History

campusCATALYST Co-Founders Molly Day and Kunal Modi became instant friends during freshman seminar at Northwestern University, in which they discovered their shared passion for community development. Over the next few years, they debated different models of social change as they interacted with diverse and inspiring individuals while volunteering through various student groups on campus and in Chicago-area communities.

In early 2007, Molly ventured to Malawi to conduct research for her senior thesis on microfinance and HIV/AIDS, while Kunal served as an AmeriCorps*VISTA at a nonprofit in Washington, D.C. Driven by their shared frustration at the seemingly inherent obstacles they faced within the nonprofit sector, the two soon found their constant dialogue evolving into a tangible concept. Molly watched as the organizational challenges of her partner NGO impeded its clients' business success. Kunal experienced the funding, staffing and resource shortfalls that prevent nonprofits from planning for the long term, and how this in turn prevented nonprofits' clients from achieving the type of success they could have attained.

Though separated by an ocean, Molly and Kunal recognized that while nonprofits everywhere were fighting different battles, they were often plagued with similar challenges. Yet many of the resources nonprofits needed to achieve success were present in their respective communities. Unfortunately, inundated by the immediate needs of the community, nonprofits were unable to collect and centralize local resources. Spurred by this realization, the two created a new model for social change - one that drew upon the lessons learned from campus volunteerism, as well as their incredible experiences on two very different continents.