Impala’s Impact Intelligence platform brings innovation to the non-profit sector

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Impala announced that it has completed a $ 1.05 million pre-seed round to help develop its Impact Intelligence product, a BI-like platform tailored for donors and fundraisers in the nonprofit sector. The modest round was led by Model N founder and former president and CEO Zack Rinat and includes the participation of major investors such as Oren Ze’ev, founder and general partner of Zeev Ventures, venture capital firm Koa Labs, Amnon Landan, co-founder and former President and CEO of Mercury Interactive, and Adam Berman, former Executive Director at the Haas School of Business.

“What we find very often in the nonprofit sector is that they often suffer the maneuvers of the private sector,” explained Simon Dickson, COO of Impala. “So they get a BI platform that has been developed for the needs of the for-profit industry, then is modified or adapted for the non-profit industry, but in a way that isn’t really fit for purpose.” Dickson, along with CEO Shahar Brukner and CTO Tom Huberman, rolled out Impala’s new platform with multiple early access customers.

Impala Founding Team (left to right): Tom Huberman (CTO), Shahar Brukner (CEO) and Simon Dickson (COO) | Photo: Leticia Almeida Photography

Impact Intelligence by Impala collects and cleans data on nonprofits, people involved and financial information. Users can then analyze any nonprofit ecosystem anywhere in the United States looking for specific traits such as geographies, causes, LGBT / BIPOC ownership, or lenders. The hope is that Impala can then provide relevant insights, statistical trends and reports so that users can make informed and impactful decisions.

“We want to enable all philanthropic foundations and nonprofits, regardless of their size or resources, to operate like the Gates Foundation, but at a fraction of the cost,” Brukner said in a statement. Speaking with CTech later, he elaborated: “Think of it as a combination of Crunchbase and LinkedIn for the nonprofit sector, not in the sense that you go to find work but in the sense that each nonprofit has its own profile … It solves a lot of problems this sector suffers from ”.

According to Brukner and Dickson, traditional BI tools are unable to be adequately adapted for use in the nonprofit sector. As entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley or the Startup Nation graduate from corporations to philanthropic foundations, the duo says technicians have been surprised by the lack of data available for industries that don’t come from the tech bubbles usually supported by millions of dollars of VC funds.

“My transition from business to philanthropic has given me a direct awareness of the need to develop a digital infrastructure to provide nonprofits with the same tools we take for granted in business,” said the lead investor. Zack Rinat, who now serves as the CEO of the DARE Foundation. “Impala had a unique opportunity to do both things well while facing a great market opportunity.”

There are currently 1.5 million nonprofits and more than 100,000 philanthropic foundations with 12 million people working in the industry. According to Impala, $ 471 billion is donated annually in the United States, not including government support, which equates to about $ 800 billion more. “It’s a trillion-dollar-a-year market,” Brukner said. “It is clear that there must be interruptions there.”

Impala has already analyzed publicly available information to build its BI tool and has information on 17,000 nonprofits and foundations. Of these, 300 have “claimed” a profile and have access to the platform so they can edit and update their records. The tool will run a freemium model whereby the audit engine and profiles will be available for free, while foundations and nonprofits will pay a subscription fee to help with the onboarding and maintenance process.

“Impala’s mission is to build the digital infrastructure in a way that allows nonprofits to maximize their contribution,” Dickson concluded. “We truly see ourselves as a digital infrastructure platform. I think when you have everyone together in one place with really good information, what it allows you to do is then take the next leap and remove some of the friction in terms of donations and make sure you not just make an intelligent decision about where you want to give. your money, but you can do it very easily.

An example of the Impala dashboard. Photo: Impala.

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