Synpact

I started Synpact as a senior at Babson because giving felt broken. People don't give more because they can't see their impact, because it feels transactional, and because there's rarely a reason to beyond obligation. I built it around three fixes: make giving transparent, make it fun, and reward the people who show up. I tested blockchain as the transparency layer and validated the idea through interviews with over 350 charities, then cut it when the research said it wasn't viable. The idea held, so I set out to prove it with a real event.

I closed prize-pool funding from Babson's president and a billionaire backer, recruited five nonprofits, and ran the event end to end: Give & Game — a charity festival with five causes, 30+ tables, live music, and 300 people. You picked a cause, got a jersey in its color, and earned points by playing games and by donating; every dollar counted toward your team. The winning team's nonprofit took the pot. It raised over $20,000, with the Greater Boston Food Bank taking the top prize, and put real money behind mental health, pediatric cancer, food insecurity, climate, and animal welfare through five Boston nonprofits.

Once it was done, I realized I loved building things that matter more than running a philanthropy company day to day, so I wound Synpact down. The instinct underneath it — making people feel something through media, building a brand around what matters — became Connected. Give & Game is the piece that stands on its own: real money, real people, all of it verifiable.