Catalist Measurement Platform Unites Companies And Causes, Delivers Positive Bottom Line Results

June 26, 2018 Mary Rose Avila

A lot of people I know are sick of hearing me say, “I hate attending investment pitches”. Those same lot of people will also hear me say, “I don’t watch Shark Tank. It makes me nervous.” While I appreciate the entertainment value of good pitches and also the fact that this seems to be the most accepted way for Founders to present their story to investors, pitches have become “the deal”. No. The DEAL is “the deal.” Can we just skip to that? So with this surly attitude I sat down one day to hear Brittany Hill’s pitch her start-up SaaS platform, Catalist (www.gocatalist.com), which helps connect “companies with causes.” Within five minutes, I realized I was looking at something which could be truly transformational. Catalist uses the latest technology to bring nonprofit fundraising into a more modern era, and at the same time, employs the latest algorithms and data analytics to help corporations’ CSR (“corporate social responsibility’, i.e. their charitable giving programs) measure the impact of their efforts and also find new non profits which more closely aligned with their branding, customer base and mission. I liked it so much I invested! However, my greatest hope is that Catalist will help great causes raise more money to have more far-reaching impact.

Ray Brimble

Like a dating site for social good, the Austin-based firm finds compatible partnerships for companies to maximize their corporate social responsibility

AUSTIN, Texas, June 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Community impact has long been a common goal of companies and nonprofits. Catalist, the industry's only matchmaking and measurement platform for companies and causes, finds the most compatible partners to help companies do the most good from the inside, out.

"Purpose-driven companies are no longer the exception but rather the expectation," says Catalist co-founder and chief executive officer Brittany Hill, a featured speaker on Decoding Social Impact Measurement at the Sustainable Brands '18 conference in Vancouver. "A company's social impact must resonate with all of its stakeholders – consumers, employees, board members and investors."

It has been well documented that consumers consider a company's social good when deciding what to buy and where to shop. Employees and investors are also now more scrupulous about where they work and invest their capital. A recent Nielsen study reports that 67 percent of employees prefer to work for socially responsible companies. 78 percent of investment professionals are increasing their investment in CSR-focused firms, according to the Schroders Global Investors Study.

"Catalist's proprietary software allows us to conduct a psycho-social analysis of consumers and employee data and based on our findings, we provide companies with a selection of issues and causes that align with its core values," Hill explains. "As a true matchmaker, we can then broker the relationship and once a partnership is formed, using technology continue to measure how this union affects a company's bottom line – its profits, its stock value, its impact on the community."

In an effort to satisfy new demands around social impact, purpose-driven companies are now measuring the various facets of their philanthropic activities, and the impact it has on their triple bottom line.

"At Mondel�“z International, our philosophy is that a community program can do great things, but if you don't show impact through change in behavior or knowledge, it doesn't mean much. We seek to measure the success and evaluate results of every Foundation partnership - leveraging data to make the most meaningful impact for the partnerships that we bring to life." – Julia Gin, Associate Director, Community Involvement at Mondelez International & Vice President, Mondelez International Foundation

Founded in 2016 by Hill and Maureen Carlson, Catalist completed their Series Seed capital raise in March of 2018, led by serial impact investor, Ray Brimble. As a social impact SaaS technology platform, Catalist is dedicated to creating solutions for companies and causes to more easily, more quickly and more effectively ignite progress.

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SOURCE Catalist