Why we are building Ember

Nonprofits do some of the hardest work there is, with the least, and then get handed clunky tools built for big companies, at prices that make no sense. We started Ember because the people changing their communities deserve tools that are simple, affordable, and actually built for how they work, not another expensive login.

The hardest work, with the least

The nonprofits we build for run food pantries, after-school programs, animal rescues, clinics, shelters and scholarship funds. Most do it with a handful of staff, a bench of volunteers and a founder who is also the bookkeeper, the grant writer and the person who locks up at night. Their budgets would not cover one enterprise contract. Their to-do list would sink a company three times their size.

Then they go looking for help, and the help is built for someone else. Tools made for sales teams, priced per seat, with the useful parts locked behind a bigger plan and a setup that needs a consultant. A small organization ends up with six logins, four spreadsheets and a nagging sense that the tools have become the job.

What we care about

Streamlined solutions. That is the whole obsession. Every step we can take out of a nonprofit's week is an hour that goes back to the mission, and we are a little relentless about finding those steps. A form that fills itself from what you already entered. A deadline that shows up before it is urgent. A report that writes itself from the work you already recorded. None of it is flashy. All of it adds up.

1. Simple means usable on day one

   By a volunteer, on a Tuesday night, without training. If a screen needs a manual, the screen is wrong.

2. Affordable means the price follows your budget, not your headcount

   Nonprofits grow by adding people who care, and a tool should never charge them for that. Your whole team is included, the smallest organizations pay nothing, and nothing useful is held back for a bigger tier.

3. Built for how nonprofits actually work

   Programs, grants, volunteers, donors, board meetings and compliance are not separate departments. They are one job that lands on the same few people, so the tools for them should be connected, and should speak your language, not a sales team's.

From spark to impact

That phrase is on every page for a reason. It is the whole arc of a nonprofit, and it is the arc we want Ember to carry.

Spark is the idea, the kitchen-table meeting, the first filing. A new founder should be able to go from "someone should do something about this" to a filed, compliant organization without hiring anyone.

Impact is the part that is hard to show. What each program really costs, who showed up, which grant is due, what to tell the board, and the story of the change you made, coming out the other end almost on its own, because the work was recorded as it happened.

Everything in between, the running of the thing, is where most tools give up on small organizations. It is where we are spending our energy.

Who this is for

The founder running everything from a spreadsheet and a shared inbox. The volunteer treasurer who inherited the books. The executive director with a board packet due Thursday and a grant report due Friday. The program lead who knows the work matters and cannot show it fast enough. If that is you, come use it.

Talk to us

We read every message. Questions, ideas, and especially the things that are not working: hello@donewithember.org. If you are just getting started, Ember Spark walks you through it a step at a time, and the guides are free and need no account.