Why We Built Giving Connection

Most people don’t go looking for a nonprofit. They go looking for help.

They’re looking for a therapist who takes their insurance.
A food pantry that’s still open.
A place that understands disability.
A program that won’t make them feel ashamed for asking.

And usually, they’re searching in the middle of something hard. Late at night. On their phone. With too much on their heart and not enough time or energy to sort through a thousand search results.

That was my family. 

For years, I watched my Aunt Fran navigate life with a disability in a world that wasn’t built with her in mind. We were lucky in so many ways. She was surrounded by people who loved her. But even with love, finding the right support was often exhausting. We didn’t just need one service. We needed a web of support. Medical care. Community programs. Social connection. Advocacy. Transportation. Joy.

And every time something changed, we were back at square one, searching again. That experience taught me something I’ve never forgotten.

The problem is not that help doesn’t exist. The problem is that it’s too hard to find.

Years later, I found myself working at Google, surrounded by some of the smartest people in the world thinking about one thing: how to make information accessible. I watched how data could be organized, filtered, mapped, and made useful for everyday people. I saw how the right search tools could turn chaos into clarity. How technology, when built with intention, could remove friction and open doors.

And it hit me.

The problem my family had faced wasn’t just emotional. It was structural. The help existed, but it was buried. Fragmented. Impossible to navigate when you were already overwhelmed.

We didn’t need more services. We needed a better way to find them. That was the moment the idea for Giving Connection crystalized.

Then I became a public defender. Every day, I sat across from people who were not just dealing with legal trouble, but with trauma, poverty, mental illness, addiction, disability, and grief. So many of my clients didn’t need to be punished. They needed support.

They needed housing.
They needed treatment.
They needed food, counseling, and stability.

But when I tried to connect them to services, I ran into the same wall over and over again. Programs were hard to find. Eligibility rules were confusing. Phone numbers were outdated. Referrals took weeks people didn’t have.

I saw how often people fell through the cracks not because they didn’t want help, but because the system made it nearly impossible to access.

That’s when this stopped being an idea. It became a responsibility.

When someone needs food, housing, mental health care, disability services, grief support, or any kind of community help, they’re often told to “just Google it.” But Google doesn’t understand what you’re actually going through.

It doesn’t know whether you have a car, speak another language, use a wheelchair, or need free or sliding-scale care. It doesn’t know which nonprofits are active in your neighborhood or which ones are actually a good fit for your situation.

So people bounce between outdated websites, endless PDFs, Facebook posts, and phone numbers that no one answers. They give up. Or they settle for less than what they deserve.

And on the other side of this broken system are nonprofits doing incredible work with tiny teams and limited budgets. They’re helping real people every day, but too often, the people who need them most never find them.

That gap is what Giving Connection exists to close.

How Giving Connection was born
Giving Connection started with a simple question: What if finding help felt more like finding a restaurant than navigating a maze? What if you could search for support by what you actually need, where you are, and what matters to you? What if small nonprofits had a free, easy way to be visible to the people they serve?

We built Giving Connection to be that bridge.

A place where people can search by cause, service, and location and discover nonprofits that are ready to help.

A place where nonprofits, especially small, community-based organizations, can be found without having to spend thousands of dollars on marketing or technology.

A place that puts people first. 

Why this matters so much
Behind every search is a story.

A parent trying to keep their family fed.
A young person looking for counseling after a loss.
A caregiver trying to navigate disability services.
A neighbor who just needs someone to point them in the right direction.

And behind every nonprofit listing is a team of people who chose to show up for their community, often with very little support.

Giving Connection exists for both.

We believe access to help should not depend on how good you are at searching the internet.
We believe nonprofits deserve tools that work as hard as they do.
We believe connection is the first step toward healing, stability, and hope.

This blog is a space where we’ll share stories from the communities we serve, spotlight the nonprofits doing the work, and offer guidance for anyone trying to find their way through a difficult moment.

Whether you’re here because you need help, want to give back, or simply believe in a more connected world, we’re so glad you found us. You don’t have to navigate this alone.

Welcome to Giving Connection.