After spending his earlier years working client-side at nonprofits, George Springer decided that he wanted to direct his time and talent toward helping nonprofits make the best use of technology to better achieve their aims. That led to the creation of Whole Whale.
We spoke with Springer about his team’s focus, his management ethos, and whale blubber.
Thanks for chatting with us. Just curious: How did the name come about?
It comes from this idea that likes to take over my thinking. The Inuit some thousand years ago in the cold Tundras of north, when they landed a whale, they would use every single part, from the blubber to the bone. It was a religious taboo to waste a single part. Fast forward to the 1850s, the golden age of whaling in the Massachusetts area, when they were out there just pulling back whale oil for lamp oil in small parts and dumping the whales in the ocean. What I think happens in a time of abundance— which we are definitely at with data, with technology—is that we become kind of wasteful and view things like, ‘Oh my gosh, here is this very simple website that all we need to do is create a donate button and we’re done with it.’
Makes sense! So how does Whole Whale deliver the whole whale?
We’re a social impact tech company that works exclusively with nonprofit and social impact organizations. A large vision of what we are doing is more focused around closing the nonprofit knowledge gap with regard to data and technology.
We provide direct services with regard to Google analytics, A/B testing, digital advertising and the like, focused around training the nonprofits we work with, which then allows them to create products and content that serve the larger marketing sector.
We have the luxury of working with clients that get it. We actually turn down about half of the people that come in through the door just because we don’t think they have the right time, place, or approach. So when we’re working with clients, sure we can aim to hit a date, but most of our work is done on a retainer basis where we are moving toward a goal that we set and define together. And we have the flexibility to make sure that it happens.