By Tim Chai
<[email protected]>

In high school, Catherine Gao (Class of ’07), currently a student enrolled in the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, spent her weekends volunteering in the local community at places like the Ronald McDonald House and Chaucie’s Place. Now, she’s taking on the world.

Gao was recently named Chief Development Officer (CDO) of the new non-profit organization, Givology (givology.org). Appropriately, especially with her contributions to this school’s academic record, Givology strives to bring education to every child in the world.

She said, “Givology is an Internet community that empowers individual donors to connect with students and communities around the world in need of education support. By leveraging the Internet to support education grants and projects, we can create a global community of people connected through their belief in the power of education.”

As the CDO, some of Gao’s responsibilities include leading campus marketing initiatives, initiating partnerships between Givology and campus groups, overseeing development of human resources, implementing development of internal training materials and leading the corporate sponsorship and grant application processes. According to Gao, many of the skills she acquired from leading activities in organizations at this school like Key Club, in which she was president for two years, are transferable to her work with Givology.

Key Club sponsor Jill Grimes said, “We never doubted that Catherine would go on to do great things. We were lucky to have her in high school, and (Givology) will benefit from the enthusiasm (Gao) brings to her work.”

“Community service is like breathing for Catherine. I don’t think that she ever thinks about it; she just does it.”

Givology, according to Gao, is very simple to use. She encourages everyone at this school to make a profile and spread the word among their friends, family and anyone else they see.

“(Givology is) very simple to use. Individuals view profiles of students and education-related projects on our website. They then select which ones they would like to support as well as the amount they would like to donate to each one. Once a student or project is fully funded, the money is channeled to our local partners, who give out the funding,” Gao said. “Partners also provide regular updates from each student or project via (our website), givology.org. Donors even have the option to message the students they are supporting. Unlike other non-profit organizations, Givology distinguishes itself in its way of making giving easy, transparent and rewarding.”

According to Gao, Givology began as a small project created by graduates of the University of Pennsylvania a few years ago. Gao said that, since its inception, the organization has grown tremendously.

“The people I work with are amazing, and they’ve grown the organization from a (University of Pennsylvania) campus group to something that is truly international. They’re all some of the brightest people I’ve met, a lot of them graduating from the Huntsman Program (of International Studies and Business) at Penn. Our CEO, for example, is a Rhodes Scholar.”

Givology’s success as a major non-profit is already visible, demonstrated through its features in various publications, including on the New York Times website. However, in the end, Gao said the real reward is creating life-long bonds among people in different parts of the world.

She said, “Through the levels of regular communication we offer, people can track their impact and maintain a lasting relationship with those they have helped. And that’s all we really want.”

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How It Works
1. Register and add money to your virtual wallet.
2. Check out personal or project profiles.
3. Donate to help students around the world.

GIVOLOGY.ORG / SOURCE