Two metro Detroit business leaders have partnered to launch SHARE Detroit, a free online platform that links the needs of Detroit nonprofits to residents who are interested in volunteering time or resources.
More than 100 nonprofits have already partnered with the platform, and creators are hoping to have that number up to 250 by summer. The platform is modeled after other SHARE network websites that focus on Charlotte, N.C., and Omaha, Neb.
The fifth market in the country to launch a SHARE platform, Detroit’s will focus on supporting nonprofits in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties.
Inaugural nonprofit member organizations range from larger, well-known organizations like Brilliant Detroit and SAY Detroit to smaller organizations such as I Heart Dogs in Warren. Nonprofits are divided into categories of interest such as “children,” “veterans,” “education,” or “animals.”
SHARE helps solve the issue of people wanting to help nonprofits but not being able to find causes they care about on their own, says Janette Phillips, founding executive director of SHARE Detroit. The platform is designed to amplify specific needs and values of organizations to make them easily searchable for people looking to get involved.
“We’re connecting people to the organizations where they can see the impact being made,” Phillips says. “Investing in our community through philanthropy should be fun and accessible. We believe that by doing good together, we create a stronger, happier Detroit.”
Phillips most recently was interim executive director and director of development for Mercy Education Project, leading it to the top five of the Impact 100 list of nonprofits in metro Detroit in 2019.
Paul Vlasic of RSVP Ventures, the Vlasic Group, and the Vlasic Family Foundation and local businessman Sam Rozenberg, founder and CEO of Keeping IT Strategic and a board member of Yad Ezra Kosher Food Pantry, are the two area businessmen behind the project. They both hold the titles of inaugural founders and funders for the project.
Vlasic says he wanted to bring the resource to Detroit after seeing how it could be an easy way to get more people involved in the work of local nonprofits.
“To help bring to life this resource that can have such an impact for the region’s nonprofits is truly rewarding,” says Vlasic. “It’s a labor of love that I see working around the clock to help charitable groups attract the volunteers and funds they so need.”
