2020 Giving Report
Dear Friend,
We began 2020 with existing crises of structural racism, inequality, climate change, and a weakened democracy. And on top of that we struggled through the COVID-19 pandemic, the lives it stole too soon, its deeply unequal economic impacts, the public grief and rage in the battle for racial justice, and the most contentious election in recent history.
In this time of compounding crises, folks all across the country reached out to their neighbors for a hand. And everyday, beyond the headlines, we saw thousands of neighbors reach back to lift each other up with love and great empathy. We know that in times like these, the people we turn to for help most often are our neighbors. It makes sense, doesn't it? They’re the friendly, familiar faces we see everyday in the places we call home. In times of darkness, we know one thing: we can always rely on our neighbors to lift us up.
We began 2020 with existing crises of structural racism, inequality, climate change, and a weakened democracy. And on top of that we struggled through the COVID-19 pandemic, the lives it stole too soon, its deeply unequal economic impacts, the public grief and rage in the battle for racial justice, and the most contentious election in recent history.
In this time of compounding crises, folks all across the country reached out to their neighbors for a hand. And everyday, beyond the headlines, we saw thousands of neighbors reach back to lift each other up with love and great empathy. We know that in times like these, the people we turn to for help most often are our neighbors. It makes sense, doesn't it? They’re the friendly, familiar faces we see everyday in the places we call home. In times of darkness, we know one thing: we can always rely on our neighbors to lift us up.
More people than ever before fundraised for a community project with ioby last year. Thousands of neighbors worked on 477 projects across the country, and raised over $5.4 million from 22,000 local donors—that’s triple the amount raised in 2019.
Residents crowdfunded in response to the impacts of COVID-19, including $1.1 million for mutual aid networks to ensure that basic needs were met; for projects that encouraged future voters and fed current ones; to train community members to run for office; and to offer love letters and free therapy to Black people in the midst of an uprising for racial justice.
I’m proud that ioby was able to provide adapted resources and the flexible support that neighbors needed in 2020. Our work was a culmination of more than a decade of preparation, working alongside neighbors to strengthen ties and grow our collective civic muscles; it served as an affirmation of the abiding power of our neighborhoods. When our communities needed a hand most, neighbors—and ioby—were right there.
ioby’s 2020 Giving Report is a moment to pause and reflect on the heroic efforts of our neighbors, to take stock, and to resolve to continue caring for our communities. The challenges of 2020 aren’t yet behind us, but thanks to your support ioby is continuing our essential work.
I’m proud that ioby was able to provide adapted resources and the flexible support that neighbors needed in 2020. Our work was a culmination of more than a decade of preparation, working alongside neighbors to strengthen ties and grow our collective civic muscles; it served as an affirmation of the abiding power of our neighborhoods. When our communities needed a hand most, neighbors—and ioby—were right there.
ioby’s 2020 Giving Report is a moment to pause and reflect on the heroic efforts of our neighbors, to take stock, and to resolve to continue caring for our communities. The challenges of 2020 aren’t yet behind us, but thanks to your support ioby is continuing our essential work.
With immense gratitude,
Erin Barnes
Co-Founder and CEO

Co-Founder and CEO

ioby is about more than just crowdfunding. We're growing a movement of community-led positive change. ioby gives local changemakers the tools and resources they need, like one-on-one coaching, fiscal sponsorship, and opportunities to connect and build real, lasting impact from the ground up. Our crowdfunding platform helps connect leaders with support to raise the money they need from within their communities to make our neighborhoods healthier, greener, more livable, and more just.
ioby stands for “in our backyards,” but it also stands for taking care of each other, for flexing our collective civic muscles, and for trusting our neighbors to know what’s best for their neighborhood.
ioby stands for “in our backyards,” but it also stands for taking care of each other, for flexing our collective civic muscles, and for trusting our neighbors to know what’s best for their neighborhood.
A resident leader has an awesome idea, but needs money, volunteers, or other support to make it happen.
We offer crowdfunding strategies that work, help leaders create a plan that fits their goals, and build a fundraising page that tells their story. Action Strategists offer on-the-ground support in places of focus, and every leader gets a Leader Success Strategist to back them up.
Folks in the community can learn about the project, give tax-deductible donations, and sign up to volunteer on any ioby campaign page.
Fiscal sponsorship is one of the powerful services ioby offers to help grassroots leaders collect tax-deductible donations and access unrestricted funding—reducing funding barriers empowers leaders to claim a seat at the decision-making table and tap resources they might not be able to otherwise. This was uniquely powerful in 2020 as mutual aid and grassroots groups turned to crowdfunding to gain immediate access to funding for their COVID-19 relief efforts.
Throughout a leader’s crowdfunding campaign journey, we share tips and strategies to help hit fundraising milestones and reach goals. When leaders get stuck, we help them get unstuck by offering a rich library of free resources that includes downloadable guides, toolkits, and webinars with expert advice.
Once a campaign reaches their goal, we send funding directly to the leader so they can build their project with the community, on their own timeline.
Each campaign with ioby is unique, but the same basic ingredients go into every successful project. We’ve honed these tools over the years and based our model for neighbor-led success around them because they work well, and they help neighbors build the skills they need to take bigger and bigger steps in civic leadership.
“A huge value out of ioby has been the fact that were able to get a crowdfunding platform up on ioby's website way, way faster than we could ever get a grant application out. I think we had raised at least $10,000 if not $20,000 on ioby before we even turned in our first grant application, and the days and weeks really mattered at that crisis moment.”
— Frank Fredericks, Astoria Mutual Aid Network
At ioby, 87% of those we serve are from the grassroots and deep roots. They are the folks on the block who know their communities well and have great ideas for tackling their challenges, but who oftentimes don’t have the funding they need.
Annual Budget <$25K
Rarely have paid staff, 501(c)3 status, or existing donor base.
Rarely have paid staff, 501(c)3 status, or existing donor base.
Annual Budget $25K - $2 million
Typically have paid staff, have 501(c)3 status, some have existing donor base.
Typically have paid staff, have 501(c)3 status, some have existing donor base.
Annual Budget >$2 million
Typically these are regional or national organizations, or coalitions of local organizations.
Typically these are regional or national organizations, or coalitions of local organizations.
As COVID-19 presented new and intensified problems, those same neighbors took a look around and saw powerful solutions. ioby was uniquely able to step up and help them take action quickly. ioby’s powerful platform and wrap-around service model lets neighbors move at their own speed by design, unbound by grant cycles or restricted funding. This model allowed mutual aid groups to start projects and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars within weeks to purchase groceries for neighbors reeling from sudden unemployment, and offer speedy deliveries to elders and other vulnerable community members.
Our deep well of experience working with grassroots and deep roots groups helped us identify organizers’ needs quickly. So, at the onset of the pandemic in March, we moved to waive fiscal sponsorship fees on all COVID-19 relief projects, and, we were able to pivot to offer regular, weekly funding disbursements for a limited number of mutual aid groups, so that they could access cash instantly rather than pause relief efforts waiting for funding to materialize. ioby’s Action Strategists and Leader Success coaches offered one-on-one support to help neighbors organize new projects and adjust plans to meet the new demands of the year. Where people might have fallen through the cracks, neighbors were there to catch them, and ioby was there to back them up.
The Clinton Hill Fort Greene Mutual Aid group has raised over $88,000 on ioby to organize a coalition of neighbors to offer food, care, and support through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
In June, as the national uprising demanding justice for Black lives grew in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, ioby’s services swiftly adjusted to meet the moment once again. Drawing on our commitment to anti-racism, we enhanced our
2018 Racial Justice Toolkit, used our platform to amplify Black-led projects, and offered webinars like “Racial Equity in Creative Placemaking” and “Right of Way: Organizing for equitable, walkable communities.”
Last year we listened to our neighbors who stepped up and met the moment, and our neighbors leaned on ioby to help them get the work done. We know there is much more work to do, but ioby believes that local action and increased civic participation help bend the arc of justice toward a more equitable future.
Last year we listened to our neighbors who stepped up and met the moment, and our neighbors leaned on ioby to help them get the work done. We know there is much more work to do, but ioby believes that local action and increased civic participation help bend the arc of justice toward a more equitable future.
- Leveraged our services to direct more than $5.4 million to groups fundraising on ioby
- Over $1.1 million raised for Mutual Aid projects across the country
- Made adjustments to our disbursements to ensure timely access to funds
- Produced new resources like Crowdfunding in a Crisis webinar, starting Mutual Aid project resources, and Fundraising for Nonprofits
- Waived fiscal sponsorship fees for urgent projects that care for neighbors
- Supported dozens of Black-led projects to respond immediately to the Movement for Black Lives
- Offered tailored coaching to neighbors who needed to adapt their projects because of COVID‑19
All time
$13,076,677
Dollars raised nationwide
2,839
Projects launched
25,530
Neighborhood leaders trained
$50
Median donation size
2020
$5,485,810
Dollars raised nationwide
477
Projects launched
3,576
Neighborhood leaders trained
$50
Raised for mutual aid projects
Food
Racial and Social Justice
Safer Streets
Neighbors Working Together
Public Health
Schools
Public Art
Environment
Placemaking
Sharing
*Since many ioby projects fit into more than one category, these designations are not mutually exclusive.
There are many different ways to define your community; from the folks you congregated with at your place of worship, to the people you play with at your local sports league. Wherever you find it, community is an essential building block to vibrant and strong neighborhoods, and we believe it's the best place to start making positive change.
Anyone with a great idea anywhere in the country can work with ioby, as long as their idea works to strengthen and benefit their own community. We also invest in on-the-ground staff to work alongside neighbors to lift up what makes that place special, and to support civic participation. Last year, we were thrilled to add Cincinnati to our places of focus that already included Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, and Memphis. In these cities, our Action Strategists work directly with residents to build trust and develop neighborhood leadership to make positive civic change, with a special focus on neighborhoods with histories of disinvestment and racist policies. They are the movers and shakers that neighbors can lean on for advice, support, and to help build connections with other changemakers and decision makers. Many of our Action Strategists have even led their own ioby projects!
Anyone with a great idea anywhere in the country can work with ioby, as long as their idea works to strengthen and benefit their own community. We also invest in on-the-ground staff to work alongside neighbors to lift up what makes that place special, and to support civic participation. Last year, we were thrilled to add Cincinnati to our places of focus that already included Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, and Memphis. In these cities, our Action Strategists work directly with residents to build trust and develop neighborhood leadership to make positive civic change, with a special focus on neighborhoods with histories of disinvestment and racist policies. They are the movers and shakers that neighbors can lean on for advice, support, and to help build connections with other changemakers and decision makers. Many of our Action Strategists have even led their own ioby projects!
$1,109,781
372
Projects launched
4,263
Neighborhood leaders trained
$731,641
189
Projects launched
2,978
Neighborhood leaders trained
$967,559
254
Projects launched
3,277
Neighborhood leaders trained
$985,795
307
Projects launched
4,898
Neighborhood leaders trained
$169,350
26
Projects launched
738
Neighborhood leaders trained
Cincinnati has a long history of neighbors working together to get good done. In fact, Leslie Mattie Rich, our new Cincinnati Action Strategist, joined ioby last spring having started her own nonprofit. And she’s in great company. Already, neighbors have raised over $160k on ioby for projects that train neighbors to join local City Council and local School Boards, offer urgent responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and so much more. We see great things ahead!
Each ioby project jumpstarts a chain reaction. With each art project installed, mutual aid group organized, or community garden built, neighbors strengthen their civic muscles and set the stage for transformative change. We’ve identified four levels of impact that build on each other when neighbors lead an ioby project.
A project usually doesn’t just end once it’s been built or completed. When neighbors take action to make positive change, and literally invest in their own good ideas, decision makers tend to take note. Civic changemaking becomes a bit more inclusive and responsive.
ioby’s commitment to racial justice and support for Black-led ideas is neither new nor perfect.
Though we’ve taken meaningful steps in the last ten years to become an anti-racist organization, we know that this journey does not have an end-point; it requires bold acts of listening, evolving, and improving indefinitely.
In 2020, we continued the work that we had begun in 2019—with the leadership of ioby Board Member Nadia Owusu—to co-create a Racial Equity Framework with ioby staff and board. To support our staff and increase transparency with our community, we also published a statement of solidarity for Black lives, launched a new accountability dashboard that includes a timeline of equitable steps we’ve taken as an organization, and shared what we believe is our strongest anti-racist policy—our hiring practices.
Though we’ve taken meaningful steps in the last ten years to become an anti-racist organization, we know that this journey does not have an end-point; it requires bold acts of listening, evolving, and improving indefinitely.
In 2020, we continued the work that we had begun in 2019—with the leadership of ioby Board Member Nadia Owusu—to co-create a Racial Equity Framework with ioby staff and board. To support our staff and increase transparency with our community, we also published a statement of solidarity for Black lives, launched a new accountability dashboard that includes a timeline of equitable steps we’ve taken as an organization, and shared what we believe is our strongest anti-racist policy—our hiring practices.
Pittsburgh resident and chef Lisa Freeman raised $6,140 on ioby to help feed poll workers and voters on election day, and keep the flame of community burning through a difficult election season.
Working with ioby is more than just crowdfunding—we’re dedicated to coaching leaders to sustain their work well beyond their campaign, and sharing our fundraising expertise is an important piece of our mission. We want our leaders to walk away with the ability to nurture and build their donor base. So, we launched a completely revised comprehensive curriculum to help formalize and expand the crowdfunding training we offer leaders. This new curricula meets each leader where they’re at—whether we’re working with a novice civic leader who needs to build confidence when asking for donations or an experienced changemaker running their fifth (or more!) fundraising campaign with ioby, neighbors have ioby's decade-long fundraising expertise at their fingertips and the support of our Success Team to help incorporate these strategies to reach their funding goal.
In 2020, we launched a series of brand new webinars to help deepen our support of leaders, and expand our suite of resources. We launched “Fundraising for Change,” a series aimed at building fundraising confidence and skill; and “Big Ideas in Civic Leadership,” a series of webinars that convened civic leaders to inspire, spark ideas, and invite neighbors to step up in new ways.


To best support neighbors through multiple inflection points, we pulled together a host of resources around key challenges—COVID-19 relief, projects that support the movement for Black lives, and projects standing up for democracy. We hosted webinars like “Voting on the Block: Boosting civic participation and safe voting” and “Crowdfunding in Unusual Times: Adjusting fundraising plans in times of crisis,” to help leaders meet the moment. We also produced resources and mini-toolkits to serve as starting points for neighbor-led projects, including ioby.org/blm, ioby.org/COVID-19, and ioby.org/elections.
At ioby, we believe that neighbors are the experts on the neighborhood. So, as we helped neighbors adapt quickly to new challenges last year, we invited a number of leaders to share their expertise with folks interested in similar projects. Resources like our Learn from a Leader webinar and blog series offered personal, practical advice to project leaders, and gave neighbors an opportunity to connect and share their experiences and tips in real time.

Neighbor Nichelle Daniels, in Garfield Heights, Ohio, knew the challenges that families face with the pandemic because her own family faced them too. So she raised $6,348 to help fill the gaps that were left when schools closed, offering free lunch and enrichment activities to kids in her community.
We believe that change only happens by moving at the speed of trust, and with strong support systems. Our Leader Success Strategists are key to that approach and help us adapt quickly and meet the needs of our neighbors where they are.
From the beginning of a campaign right up to its execution, ioby’s Success Strategists are there to walk alongside project leaders. They help leaders build their project page, strategize a fundraising plan, craft compelling pitches, and get unstuck whenever roadblocks appear. With thousands of projects under their belt, they’re seasoned experts in grassroots fundraising and movement-building and are a key reason that ioby campaigns outperform other crowdfunding platforms.
In 2020, our Success Strategists played a key role in ioby's response to COVID-19. At the beginning of the pandemic, they worked with project leaders to adjust plans so that projects could still come to life in a creative way, while following public health guidelines. They helped dozens of mutual aid and other rapid response groups set up fundraising pages quickly during a crisis. And, they boosted confidence and provided clarity on how to approach fundraising during uncertain times.
Reacting quickly while nurturing deep relationships, ioby helped neighbors raise more last year than ever before—and helped neighbors step up when they were needed most.
From the beginning of a campaign right up to its execution, ioby’s Success Strategists are there to walk alongside project leaders. They help leaders build their project page, strategize a fundraising plan, craft compelling pitches, and get unstuck whenever roadblocks appear. With thousands of projects under their belt, they’re seasoned experts in grassroots fundraising and movement-building and are a key reason that ioby campaigns outperform other crowdfunding platforms.
In 2020, our Success Strategists played a key role in ioby's response to COVID-19. At the beginning of the pandemic, they worked with project leaders to adjust plans so that projects could still come to life in a creative way, while following public health guidelines. They helped dozens of mutual aid and other rapid response groups set up fundraising pages quickly during a crisis. And, they boosted confidence and provided clarity on how to approach fundraising during uncertain times.
Reacting quickly while nurturing deep relationships, ioby helped neighbors raise more last year than ever before—and helped neighbors step up when they were needed most.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, ioby and our team did what we did best: we met leaders’ needs wherever they were. I saw first hand how quickly and urgently neighbors were organizing for things like mutual aid projects, and my team pivoted on a dime to offer specific guidance, fiscal sponsorship, help get campaigns off the ground fast, and move money to neighbors quickly. I'm so proud that we were able to be there for our neighbors.”
— Farrah Lafontant, Leader Success Strategist

With support from the Cuyahoga Arts & Culture Match Fund, neighbors in Cleveland raised over $11,000 on ioby to produce a virtual performance series that brought joy to Clevelanders and supported Black artists and musicians.
In 2020, ioby implemented 15 match programs—providing a powerful boost to resident-led projects.
ioby partners with foundations, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies to create match programs that support local projects with a $1 match for every $1 crowdfunded on ioby. These match programs catalyze neighborhood action while getting institutional funding closer to the ground with at least a 100% return on invested match funds.
ioby partners with foundations, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies to create match programs that support local projects with a $1 match for every $1 crowdfunded on ioby. These match programs catalyze neighborhood action while getting institutional funding closer to the ground with at least a 100% return on invested match funds.
Amplifying community responses to COVID-19
As COVID-19 took hold, ioby match programs helped get more funding into the hands of residents addressing the impacts of the pandemic in their communities. Match funds supported direct relief work like mutual aid funds, as well as work to address communities’ mental health and wellness. Match programs have proven to be a flexible, powerful way to help leaders bring their idea to life and meet their neighbors’ needs amidst crisis.
ioby launched the National COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Match Fund with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Summit Foundation, helping resident leaders step up to support their neighbors during a crisis.
ioby continued ArtistsLead! in partnership with ArtPlace America, focused on creative placemaking projects by artists around the country.
ioby continued ArtistsLead! in partnership with ArtPlace America, focused on creative placemaking projects by artists around the country.
ioby continued the One Northside Crowdfunding Challenge with the support of the Buhl Foundation and launched the Pittsburgh COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery match with support from Elsie H. Hillman Foundation.
ioby launched a new round of the Cuyahoga Arts & Culture Match Fund supported by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and the COVID-19 response focused Neighbor Up match in partnership with Neighborhood Connections.
With support from the Ford Foundation and The Kresge Foundation, ioby launched the Detroit Match Fund for projects responding to the impacts of COVID-19 in the city of Detroit.
ioby continued the Medical District Collaborative Matching Fund in partnership with Memphis Medical District Collaborative, aimed to help residents make this district greener, more livable, and more fun.
ioby completed the Healthy Communities Challenges in partnership with the Kansas Health Foundation, focused on improving community health in 18 communities across the state.
ioby completed the Sustainable Connecticut Community Match Fund, in partnership with Sustainable CT and with support from the Smart Seed Fund and the Tremaine Foundation, which helped residents fund local sustainability projects.
In direct response to COVID-19, ioby launched the Just Recovery Match Fund focused on Black communities and the Neighborhood Relief Fund (supported by Robin Hood).
We launched new rounds of the Healthy Neighborhoods Challenge (supported by New York State Health Foundation), Con Edison Power Up Neighborhood Match (supported by Con Edison), and the Partnerships for Parks Crowdfunding Challenge (supported by Partnerships for Parks).
We launched new rounds of the Healthy Neighborhoods Challenge (supported by New York State Health Foundation), Con Edison Power Up Neighborhood Match (supported by Con Edison), and the Partnerships for Parks Crowdfunding Challenge (supported by Partnerships for Parks).
“This ioby match is incredibly invaluable for a small organization like ours which has trouble competing for grant funds with large charities. ioby has enabled us to open THREE farm stands in food deserts… and to ensure low-income workers who normally could not afford fresh food ate well…We cannot tell you how grateful and effective these matching [funds] have been for us.”
— Nancie Katz, COVID 19 - Brooklyn! Fight Covid-19 with Fresh Food for All!, Neighborhood Relief Fund Match
Formed in response to the COVID-19 crisis, Bed-Stuy Strong is a mutual aid network of neighbors from all walks of life that support each other in solidarity. So far, they've raised nearly $500,000 on ioby's crowdfunding platform to provide groceries and air conditioning units to neighbors in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn.

ioby Board Chair
Director of Research Strategies, ArtPlace America

ioby Board Vice Chair
Co-Founder and Partner, ThirdSpace Action Lab

ioby Board Secretary & Governance Committee Chair
Partner, Vicente & Partners

ioby Board Treasurer & Committee Finance Chair
Director of Policy, Cities and Transportation, Uber

ioby Board Development Committee Chair
Sustainability Practice, Bloomberg Associates

CEO and Co-Founder, ioby

Director & Investment Committee Chair, Sierra Club Foundation

Director, Sustainability Initiatives, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, NY

Strategic Advisor on Climate Change, UNDP
Co-Founder, ioby
Co-Founder, ioby

Digital Grassroots Engagement Director, PL+US

Director, Generation Investment Management

Deputy Managing Director, NatureVest, The Nature Conservancy

Program Officer, Humanities in Place, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

VP, Marketing, Eden Health

Associate Director, Learning and Equity, Living Cities

Vice President, ideas42

Executive Director, McEnroe Farms

Director, NUMO Alliance, WRI Ross Center For Sustainable Cities
ioby’s work in 2020 was made possible with generous support from the individuals, foundations, nonprofit organizations, and businesses listed below. We are incredibly grateful for their dedication to supporting resident-led positive change in communities across the country.

ioby staff
- Continue to provide resources and tailored, responsive support to make it easier for residents to take action and make positive change on a local level.
- Evolve our technology platform to provide the best possible, most user friendly and accessible tool for communities—including ioby project leaders, team members, project donors, and volunteers.
- Reach and support local resident leaders nationwide, while continuing focused work with residents in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Memphis, and Pittsburgh.
- Finalize the work we started in 2019 to co-create a Racial Equity Framework with ioby staff and board.
- Mobilize communities to create and carry out a vision of a more just and equitable world in the aftermath of COVID-19, the uprising for racial justice, the contentious election, and more.
Together, we can increase the resident-led change and civic muscle that is essential for collective recovery and reinvention in our communities.