Kelowna start-up has social conscience built right in

KELOWNA – Local non-profits are jumping on a new interactive web platform called Volinspire, the product of a new local start-up created as one of the province’s first community contribution companies.

Volinspire unveiled their new interactive web platform in Kelowna yesterday, Dec. 4.

“The idea began with wanting to help young people find volunteer opportunities and connect them with great causes — I have two young daughters myself — and it grew into a platform that that helps connect our community overall,” CEO Sheldon Gardiner says.

Supported by local credit unions Interior Savings, Prospera and Valley First, groups such as Kelowna Community Resources, United Way and the City of Kelowna have embraced the new interactive platform that helps connect non-profits with volunteers and local businesses.

“For charities and nonprofits, volunteers are the most important resource they have,” Kelowna Community Resources president Rob Peter says. “Volinspire will greatly assist in reaching out to them, bringing individuals and organizations together to work collaboratively for the benefit of the community.”

Kelowna Community Resources estimated the economic impact of volunteer hours in the Central Okanaganat more than $95 million.

Volinspire is one of just 30 companies in B.C. created under an amendment to the B.C. Business Corporation Act, which made legal a hybrid social enterprise structure where the company must invest 60 per cent of profits back into the community.

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.