Aunt Bertha Celebrates A Decade Of Growth And Service With Major User Milestone

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 31, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Aunt Bertha, America's leading search and referral platform for social service organizations, today announces the 10th anniversary of the company's founding. Founded with a guiding vision to ensure every American can readily find and access social services in their area when they need them, the company marks its first decade by surpassing 4 million users served.

Founded in 2010, Aunt Bertha was launched against the backdrop of the global financial crisis. "It was a difficult time" recalls Erine Gray, Founder and CEO of Aunt Bertha. "We were witnessing the demand for food stamps increasing dramatically and at the time Texas just didn't have the resources to process all the applications for benefits. I realized the safety net was completely breaking down before our eyes. I asked myself, well, what do we do when the safety net is broken? That's when the light bulb went off in my head."

Since its humble beginnings in the Austin, TX community, Aunt Bertha over the past 10 years has expanded its footprint in significant ways:

• Originally starting with 143 needs-based programs in Texas, Aunt Bertha's network now covers over 1,100 resources in every county across the United States.
• Relying on part-time employees and crowdsourcing at launch, Aunt Bertha now employs a full-time Data Operations team of more than 40 employees — helping to ensure that relevant resources are up-to-date for users on the platform, as well as partner organizations coordinating care & referrals.
• Growing its customer base to more than 260 organizations across the country — providing software & service referral/coordination support to care providers including recent additions like Geisinger Health, one of the largest healthcare organizations in the country.

Most recently, Aunt Bertha faced one of its biggest challenges to date with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in America. Sensing the impact of the unprecedented circumstances communities were about to face, and in a matter of days, the Aunt Bertha team launched findhelp.org, a new navigation tool to help people across the country address sudden lapses in unemployment, food security, or other problems they didn't see coming. The new site has helped people find what's needed most in this new, uncertain landscape — everything from free COVID-19 testing to specific household supplies as well as reduced-cost services such as rent relief, utility bill assistance, and mental health treatment, specifically for people impacted by the pandemic.

"As a result of the pandemic, and through thoughtful reflection over the past six months, we've decided to double down on findhelp.org to help people during these uncertain economic times. The road ahead is uncertain for millions of Americans who are struggling right now and I believe there's an opportunity to help re-think how the safety net works. ," says Gray. When asked what the team at Aunt Bertha hopes to achieve over the next 10 years, Gray shared, "To build back a better safety net, it's going to take a significant shift in our collective thought. It's going to take the private sector that thinks out of the box about these problems — including up-and-coming social entrepreneurs out there. It's going to take governments willing to experiment with new ideas, and new companies. And, lastly it's going to require a new look at what philanthropy means in this day and age. We're excited to continue to be at the intersection of these three aspirations, and we plan to be right there at the table."

For more information on how Aunt Bertha has grown and evolved over the past 10 years, please visit https://company.auntbertha.com/.

About Aunt Bertha
Aunt Bertha is the leading referral platform for social services in America, serving the biggest cities and smallest towns. It connects people seeking help and the verified social care providers that serve them, with dignity and ease. Aunt Bertha makes it easy for people to find social services in their communities, for nonprofits to coordinate their efforts, and for organizations to integrate social care into the work they already do. Aunt Bertha serves millions of users and its platform is used in a wide range of industries including education, government, housing, and healthcare.

CONTACT:  Thomas Hannaford, MWW, [email protected]

SOURCE Aunt Bertha