer management world shut down and we quickly pivoted our platform into a mutual aid website, designed to allow people to help each other out with various tasks and needs. We couldn't be more grateful for the community members who rose to the challenges of the time by helping their neighbours (special shoutout to the COVID Care Collective).

But we knew we needed to find a sustainable fit, so while we kept the mutual aid site running for its hundreds of users across Canada, we started looking for a long-term focus in June.

Starting in July we hoisted the mast, unfurled the sails, and pointed our bow towards a new and brighter horizon. We were tried, tested, and had our sea legs beneath us as we embarked on a journey to truly make an impact for both nonprofits and companies.

It made us grateful for the lumps of the past and the chance to start things off right. It did not, however, make us pirates, so no more sea metaphors.

We spent the better part of July and August digging into the available research on employee volunteering, building a team of rock solid advisors, and adjusting our code base for the new project.

Along the way we had the opportunity to learn about the struggles of employee volunteering from great local Vancouver companies, many of whom are now with us as beta customers! We're incredibly grateful to these companies for the conversations, lessons, and partnerships we've forged.

The theme from September to the present has been all about learning from companies and building software solutions, and it's that same spirit that will carry us into the new year. We're grateful to have the opportunity to take the lessons from our volunteer management experience and use it to build a meaningful social impact platform.

And finally, damn do we have a good team here. I'm sure every founder says it about their own team, but to have a group of people stick together for well over a year through some seriously trying times says a lot about them and the work we're all doing together.

It's a committed, talented, and big-hearted bunch, and we're incredibly grateful to have such wonderful people in our lives.