Justworks to Award $250,000 in High-Impact Grants to Non-Profits Working to Break Down Barriers to Entrepreneurship
Justworks, the HR software platform for small businesses, today announced it is planning to award $250,000 in high-impact grants to five non-profit organizations supporting underrepresented founders in getting their businesses off the ground. Last year, Justworks pledged to donate 1% of the company’s equity and profits to create more equitable access to entrepreneurship through Justworks.org—joining other influential tech companies in the Pledge 1% movement, which inspires, educates, and empowers every entrepreneur, company, and employee to be a force for good. This first tranche of grantmaking is Justworks’ first foray into its 1% pledge.
About the Grant Program
For nearly a decade, Justworks has worked to make starting and running a business in America more accessible for all through its all-in-one software platform, which provides founders and their teams with access to benefits, payroll, HR, and compliance support.
However, many entrepreneurs also face unfair barriers to their success. Disparities in opportunity along race, gender, sexual orientation, and other socioeconomic lines, for example, can make access to funding, resources, and other fundamentals of entrepreneurship a major obstacle for underrepresented founders in realizing their potential.
Through $50,000 grants to five existing non-profits that support underrepresented founders in accessing the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, Justworks.org aims to increase the company’s impact in the minority- and women-owned business (MWBE) community, learn from organizations already having a positive impact in the space, and chart a course to scale its social impact moving forward.
“Justworks is lucky to have many amazing minority- and women-owned businesses (MWBEs) on our platform today. Our customers have taken on perhaps the biggest challenge in their lifetime and are looking for a partner they can trust,” said Yrthya Dinzey-Flores, Vice President of DEI, Social Impact, and Sustainability at Justworks. “We are proud to be a part of their story, but we also recognize that underrepresented founders face unique challenges beyond our platform. While we don’t have all the answers, we believe our close relationship with them—through our software and our service—puts us in a unique position to co-create solutions with organizations that are already active in supporting the MWBE community.”
How Nonprofits can Apply
After a month-long submission period, five U.S.-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations will be selected to receive a grant of $50,000 to support their existing work with underrepresented founders. The call for proposals will remain open from Tuesday, May 3, 2022 to Friday, May 27, 2022. Interested non-profit organizations can learn more and apply for a grant here.
In addition to providing them with financial support to realize their mission, Justworks aims to develop long-term relationships with organizations that know the MWBE ecosystem better than anyone. Justworks.org builds on several of Justworks’ existing initiatives aimed at supporting its non-profit customers, like the Spring Forward Fund, as well as its work to make its platform more accessible for its MWBE customers through its Just Thrive program.
About Justworks
Justworks is a cloud-based software platform that gives small and medium-sized businesses access to benefits, payroll, human resources and compliance support—all in one place. We drive economies of scale via co-employment, enabling attractive cost savings for our customers, and providing them a richer suite of benefits for their employees. We believe we are the first provider to combine this powerful demand aggregation dynamic with a simple, intuitive user experience and 24/7 expert support—enabling entrepreneurs and businesses to grow with confidence. To learn more, visit Justworks.com, follow us on Twitter @Justworks and Instagram @Justworks_HR.
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