Jenn Chen
Giving takes a belief in a better world and positive change.
Jenn Chen is Givology’s President and Co-Founder. In the spring of 2008, Joyce Meng and Jenn founded Givology. Givology was born from the need of a 100% transparent non-profit organization. In Jenn’s words: “[i]I started Givology on the University of Pennsylvania's campus with Joyce because we were both starving for a 100% transparent way to give to education in developing countries. We had both studied or worked abroad in lesser developed countries, and once we returned, we realized there was no efficient way to find the grassroots organizations to give back to and no way to monitor what our money was used to buy for the students.”[/i] Jenn wanted transparency and the ability to see the actual donations impact in children’s education. Education is a key driver in improving the GDP for developing countries, and Givology could solve a critical gap in economic development. As Givology’s president, Jenn is in charge of many tasks, from outreaching to new partners, fundraising, mentoring new volunteers and more. Jenn’s long term goal is to see Givology grow, raise our first million and host our first global partners conference to share knowledge and experiences together.
Jenn wrote the chapter on DoSomething.org in our book [i]Guide to Giving[/i], a book written by volunteers, which are the core of Givology. The power of "crowd-sourcing" is so clearly represented, with the voices of so many distilled into an almost-free book that spreads the spirit and knowledge of giving. In her experience, she loved to have the opportunity to interview Dosomething.org leaders. She enjoyed the conversation, laughed out loud, and learned how a small non-profit can make such a huge difference.
Jenn is grateful for all the great experiences with Givology. She remembers the great excitement she felt when Givology’s website was launched in the fall of 2008. [i]“I remember jumping and shouting that it was finally materially in front of me.”[/i] Needless to say, she feels lucky to have a team of passionate volunteers. Without Givologists, we couldn't scale to help over 58 partners!
Jenn finds her inspiration in the stories and updates from our partners. Every new post brings a smile to her, to volunteers, and to all the supporters. [i]“Giving to me is increasing happiness around me and in effect, it boosts my own happiness”[/i] Jenn says. Education is a topic dear to Jenn, as she benefited from the sacrifice of her immigrant parents and grandparents made. Givology helps to even the playing field, and to inspire others to realize a very big chasm in opportunity. As part of the Givology team, we all do this in our spare time and we do it out of the bottom of our hearts. This is what will define the next innovation in educational giving. Givology is a web, a community that can only be built with YOUR support!