Goodera bags $10 million in funding to supercharge employee volunteering in workplaces around the world

At a time when some companies still focus on profit, major corporations including Google, Microsoft, and Coca-Cola have realized they must act in a manner that benefits not just their bottom line and also society at large.

Some of these corporations have embraced corporate social responsibility (CSR), a business model that helps them to be socially accountable to themselves, their stakeholders, and the public. CSR also benefited employees as they feel they’re contributing to their communities.

As organizations navigate hybrid work environments and seek greater opportunities to be good corporate citizens, employee volunteering programs are becoming a favorite for combining social impact and employee engagement. And that’s where Goodera comes in, a tech startup that powers volunteering for the world’s most giving brands. Goodera helps businesses and corporations by curating tailored volunteering programs designed to bring people and purpose closer.

Today, Goodera announced it has raised a $10M series A funding round to bring employee volunteering to every workplace. The round was backed by high-profile investors including Elevation Capital, Zoom Ventures, Xto10X, Nexus Venture Partners, Omidyar Network, Binny Bansal, and others. Goodera will also invest the funds to scale its team, technology, and activity catalog.

Founded by Abhishek Humbad and Richa Bajpai, Goodera helps companies enable their employees to volunteer with thousands of nonprofits in 100+ countries. To date, Goodera’s platform provides access to 10M+ employees through their customers, and they aim to reach 100M+ employees by 2025.

“Goodera has reimagined volunteering to meet the needs of the evolving workforce. Their inspiring growth makes me hopeful about a future where employers embrace action on important causes like diversity, equity, and climate change. I am excited to support Goodera in this mission of engaging millions of employees in volunteering.” said Ursula Burns, the former CEO of Xerox. Ursula is an investor and mentor to Goodera.

Goodera executes virtual, hybrid, and in-person volunteering experiences for employees in 100+ countries and 20+ languages across multiple causes – education, climate change, diversity and inclusion, accessibility, etc. benefitting 50k+ nonprofits. Goodera brings much-needed technology and innovation to the volunteering space. Goodera has grown into the market leader with over 400 customers like IBM, Target, EY, Amazon, and other leading brands, including 60 from Fortune 500.

Goodera eliminates the friction and overhead of volunteering management for enterprises. Through Goodera, enterprises can provide on-demand, impactful and engaging volunteering experiences to employees worldwide. Some volunteering experiences include – reviewing resumes of BIPOC youth, assembling solar lamps for the homeless, planting trees, and cleaning up parks, among others.

This important combination of social impact and employee engagement has seen adoption by companies in novel ways. New use cases include volunteering as a new employee onboarding activity, celebrating Holidays, as an agenda in town halls, and even as leadership and team-building exercises.

“Volunteering has become mainstream across companies of sizes, sectors, and geographies. It is the most meaningful employee engagement, especially for Gen Z and millennials. Goodera solves a massive need that was underserved and overlooked, especially in the remote and hybrid working environment. We are proud to be a customer and now an investor in their ambition to bring volunteering to every workplace,” said Sanjay Rao, Head of Corporate Development, M&A Strategy, and Zoom Ventures.

“Every team in the world wants to volunteer, but there is insane friction in the process. From finding the right nonprofit to finalizing the volunteering activity, logistics, and impact measurement, there are a lot of overheads. We simplify volunteering and eliminate these overheads. Millions of employees can now volunteer without spending time and effort on volunteer management. We are proud of the social impact we have created for thousands of nonprofits and relish the joy and empathy we bring to millions of employees. This fundraise will help us scale our infrastructure to enable millions of employees to volunteer,” said Abhishek Humbad, Founder and CEO of Goodera.