On a beautiful summer evening at 3UP, on a rooftop bar overlooking the Carmel Arts & Design District, Steve Lausch, director of product marketing for OneCause, was in an ebullient mood.
And not because of the view.
The local tech community had just raised $61,000 for area nonprofits, bringing the total raised by Indy Tech Gives to more than $215,000. For Lausch, the evening served as a reminder of what can happen when individuals and tech companies link together to tackle problems and do good.
“This world has challenges, and it has its share of problems, but when people get involved with nonprofits who address those problems and answer those challenges, what happens is an amazing thing,” Lausch said. “And I don’t know how you cannot be excited about that.”
This year’s fundraising competition lasted from June 1 to July 15. Participants raised funds by using OneCause’s peer-to-peer software to create personal campaigns to collect donations.
Participating tech companies included OneCause, Leaf Software Solutions, Greenlight Guru, Boardable, Salesforce, Demandwell, SIM Indianapolis and Webex Events. Benefiting nonprofits included Firefly Children and Family Alliance, AthLeadIndy, Make-A-Wish, IndyHumane, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, TechPoint Foundation for Youth, Dayspring Center and Nextech.
Lausch said what makes the Indy Tech Gives fundraiser unique is its ability to utilize employees as changemakers.
“It would not work if it were not personal,” he said. “It would not work if it were not engaging the individual employee. But because it does, companies enjoy that team versus team competition.”
Lausch applauds the nonprofits for their community service.
“These nonprofits are serving a wide spectrum of needs and challenges, and the Indianapolis tech community is rising to meet those challenges,” Lausch said. “And I think that’s tremendous.”
For more or to donate, visit p2p.onecause.com/indytechgives/home.
