For Immediate Release
NEW YORK, August 22, 2026 /3BL/ – idealist.org, the website behind nonprofit Idealist, launched thirty years ago today. To celebrate three decades of helping people move from intention to action, Idealist is reflecting on their history and the way forward.
Before Google and Wikipedia, there was Idealist. An early web presence, idealist.org launched on August 22, 1996 with altruism at its core: bringing people together through new technology to build a better world. The directory of nonprofit organizations was later joined by listings for jobs, internships, volunteer opportunities, and ways to connect with neighbors to solve local problems. Over the years, Idealist has connected millions of people to hundreds of thousands of organizations.
Beyond listings and organization profiles, Idealist has:
- Organized nearly 300 in-person and digital grad-school fairs to help over 100,000 members of our network advance their social-impact careers.
- Published over 2,000 free resources to encourage individuals and organizations to participate in equitable and sustainable social-impact opportunities.
- Collected 50,000 pieces of salary data to chart nonprofit salaries across the United States.
In 2025, Idealist merged with visionary nonprofit VolunteerMatch, expanding ways to take action by housing jobs, volunteer opportunities, and more under one digital roof. As one merged organization, Idealist launched two software solutions to help even more people engage in volunteerism, engaging 200 corporate clients and 2.25 million employees annually.
“Looking back is somewhat astounding,” said Idealist Founder and Executive Director Ami Dar. “We built something for the nonprofit sector when the internet was considered ‘fringe’ and not a necessity as it is today. More than anything, I am looking toward the future, and how we can innovate for anyone who wants to build a better world. In these divisive times, our team wants to find ways to bring us all together, because we have so much more in common than we think. Together, we can shape the world we want to see.”
To learn more about Idealist’s history and what’s next, please visit their 30th anniversary hub.
About Idealist
For 30 years, Idealist has worked to bridge the gap between intention and action by connecting organizations and people who want to do good. With the 2025 merger with VolunteerMatch, Idealist has connected 200,000+ organizations with tens of millions of people. Over the years, the combined organizations facilitated posting of over a million jobs and over a million volunteer opportunities. Additionally, Idealist empowers businesses to make a difference through volunteering via API technology and other means. Find out more at idealist.org and on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Media Contact
Kevin Kennedy media@idealist.org