Our Story So Far
Who is GiveBackHack?
GiveBackHack was founded in 2015 under the principle that we all have everything we need within ourselves to create the change we wish to see in our communities.
We believe that by bringing together passionate people, facilitating discussion around ideas to solve problems, and providing a framework to work through those ideas to ensure they are built with a human and solid business foundation, we can create true change in big & small ways.
To fulfill this, GiveBackHack leverages Design Thinking, Lean Startup & Product Management best practices to provide high-engagement, experiential education and action via social entrepreneurship.
In this way, GiveBackHack equips the social entrepreneurs of the future.
A Letter From The Team
To our amazing community,
Our team is known to always say that we stand on the shoulders of giants here at GiveBackHack. Everything we do has been built off of countless selfless hours of brilliant and passionate people dedicated to developing a movement that empowers social innovation.
As we enter year 10 we are striving to double-down on innovation and support those building technology solutions that will radically break down barriers and empower people across communities.
Most importantly – social enterprises everywhere need your help. As thought-partners, volunteers, donors, co-founders, social media re-posters, connectors, and community members we can lend a hand in developing new products that truly shape the world around us for the benefit of all.
Cheers to the accomplishments of 2024 – families housed, lives saved, students taught, stories told, and many more beautiful impact stories behind every logo below.
We truly could not make the magic you are about to read in the rest of this impact report happen without you. You have our endless gratitude.
– Emily, Suzy, and Team GiveBackHack
2023 By The Numbers
Event Spotlight
GiveBackHack Columbus
After another year of innovation and collaboration, GiveBackHack’s 2023 event underscored a renewed focus on scalable technology. Embracing the Columbus College of Art and Design as our nurturing ground we welcomed a wave of new faces eager to drive social change.
As Friday night set the stage, attendees buzzed with the energy of connection and creation, surrounded by a community united in its passion and talent. This year, with a spotlight on leveraging AI and other tools, our teams harnessed these technologies to accelerate their journey from ideation to impactful, usable solutions.
Through the weekend our teams worked hard, pivoted, consulted their stakeholders, learned from mentors, and ultimately prevailed in creating new social enterprises aiming at sustainable social impact.
These ventures continue to progress beyond the event, swiftly navigating toward product-market fit and amplified social change.
Issues our teams are tackling:
Sustainability – Maternal Health – Accessibility – Inclusion + more!
Teams Updates
Planting Life
Plant native. Support wildlife. Grow our ecosystem.
Founded on the wish to be able to plant native plants more easily, Planting Life is a website designed to take the guessing away when finding the perfect plant in your garden. Using AI technology, users simply add their zip code and other descriptive details to find the perfect plant for their garden! Planting Life plans to partner with nurseries to further their mission to give individuals easier access to plant native plants that benefit our communities’ ecosystems.
Autism Armory
Helping neurodivergent adults make easier decisions and be more independent.
Autism Armory is a collection of applications that utilize generative AI, simple UX, and user-owned data to aid neurodivergent adults in making decisions and provide them with a roadmap of simple steps to complete tasks or choose between options. The goal of Autism Armory is to expand its application suite to address other difficulties that individuals with autism may face, while also using the data for potential research on autism itself. With the aim of helping the 60% of neurodivergent adults who rely solely on family and friends, Autistic Armory hopes to make the autistic community more independent and improve the quality of life for individuals with autism
Rela Art
Transform your space with engaging art.
2021 GiveBackHack Alum, Rela is an art subscription service that transforms spaces into local art galleries with rotating original artwork. Artists can bring their work out of storage, receiving part of the funding for their displayed artwork. Rela offers on-site consultation, handling the entire process from installation to periodic rotation. In April 2023, Rela won the Pitch of the Night at 614 Startup’s Pitch Columbus. They just launched a new service called the Virtual Rela Wall, which allows busy professionals to envision original, local art on their walls without the time-consuming task of finding the right art and scheduling an on-site visit.
Featured Partnerships
Columbus City Schools
In our second year we brought 120+ K-5 students through a design thinking entrepreneurial process! We hire + train local entrepreneurs to work with the students.
University of Louisville
We launched 4 socially minded student businesses with our partners at the Health Equity Innovation Hub this year! Topics ranged from prosthetics to housing.
Social Impact Alliance
Our home in Columbus is our heart. We have been working alongside the community to grow and support the social enterprise ecosystem.
Ohio State University
We partnered with The Fisher College of Business MBA program, I&E Scholars, Business for Good, and The Buckeye Social Entrepreneurship Program to provide social enterprise education to students
GiveBackHack Services
GiveBackHack has been iterating and growing our strategies for collaborative innovation to solve important challenges since 2014.
Now we’re bringing best-practice innovation programming to K-12 classrooms, nonprofits, and Fortune 100 clients across the globe.
We believe that everyone has the ability to address the problems that mean most to them – we supply the tools and expertise to catalyze innovation and build stronger and more innovative teams.
Take a look at a few of our offerings below and reach out to us if you’re curious about bringing GiveBackHack to you!
hello@givebackhack.com
Innovation Sprints
In-house innovation sprints cultivate innovative thinking, align your team, and enhance employee engagement. They’re a place where your team can solve problems they care about.
GiveBackKids
Discover entrepreneurship through play. We help young students think like innovators—GiveBackKids teaches students simple principles of design thinking.
Workshops
Our facilitators bring their energy to engage your attendees to learn entrepreneurial skills, dig deeper into their passions, or explore a specific topic.
Launchpad Events
Our traditional structure focused on bringing together community to launch sustainable mission-driven startups. Varying formats, immersive and life-changing.*
*Seriously, at lest 30 people have told us this!
We’d Like to Thank all our Donors for Their Generous Support
Acknowledgements
GiveBackHack does not happen in a vacuum – we are nothing without our community. Thank you to the countless volunteers, sponsors, entrepreneurs, mentors, and advisors that make all of this possible.
Special thanks to:
Jack Demos – Owen Myers – Grant Payne – Clayton Nelson – Max Buck – Adam Morris – Rachyl Kershaw – Lydia Stutzman – Olivia Hersh – Yizchak Young – Julia Fletcher – George Zarebski – Lolo Mychael – Lauren Edwards – Timmy McCarthy – Suzy Bureau – Louisa Lee – Dominique Hadad – Autumn Glover – Jim Muir – Parker Haskett – Mindy Yocum – Flaherty Family Foundation
+ so so many more
