What Make a Mark does

Make a Mark is a nonprofit community organization founded in 2014 by Sarah Obenauer that operates 12-hour design and development marathons ("make-a-thons") delivering pro-bono creative services to local nonprofit and humanitarian organizations. Each event convenes volunteer makers — designers, developers, illustrators, photographers, and videographers — who produce branding, websites, marketing materials, social media strategy, and other communication assets for selected nonprofits during a structured single-day format. Over ten years the organization has operated in 12 cities across the United States and Belgium, completing more than 200 projects and producing an estimated $1M in cumulative pro-bono creative output.

The organization's core product is not a software platform but an event framework packaged with a publicly available replication guide. The guide includes six-month planning schedules, event-day schedules, eight documented lessons learned, and application templates, enabling local organizers to host their own make-a-thons. Make a Mark itself runs on commodity third-party tools — Webflow for the website, Calendly for scheduling, and Google Workspace for document management and applications.

Make a Mark is funded entirely through sponsorships. Financial sponsors provide monetary contributions to cover event costs, while in-kind sponsors donate venue space, food, beverages, and supplies from local businesses including restaurants, breweries, wineries, and national chains. The organization charges no fees to participants: events are free for both volunteer makers and nonprofit partners. There is no venture capital, private equity, or institutional investment, and the organization is volunteer-driven with a stated headcount of 11-50. Revenue is not publicly disclosed.

Name

Make a Mark

Legal name

Make a Mark

Website

https://letsmakeamark.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Make a Mark is a nonprofit founded in 2014 that runs 12-hour design and development marathons delivering pro-bono creative services to local nonprofits, operating across 12 cities with 200+ projects completed.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Pro Bono Design Services

NAICS

Graphic Design Services (54143), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)

akta.pro primary industry

Cause/Sustainability & Purpose-Driven Creative Agencies (MPAAAAAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Arts, Sports & Recreation-Based Youth Development Nonprofits (BPAGADAJ)

Keywords

• Pro bono design services
• Design marathon events
• Nonprofit creative services
• Volunteer design programs
• Humanitarian design support

Headquarters

HQ city

Chattanooga

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Sponsorships: Make a Mark operates as a nonprofit supported entirely through sponsorships. Financial sponsors provide monetary contributions to cover event costs. In-kind sponsors donate physical space, food, beverages, shirts, and other materials. Local businesses including restaurants, breweries, wineries, and national chains have contributed.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Make a Mark organizes 12-hour design and development marathons (make-a-thons) that bring together volunteer designers, developers, illustrators, photographers, and videographers to produce pro-bono creative deliverables, including branding, websites, marketing materials, and social media strategy, for nonprofit and humanitarian organizations. The organization publishes a replication guide with a six-month planning schedule, an event-day schedule, and eight documented lessons learned so that local volunteer organizers in new cities can host their own make-a-thons.

Product overview

Make a Mark is a 12-hour design and development marathon event organization that benefits local humanitarian causes. Founded in 2014, it has operated in 12 cities and produced over 200 projects worth $1M in creative materials. The organization offers a suite of resources including Planning Schedule Resources, Event Schedule Resources, and 8 documented Lessons Learned, which together form a comprehensive replication guide. These resources enable local organizers to hold their own make-a-thon events in their communities. The core product is not a software platform but rather an event framework combined with operational templates and institutional knowledge for organizing design/development marathons for nonprofits.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Make-a-Thon Events

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 200 nonprofit projects completed across 12 cities in 10 years
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Corporate Research Center (Blacksburg, VA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe inaugural make-a-thon was held at the Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, VA. This venue hosted the first event serving nonprofits in the New River Valley and neighboring Roanoke Valley.
• Community FoundationscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity foundations serve as trusted local partners who endorse Make a Mark to their nonprofit networks. They are a primary avenue for nonprofit recruitment and help establish credibility in new communities.
• AIGAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) is a professional organization through which Make a Mark recruits volunteer makers (designers and creative professionals).
• Creative MorningsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCreative Mornings is an international breakfast lecture series for the creative community. Make a Mark recruits makers through attending and presenting at local Creative Mornings meetups.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights8 records

Broad incumbents

• VolunteerMatch: VolunteerMatch is the largest online U.S. volunteer matching platform, connecting individuals to nonprofit opportunities. It is comparable because both Make a Mark and VolunteerMatch rely on skilled-volunteer recruitment to serve nonprofit demand, though VolunteerMatch is a broad marketplace rather than a curated, design-focused marathon.
• AIGA Design for Good: AIGA is the national professional association for designers that operates the "Design for Good" initiative, channeling member designers toward pro-bono community impact. It is a broad incumbent peer because Make a Mark recruits its volunteer makers through AIGA chapters and shares the design-for-good mission, but AIGA's scope is much wider than Make a Mark's event format.
• Points of Light: Points of Light is one of the largest volunteer-service organizations in the U.S., operating enterprise and individual volunteer mobilization programs. It is comparable as a peer in volunteer infrastructure and civic engagement, but operates as a broad incumbent spanning many service areas rather than the design-event niche Make a Mark occupies.
• Idealist: Idealist is a global nonprofit and volunteer opportunity platform operated by Idealist.org Action. It is comparable because both organizations match mission-driven individuals with nonprofit engagement opportunities, but Idealist's scope spans jobs, volunteering, and organizations across all causes, making it a broad incumbent rather than a focused peer.

Direct peers

• Catchafire: Catchafire is a skills-based volunteering platform that matches professional volunteers (designers, developers, marketers) with nonprofits for pro-bono projects. It is a direct peer because both organizations route skilled creative talent toward nonprofits, though Catchafire runs year-round rather than through marathon events.
• Taproot Foundation: Taproot Foundation is a leading nonprofit that connects skilled professionals with other nonprofits for pro-bono consulting and creative services. It is comparable to Make a Mark as both act as intermediaries delivering professional-grade services to under-resourced nonprofits, though Taproot operates as an ongoing engagement rather than a one-day marathon.
• 48in48: 48in48 organizes 48-hour web-building events for nonprofits using volunteer web professionals. It is the closest direct peer to Make a Mark, sharing the event-based, volunteer-driven, pro-bono creative-services-for-nonprofits model with the main difference being the time horizon (48 hours vs. 12 hours) and the narrower focus on websites.

Emerging players

• Random Hacks of Kindness: Random Hacks of Kindness is a hackathon-format event that brings technologists together to build software solutions for humanitarian and nonprofit challenges. It is an emerging peer sharing the volunteer-hackathon-for-nonprofits model with Make a Mark, though it focuses on software products rather than design and communications deliverables.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/letsmakeamark

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Make a Mark