The origin story
Empowering donors and volunteers to generate sustainable support for social good.
Gudsy is a GPS for your social good journey, it helps you discover and research social causes, plan and budget your contributions, gives you options for greater impact, and updates you with progress. Pronounced 'good-see', blending 'good' and 'gutsy', Gudsy embodies the qualities of those committed to social good
At Gudsy, we're redefining philanthropy by putting donors and volunteers—the heart and soul of social good organizations—at the center of our vision. We started with a fundamental question: How can a human-centered approach increase their engagement with these organizations?
In the broader industry, it's clear that simple, intuitive, and human-centered experiences boost user engagement and participation. Our mission is to bring this principle to the social good sector, making engaging experiences accessible to organizations of all sizes.
Furthermore, we aim to achieve all of this through a value-driven, for-profit model, enabling us to sustain innovation at scale. By focusing on individuals, our ultimate aim is to reduce turnover and amplify support for essential social good organizations, which play a crucial role in the well-being of our society.
Founder
With almost three decades of experience in driving technological innovation, founder Abrar Qureshi has a proven track record in both the commercial and public sectors, marked by a tenure as a Presidential Innovation Fellow with the General Services Administration (GSA), and significant roles at Fortune 500 companies and startups. This journey has fostered a deep understanding of the nuanced needs of diverse organizations and honed an expertise in developing and implementing visionary technology strategies.
For over ten years, Abrar has been deeply committed to making a difference in the social impact world, keenly understanding the hurdles nonprofit organizations face. Through comprehensive research and hands-on involvement with various groups, it became evident that nonprofits, much like businesses, often struggle to stand out in the vast digital landscape.
After delving into extensive research on high donor and volunteer attrition rates (35-45%) in the social good sector, and the persistent 1:3 ratio for overall fundraising/outreach costs that hasn't shown much improvement over the last decade, it became clear that the current approach is unsustainable. The pivotal realization was that empowering individuals—donors and volunteers alike—with clear information about social causes and providing them with tangible ways to get involved, whether individually or in groups, is crucial for fostering their ongoing engagement. With his deep-seated passion for social good and a solid foundation in creating human-centered technology solutions in the financial sector, Abrar is uniquely positioned to pioneer innovative approaches to disrupt this cycle and establish a strong new ecosystem for social good.
For Abrar, this initiative is more than a milestone in his career; it's an opportunity to make a meaningful impact on the social good ecosystem. As he lays the foundation for this new ecosystem, he's actively seeking partnerships that can elevate this work to new heights. Whether you're interested in collaboration or investment, connecting with Abrar on LinkedIn is the ideal way to explore how you can be part of this transformative journey.