Celebrating our nonprofit community: 2022 in review

3000 reasons to celebrate

As we transition into a new year, we're taking a moment to celebrate our nonprofit community and highlight some of their successes over the past year. In 2022, nonprofits did a whole a lot of collaborating. Among the 3000+ organizations that use Mural’s free nonprofit plan, we hit some major milestones:

400+ new nonprofits joined the program — more than one per day!
45,000+ murals created
150,000+ collaborators

Those aren't just numbers; they're people, ideas, and organizations that are making a meaningful impact on the world, both locally and globally.

“I am continually inspired by our nonprofit community and the outcomes they're able to achieve," said Ward Bullard, vice president, Mural for Good. "At Mural, we're focused on helping teams solve hard problems together, and these organizations are living out that value every single day. We are proud to play a supporting role in their successes.”

Changing the world by changing the way teams work

There’s no doubt that the pandemic changed the way teams work forever. When they could no longer work in conference rooms, classrooms, and other physical spaces, they found new ways to collaborate. New ways to brainstorm, solve problems, build community, empower volunteers, fundraise — new ways to make an impact. We are honored that Mural has played a part in helping nonprofit organizations tackle these challenges.

Today, many teams have gone back to in-person work or adopted a hybrid model. We have seen them continue to take advantage of the methods and tools that allowed them to collaborate and innovate in a remote setting — and it’s amazing to see the outcomes. Let’s take a closer look at what members of our incredible community achieved in 2022.

Women’s Money Matters

Bernadette Wheeler is the chief program officer at Women's Money Matters, an organization that empowers women to improve their financial health to create a more secure future for their families and communities. Bernadette first discovered Mural when she attended a community workshop to address homelessness. Participants used Mural to brainstorm and collaborate during the workshop. “I was blown away!” said Bernadette. “As soon as I got off the call, I added [Mural] to our routine.”

Now, Bernadette and her team use Mural to collaborate in the workplace. They’ve also begun to incorporate it into their online sessions with clients by facilitating icebreakers in Mural to get participants warmed up.

Mural also helps the Women’s Money Matters team tackle the challenge of psychological safety for their clients. Bernadette explained, “It's important for us to provide an environment for our workshops where everybody feels accepted and safe.” To help achieve this, they plan to use private mode in Mural, which allows people to contribute and ask questions anonymously.

Little Manila Rising

Little Manila Rising (LMR) serves the South Stockton community, developing equitable solutions to the effects of historical marginalization, institutionalized racism, and harmful public policy. LMR offers a wide spectrum of programs that address education, environment, redevelopment, and public health.

Nathan Werth is the chief of staff at Little Manila Rising, where he and his team use Mural to brainstorm, strategize, and synthesize information. “It’s a container for thinking, so aha moments happen all the time,” he said. “That comes out of everybody's collective thoughts and having a space to put all those thoughts and visualize them.”

United for College Success

United for College Success (UFCS) uses research, technology, and real-time data as drivers of its mission to empower underserved students to obtain a meaningful credential and/or career with upward mobility. UFCS’s central office is in Houston, Texas, and its coalition is spread across the state.

UFCS began using Mural when CEO Yvonne Eype was looking for a way to facilitate design thinking workshops in a virtual environment. She found Mural and started using it to collaborate online with people from across the organization. She took advantage of Mural’s hundreds of premade templates, including ones related to design thinking. Yvonne shared that she customized her sessions by selecting activities and methods from various templates.

Today, UFCS uses Mural for more than just design thinking workshops. During a recent leadership retreat, Yvonne made presentations more engaging and organized by presenting content in Mural instead of a traditional, linear slide deck that may not be conducive to collaboration. She likes using a Mural whiteboard because of its interactivity and flexibility. “Being able to add links and photos and everything housed in one space [is] key,” she said.

Muralistas making an impact

Mural employees — or as we call ourselves, Muralistas — are also dedicated to making an impact in our own communities. In October 2022, Mural launched a paid Voluntary Time Off (VTO) initiative. Built to complement Mural’s flexible time off policy, VTO allows team members to be purposeful about volunteer work.

“Taking paid time off is not just about taking time to go on a holiday,” said Bethan Adelekan, people operations director at Mural. “[VTO is] about encouraging and enabling people to support their communities anywhere, all over the world, which I think is a really powerful thing that a company can do.”

Muralistas are already taking advantage of this time off. “Time to volunteer is so energizing for me. I have always loved giving back to the community and making the world a better place," said software engineer Katie Hendrickson. "One way I have used my volunteer time has been to run events for girls in high school to inspire them [and teach them] how to find a career in technology and find their passion.”

And as Lipi Grover, Sales Enablement, demonstrates, volunteering doesn’t need to be a solo activity. Lipi took the initiative to organize a community service project that had her team members coming together (remotely!) to make cards for children in the hospital.

We look forward to continuing the VTO program and supporting our nonprofit community in 2023!