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Denver-based CauseLabs takes the same sort of high-level approach of many tech companies, except rather than playing by the “Don’t Be Evil” slogan, they follow “Compassion Meets Innovation." Though CauseLabs falls in the social entrepreneurship category, the company doesn't just focus on one cause: CauseLabs builds out platforms to serve as what founder and CEO T.J. Cook calls “force multipliers” for existing organizations that make a human impact.

“We want to be their Sherpa,” says Cook.

Beginning in 2011 with MyStory, a digital storybook maker and publisher for children, CauseLabs now partners coast-to-coast with a number of progressive non-profit and for-profit organizations to bring digital tools to social enterprises that range from relief aid to financial literacy.

There is a wide range in tech savviness among CauseLabs' clients, though Cook said he is seeing a rise of CTOs in non-profits. That trend, he said, has been on the rise in places like San Francisco, but in less tech-saturated areas CauseLabs has been gaining a different kind of traction. CauseLabs has worked heavily with a range of non-profits such as East Meets West, Songs Around the World, Social Venture Partners, Clean Kumasi, and more to provide digital tools and funding platforms while helping organizations determine how tech growth weaves into their overall missions. In the process, CauseLabs often ends up playing a consultancy role to insure sustainable success and integration.

One recent example is their work with MoneyThink. CauseLabs recently launched a mobile app for the financial literacy group to help mentors connect easily with students on a more natural, day-to-day basis: "Currently, we are helping MoneyThink have a higher-level conversation about future growth on whether they need focus internal resources on mobile as a core component of mentoring program,” said Cook.

Cook said CauseLabs chooses their partners mostly via word-of-mouth: “On the tech side, we really look for get-your-hands-dirty type of work – innovative stuff that’s interesting."

Additionally, they evaluate projects on a “Causal Meter,” which is based upon the number of lives that would be positively impacted.  This intimate working relationship with organizations reflects itself in their “Rapid Solutions” process, which involve workshops with members of the partnering organization joining the CauseLabs team in the same room to rapid prototype a tool. “You might just have a back-of-the-napkin sketch of what you want, like wanting to discontinue running surveys on paper,” Cook said. “This both solves a problem and builds capacity and tools within their organization.”

They stuck to this model even when partnering with IDEO.org in the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 to build a mobile banking product to provide reliable banking options to the region.

“We don’t want to send our team to the boardroom, but to where the problem is: the field,” said Cook.  

CauseLabs is also applying themselves to the “matching problem” tackled by companies like Netflix, eHarmony and Google, only instead of recommending movies, dates or search results, they have partnered with Blue Planet Network to match NGOs with water projects and other relevant community needs. They will continue to collaborate with IDEO.org, and have begun work with new partners including Greater Good Studio in Chicago, as well as Australia-based ChangeLabs (a serendipitous naming coincidence).

“In the end, our greatest value proposition is our tight-knit team,” said Cook. “This kind of work requires innovation while not quite knowing what you’re doing, but believing that the solution will pivot. It takes a good team to go on that journey.”