Dealflow | September 1, 2017

Impact First bets on GivingWay to scale “voluntourism”

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The online social network connects volunteers with more 700 organizations directly

PC: GivingWay

The notion of committing vacation time to boost social and humanitarian causes has taken some hits (see: Savior Barbie).

GivingWay, an Israeli tech startup, wants to improve the current models, which mostly rely on placement agents who take a sizeable cut to connect volunteers to local organizations.

GivingWay connects volunteers with organizations directly; its platform includes more than 700 organizations in 80 countries. Israel’s Impact First Investments, a tech-focused impact venture capital fund, made an undisclosed investment in GivingWay to support its expansion.

Impact First’s four earlier investments were in special needs and health tech (see, “Turning Israeli technology toward sustainable development”).