New platform to connect nonprofits to donors, volunteers launches in Detroit
New platform to connect nonprofits to donors, volunteers launches in Detroit
Local businessmen led efforts to bring site to Detroit, providing operating support
Looking to sustain site operation through philanthropy, sponsorships
A free, web-based platform that links Detroit nonprofits with volunteers and donors has launched.
Nonprofit Share Detroit was founded by co-chairs Paul Vlasic, founder, RSVP Ventures & Capital, the Vlasic Group and the Vlasic Family Foundation, and founder and chairman of Amplifinity; and Sam Rozenberg, founder and CEO, Keeping IT Strategic. The two have provided a combined $500,000 for initial development of the platform, its Detroit launch and two years of operating costs.
Omar Anani and his staff at Saffron De Twah were just a couple weeks into a fruitful awards season and the swell of customers that a nod from the James Beard Foundation brings when business suddenly dropped off a cliff.
The novel coronavirus was spreading quickly in the United States and local restaurants had begun to feel the pinch even before Michigan’s first cases were confirmed. After consulting with health care workers in his family, Anani made the decision to close the award-winning modern Moroccan bistro days before the governor mandated it.
“So we shut down and said, ‘What is it we can do?, ” Anani recalls. “We have all this food sitting here. All these restaurants are closed. Let’s feed these restaurant workers because a lot of them are on tipped wages and live paycheck to paycheck.”
An Oakland County STEM organization has donated $20,000 worth of toys to a Detroit nonprofit.
The Robot Garage, with locations in Birmingham and Rochester Hills, offers programs and classes for local children to learn more about science, technology, engineering and mathematics with hands-on activities.
Owned by husband and wife Jonathan and Sarah Jacobs, the organization also sells construction and engineering toys from its gift shop.
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Jonathan and Sarah Jacobs, owners of the Robot Garage. Submitted Photo - Robot Garage
Both locations have been closed for in-person visits since March. While most of the Robot Garageâs programs were transferred to an online format, the gift shop inventory remained unsold on the shelves. Seeking a fresh start in the new year, the couple decided to find a nonprofit that was interested in distributing the toys for the holidays.
It s been a tough year for Jonathan and Sarah Jacobs s business.
The Franklin couple that owns The Robot Garage in Birmingham and Rochester Hills has kept their doors closed to children since March when shutdowns over COVID-19 began.
The center, which brings in children as young as preschool age to teach them all about robotics, has plenty of kits and toys available for sale that are just sitting in their shop, not being played with. So instead of collecting dust, the Jacobs decided to make an impactful donation: they gifted more than $20,000 worth of toys to Brilliant Detroit, a nonprofit aimed at creating neighborhood spaces in the city.