Awhile back one of our Intuit customers was featured in a blog written by Genesis from the At Home Mom Blog. It was a great interview that gave insight into running a business and being a mother. Perfect timing for Mother’s Day. Enjoy.
Donna Hunnewell runs a charity called The Wish Project, which helps moms like you and me with basic needs. This is the first charity that we´ve featured here on At Home Mom and I hope you are all inspired by this woman´s giving heart.
1. What is your business?
It is an Internet-based charity goods bank (similar to a regional food bank but we bring home and baby goods to more than 105 charities in the region for cost efficiency). Since all referrals, confirmations and weekly E-newsletters are done online, we are considered as an online-based charity. Members of our financial team live in four different towns so we rely heavily on the Internet to communicate.
2. How did you get started?
I left high tech when I got pregnant at 35 and finally had time for charity work. After a year of volunteering with many agencies (the time when my first child was born), I ended up on the City of Lowell’s Hunger/Homeless Commission which I am now chairperson of. I was a new mom when I started this and the only way I could run a charity was on the Internet so the online version of QuickBooks was great! I can do invoices at midnight and our book keeper and chief financial officer always have the latest updates on what I am doing without having lots of meetings.
A bird’s eye view of all the homeless shelters and pantries each month showed me a hole in the system that I could fix. We needed a big free warehouse where 500+ caseworkers could come to get home goods, furniture, baby gear, backpacks, toiletries, and diapers — everything their clients needed. By adding a new layer of support to the entire social service system, we help them work much more efficiently. Now they can all focus on helping clients instead of spending half of their time securing basic goods like cribs for babies.
To read the rest of the interview please visit the “At Home Mom Blog“
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