News Updates

Zoosa.org Matches Skills With Social-Enterprise Opportunities

Zoosa recently launched its open beta site at www.zoosa.org to find and promote opportunities where professional skills meet social impact. Zoosa.org aims to connect working professionals and social-enterprise organizations in the for-profit and nonprofit spaces.

Zoosa’s main goals are to help nonprofit organizations recruit high-level employees, board members and volunteer consultants while helping for-profit social enterprise organizations attract mission-driven professionals. In broadening the definition of social enterprise and focusing on high-level opportunities, Zoosa hopes to make it easier for professionals to do well while doing good and give all organizations increased access to professionals they might not otherwise reach.

Mike McGlade, Zoosa’s CEO, explains, “Zoosa makes it easy for professionals to choose how involved they want to get with subject areas listed in decreasing order of time commitment: work, get elected, volunteer, network, and inspire. Inspire--think about that for a moment. Think about how powerful it would be if everyone reading this article submits 2 or 3 ideas to improve their community and comments on others’ ideas and questions. I’m positive that such actions would begin to shift the conversation towards who we really are as a country, as a community, and as individuals.”

For its purposes, Zoosa’s definition of social enterprise organizations includes any position in the following industries: alternative/renewable energy, clean tech, biotechnology, education, environmental services, government, healthcare, international development, life sciences, medical devices, microfinance, nonprofits, pharmaceuticals and sustainable products. Zoosa also includes corporate social responsibility positions within industries not listed above. Zoosa has asked visitors to comment on its definition of social enterprise by making it the site's featured question.

Mike McGlade continues, “An organization’s tax status does not determine its degree of social impact. By including all positions which have a positive social impact, Zoosa plans to attract the new talent to the social-enterprise sector. We want the people who will benefit from our site to join the conversation, so we’ve asked them to comment on our broad definition. We’re open to making changes, if necessary.”

Zoosa integrates working, volunteering and getting elected into the same system, with plans to add legislation in the future. These sections are linked by an issue of social responsibility (ISR) with each posting mapped to up to five ISRs.

“A professional looking for a job may never visit a volunteer Web site, and vice-versa. By including social enterprise jobs and high-impact volunteer positions in the same location, professionals can quickly find opportunities which match their socially conscious area of interest, even if those opportunities were not part of their original plan,” says Zoosa’s CTO, Brian Fleming.

During Zoosa’s beta release, Zoosa will feature employment positions, information on elected offices, volunteer positions, networking events, ideas, and questions/answers. In the near future, Zoosa members and organizations will be able to search for other Zoosa members based on their interests in specific ISRs and professional skill sets. As the site moves into later stages, additional premium features for individuals and organizations are planned.