With increasing pressure from consumers, employees, government and investors, there has never been stronger commercial incentives to be in the social impact space. Because of this, there has been a big rise in startups tacking social issues such as sustainability, poverty, inequality and social justice.

Problem space landscape

There are many ways startups are tackling problems in social impact space which can be categorised in many ways including:

Target Customers:

Solutions which help corporates with ESG and CSR initiatives.

Solutions which help charities and NGO operations such as donation, fundraising and volunteer management.

Solutions which facilitate peer to peer social impact.

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Tool Types

Measurement/Reporting Tools:

These tools track social impact and  generate reports to optomise strategies.

‍Donation/Investment Funneling Tools:

‍Streamline fundraising, connecting donors and investors with impactful projects.

‍Volunteering Management Tools:

‍These tools help organisations recruit, schedule, and manage volunteers.

‍Compliance Tools:

‍These tools ensure organisations meet legal requirements and ethical standards, maintaining trust and avoiding legal issues.

‍Aggregators:

‍These platforms compile resources and opportunities related to social impact, making it easier to find and engage with relevant causes.

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Industry Focus

Sustainability and Climate:

‍Startups in this area develop solutions to reduce carbon footprints, promote renewable energy, and encourage sustainable practices.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:

‍These startups create tools and programs to promote diversity, eliminate biases, and ensure equal opportunities in workplaces and communities.

Social Causes:

‍Ventures addressing social causes focus on issues like poverty, education, and human rights, supporting marginalised communities and advocating for social justice.

Health and Well-being:

‍Startups in this sector develop technologies and services to enhance physical and mental health, contributing to improved quality of life and reduced healthcare costs.

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Mayfly Ventures and VOLI

Mayfly Ventures is deeply embedded in the global social impact-tech ecosystem, fostering relationships with mentors, operators, and startup founders who are driving meaningful change. One such startup Mayfly was instrumental in developing is VOLI.

VOLI is an all-in-one platform that makes social impact easy, measuring it even easier, and rewards you for your efforts. Companies can sign up and onboard the workforce onto the platform where they’ll find VOLI Opportunities to volunteer, give blood, donate, perform community service, and more. They track their VOLIs through the app and earn points for doing good, which can be traded for rewards like gift cards. VOLI also helps companies track the good work of their teams, making ESG reporting easy and contributing to positive marketing and culture.

Before VOLI’s founder Charlie Crozier met Mayfly, he had dealt with 12 different development agencies. As a non-technical founder, he was struggling to get his idea built and into the hands of users. It also didn’t help that the quotes he had received ranged from $300,000 up to one million dollars for a build, putting significant pressure on him to raise large amounts of capital at an early stage in the business’s journey.

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After launching the product, Mayfly jumped at the opportunity to become a customer of VOLI, and started completing VOLI’s. Mayfly’s first VOLI was helping Children of Cambodia with a branding kit and new website to unlock growth opportunities for the organisation.

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Mayfly Ventures and Feels

Due to our involvement with launching VOLI, the founder a Feels reached out to Mayfly Ventures. Feels is a digital gifting platform that allows companies to fund a donation and lets customers, employees, and prospects choose from over 1.5 million charities as the destination. Feels make giving back the perfect corporate gift.

Based in New Orleans, Louisiana, Mayfly Ventures was excited to support a company making impact on the other side of the globe.

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Macro Trends in Social Impact Startups

Rising Demand for Purpose-Driven Business Models

There is a growing demand, especially among younger generations, for companies that go beyond just making a profit and actively work towards solving societal or environmental challenges. This has fueled the rise of social impact startups that embed a purpose-driven mission into their core business models.

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Increasing Focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Issues

Investors, consumers, and stakeholders are placing greater emphasis on ESG factors, driving startups to prioritise sustainability, ethical practices, and positive social impact. ESG has become a key consideration for many startups seeking funding and building brand loyalty.

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Growth of Impact Investing

The impact investing market, which provides capital to companies generating positive social or environmental impact alongside financial returns, has been growing rapidly. This has opened up new funding avenues for social impact startups.

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Collaboration and Cross-Sector Partnerships

Social impact startups are increasingly collaborating with non-profits, government agencies, and other sectors to amplify their impact and access resources, expertise, and networks needed to tackle complex societal challenges.

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Emphasis on Measurable Impact

There is a growing focus on quantifying and measuring the social and environmental impact of startups, as investors and stakeholders demand greater transparency and accountability. This has led to the development of impact measurement frameworks and standards.

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Addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Many social impact startups are aligning their missions and solutions with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, which provide a globally recognised framework for addressing pressing social, economic, and environmental issues.

These macro trends highlight the increasing importance of social impact in the startup ecosystem, driven by changing consumer preferences, investor priorities, and a recognition of the role that businesses can play in creating a more sustainable and equitable world.

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If you are a founder who has an idea in the social impact-tech space, we would love to hear what you are working on. Mayfly Ventures brings a deep-domain expertise, industry connections and passion to the social impact-tech industry.

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