Media Release
Our planet and our society need sustainable solutions to pressing problems, which by 2030 we want to make possible with the UN Sustainability Goals. Today's generation of employees is looking for more meaningful work and non-profits need help to increase their social impact. Copalana creates synergies that meet these needs thanks to the support of businesses and non-profits.
Copalana was launched in 2017 by a young team because we want to make it easy and entertaining, so that everyone can make a personal contribution to solve pressing social problems. We envision a world where it is easy for people to support others and address the problems we face together. Copalana connects volunteers, companies and non-profits through joint crowdfunding campaigns and volunteering projects that make a direct contribution to a sustainable society and the environment. With our platform, we offer a digital ecosystem for companies, their employees and non-profits in order to create synergies for mutual cooperation for the sustainability goals. With corporate crowdfunding and volunteering, Copalana enables employees to make their personal contribution to non-profit projects so that together we can achieve the sustainability goals by 2030.
New skills-based volunteering marketplace goes live!
Since its launch in 2018, Copalana Crowdfunding has raised more than 5 million francs for more than 100 charitable projects in Switzerland and abroad. Numerous employees have organized campaigns to support these projects and their sustainability goals. With the Volunteering Marketplace, we now also enable direct volunteering engagement using the individual skills of employees for partner projects. Credit Suisse has been a founding partner for Copalana, contributing both in terms of content and funding, and uses both the crowdfunding and volunteering platforms in many regions of the world.
“The Copalana Volunteering Platform builds on our pioneering virtual volunteering program that has been in existence for over 10 years. We want to connect our partner organizations more directly with employees whose skills and experience can support their work,” says Andrina Schwartz, Head of the Financial Inclusion Initiative at Credit Suisse. "With the new platform, we can now respond more dynamically to the needs of our partners and at the same time take into account the desire of our employees to become more involved in society in these challenging times and beyond."
A digital ecosystem for sustainable projects
With Copalana Crowdfunding and the new Volunteering Marketplace, Copalana presents an integrated solution (CSR-in-a box) for companies to support the financial and personal social commitment of their employees and at the same time provide non-profit organizations with valuable resources for their work. In order to address a new generation of donors and volunteers, non-profits can communicate their activities and success stories directly via their preferred digital channels and provide their supporters with ongoing updates. In addition, Copalana offers various features that make up a contemporary social commitment:
- Focus on sustainability and thematic alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals
- No costs for volunteers or non-profit partner organizations thanks to sponsors and pro bono partners
- Full transparency and visibility of the impact
- Constant further development of the sector through content-related cooperation and success monitoring
- Open to co-creation with other corporate partnerships
Copalana founder Paul Ryatt: “We want to support people to get involved and to contribute to the solutions of the problems that our society and our planet are confronted with today. To this end, we are developing new digital solutions for donation and volunteering that seamlessly connect individuals and companies with non-profit organizations. It really should be made very easy for everyone to work together and achieve a positive impact in society."
