Launching the Taskbook Service

Hello

I'm Rob Byrne and I'd like to tell you about my new venture, Taskbook.  We think that this technology has the potential to make it dramatically easier for not-for-profits to
find volunteers, attract donations and engage with their communities.  Any support you can provide to help us launch the service will make a difference and will be greatly appreciated!

Rob

(For background information about Taskbook, please visit www.startsomegood.com/venture/taskbook or go to
www.taskbook.com.au)

What is our goal?

Not-for-profits — whether registered charities or community groups — contribute absolutely enormous social value in our communities.  What we want to do at Taskbook is to
use collaborative consumption technology to significantly amplify this social value.

We will do this by providing them with better ways to:

・find volunteers for upcoming activities:

   - from within their current network of supporters,

   - from other organisations in their area,

   - from the broader community;

・attract additional donations

   - without having to run additional fundraisers;

・build their community integration

   - by strengthening relationships with like-minded people in their area.

How will Taskbook do this?

The first step has been to use collaborative consumption technology to build a
task outsourcing service.  Anyone can use the public
taskbook.com.au site to list a task — whether in the home, office or online — and anyone can bid to undertake these tasks. 
However we have taken this idea several steps further to make it dramatically more useful for NFPs:

・Taskbook is not a single site.  The solution that we have built is a
'platform'.  This means  that we can not only deploy a public task outsourcing service.  We can also very rapidly deploy
sites for the exclusive use of NFPs and their supporters — we call them 'Tasksites'.  So instead of doing tedious ring-arounds each time a task needs doing, the NFP can list the task on their Tasksite and supporters then
offer to help.

・And a Tasksite is not an island.  Within every community there are numerous NFPs and each can have its own Tasksite. 
The key to Taskbook is that we provide the facility for NFPs to LINK their Tasksites.  Then, when the NFP lists their task, they can simply tick some boxes to list their task on
linked Tasksites — providing visibility of volunteering opportunities to a larger pool of prospective helpers.

・If they wish, the NFP can also tick a box to list their task on the public Taskbook site.

・A special type of Tasksite is the Corporate Tasksite.    These are used by organisations (businesses and government) who pursue corporate sustainability objectives.  Corporate Tasksites are linked to the organisation's preferred
NFPs and provide visibility of volunteering opportunities to corporate employees.

・We also encourage the NFP's supporters to use Taskbook to get things done for themselves, on a
paid basis.  When they do, we pay  a proportion of our fees to the NFP, creating an
ongoing stream of donations to the NFP.  Members of the
public Taskbook site can also choose to direct the fees on their tasks to their favourite NFP.

・By providing visibility of volunteering needs to members of other NFPs in the vicinity, Taskbook creates the opportunity for
much closer two-way ties and cooperation between the NFPs in a community.

But who is YOUR favourite Not-for-profit?

Often when we think of not-for-profits we think of registered charities, such as the Red Cross and Lifeline, and here in Australia there are over 20,000 charities!  But when you add in all the community groups, there are over 600,000 NFPs.  And that's less
than 5% of worldwide NFPs.

Community groups include sporting clubs, scouts, spiritual groups, social groups, service clubs, special interest groups and schools — and that's just the S's  ;)

Do you have any favourite charities
or community groups — maybe your local school?  Why not ASK THEM whether they would like:

・easier access to volunteers,

・more funding (without more work) and

・better integration with their local communities.

If these things are not important to them, Taskbook may not get your vote.   But if they
are important, and if you do lend us a hand, we think we'll be able to amplify the social value that your favourite NFP can generate in your community.

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