Field Day Launches Beta Program and Closes Initial Funding Round Led by defy.vc

PORTLAND, Ore.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Field Day, a startup that enables employers and individuals to engage with nonprofits in their local communities, today announced the launch of its private beta program with select employers in the Portland, OR metro area. Field Day also announced an initial funding round led by defy.vc, with participation from Voyager Capital, Cascade Seed Fund, and strategic angel investors.

Employers can leverage Field Day to accelerate community engagement, including discovery of volunteer activities, event coordination, and social impact tracking and reporting. The platform helps employers improve recruiting and retention by bringing employees together in their local communities, leading to powerful, data-supported social responsibility programs. Nonprofit organizations are partners in this venture, providing critical input while benefiting from increased visibility and connection to individuals and employers alike.

“The communities we serve are facing more challenges than ever before,” said Anna Kurnizki, Executive Director of Community Warehouse. “We’re excited to partner with a company like Field Day that listens to and prioritizes our needs as a nonprofit. It gives us an avenue to grow our audience, amplify our mission, and develop relationships with purpose-driven companies and the people that make up those companies.”

“Our inspiration to start Field Day came from our years at AWS Elemental, where we saw firsthand that effective social responsibility programming included the integration of community engagement into a culture through its employees, who benefited from the experience,” said Eli Blackman, Co-Founder and CEO of Field Day. Blackman and Jason LaPier, Co-Founder and CTO, worked together for nine years at Elemental, which was acquired by Amazon Web Services in 2015.

Blackman added, “That chapter in our careers, combined with our passion and experience developing useful technology, tools, and processes, uniquely positions us to make community engagement programs a success for our customers.”

“Field Day is a solution that streamlines the urgent needs of three key community stakeholders: companies, nonprofits, and employees,” said Madison McIlwain, Seed Partner at defy.vc. “Field Day unlocks a critical engagement channel for nonprofits while addressing the widespread need for community connection we’re seeing across company cultures today.”

About Field Day

Founded in 2021, Field Day Community Investments, Inc. builds intuitive technology that turns good intentions into action by making it easy and accessible for anyone to discover and engage with local nonprofits. The Field Day platform helps employers improve recruiting and retention by engaging employees together in their local communities, leading to powerful, data-supported social responsibility programs. Field Day also empowers nonprofits to grow their audience and develop strategic relationships with companies and their employees. The company is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. To learn more about Field Day, please visit www.heyfieldday.com.

About defy.vc

Founded in 2016, defy.vc is a Silicon Valley based early stage venture capital firm. Defy was founded to invest in entrepreneurs and companies looking to solve complex problems. Defy’s focus is to help early stage companies mature and scale into companies ready for growth capital. The firm’s team has more than 50 years of venture experience, successful operating backgrounds and actively helps successful entrepreneurs grow companies from inception through exit. Connect with defy at https://defy.vc/ and @defyvc