2019 SPC Report

Dayspring Technologies is an incorporated Social Purpose Corporation (SPC). SPCs are for-profit corporations registered in California that not only provide valuable services, but also recognize a broader range of stakeholders and promote a positive impact beyond profits. To that end, our efforts are focused in three areas: the workplace, the marketplace, and our community.

The Workplace

According to a report by the AFL-CIO, S&P 500 CEOs made 347 times more than the average rank-and-file employee in 2016 (the figure is much higher when compared to the lowest paid employee). At Dayspring we believe that every employee deserves a more equitable share of income, especially as we reside in one of the most expensive cities in the country. We proactively monitor our highest-to-lowest salary ratio in an attempt to reverse a trend that we find difficult to justify and that goes against our core values. In 2019, that ratio continues to be just over 2:1 (3:1 if you include our janitorial staff). This is our way of “filling in the valleys and bringing low the mountains.” (Isaiah 40:4, Luke 3:5)

Beyond leveling salaries, we promote a workplace culture that prioritizes compassion and grace over efficiency and ambition. Two company-wide meetings are held each week to discuss our values and for staff to share stories – opportunities for us to care for one another in a corporate structure. While difficult to measure, our staff feedback attest to the outcome of our effort.

The approximate ratio of highest to lowest salary at Dayspring

0 %

Percentage of staff who have been at Dayspring for over 10 years

“There’s a lack of divisiveness that comes from feeling like you don’t need to secure your own well-being.”

“What I remember is when my manager apologized to me for being impatient.”

The Marketplace

At Dayspring, we try to positively impact the marketplace by serving our clients in ways that nurture, rather than exploit, the relationship. We consider each project an opportunity to care for our clients, each of whom is under pressure to deliver by the rules of a cold, unsympathetic economy. Admittedly, the results of this effort are hard to fully express in numbers. But we are heartened by the fact that many of our clients have been with us for years. In fact, of the dozens of clients we served in 2019, about one third were clients with whom we first partnered with over 5 years ago, and remarkably, 11 have been our partners for a decade or more.

Every day, we are grateful for the trust they have placed in us and the stability of our relationships over the years. Every day, we are encouraged by our own staff’s posture with clients and their clients’ response in turn.

client projects completed

2019 clients with whom we have partnered for over 10 years

“We don’t play hardball with clients. We appeal to their humanity.”

“I count myself so lucky to work with such smart amazing people every day. And thank YOU for all you have done to make this website a success. I appreciate you all so much.”

Our Community

As an SPC, Dayspring has the goal of donating 3% of staff time* and 10% of profits to other organizations, with the lion’s share going to neighborhood businesses and nonprofits. This past year, our profits supported a diverse collection of organizations and initiatives including Believers in Business, Community Youth Center, Glad Tidings San Francisco, Jubilee Immigration Advocates, Mission Science Workshop, Open Door Legal, Rafiki Coalition, Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, Ripple Effect 22, San Francisco City Impact and others. In addition, over 20 staff together donated over 1700 hours in service to the Common Good.

In 2019, we continued to focus the majority share of our donated hours to a single recipient. Rise University Preparatory is a middle school with the aim of bringing quality education to Bayview. Some of our staff have built their website; others have implemented their Salesforce CRM to help track and support fundraising efforts. And many of our staff tutor after school and create coding courses, allowing us to use our marketplace skills to benefit students. All this happens seamlessly and organically given our proximity. In addition to the donations of funds and time, Dayspring made the extra commitment to fund an entire position at Rise, beginning in Fall 2019 and continuing through Spring 2020.

hours donated toward neighborhood businesses and other organizations

0 %

of profits go to local organizations serving our community

Rise Prep position funded

“We are so grateful to Dayspring for its generous donations to Rise University Preparatory. Through its giving, Dayspring fosters deep relationships with its neighborhood partners and is committed to the present and future flourishing of the city.”

Sometimes an organization benefits from our donations. But sometimes, what a member of the community really needs is a loan to propel themselves upward. The Neighbor Fund is a community-vetted, character-based small business loan fund with a participatory loan committee – meaning borrowers also sit on the loan committee. Rather than checking credit scores, we talk to people in the community that we know. This has the effect of building up relationships within the community. Most of our borrowers are folks who, for a variety of reasons, wouldn’t be able to borrow money from banks.

$ K

in new low interest loans given to local businesses in 2019

$ 0 K

in loans for local businesses from inception

“The Neighbor Fund really helped me with getting the equipment I needed to enhance the quality of services I could provide to clients. There’s not a lot of funding sources around that would say yes to a business based off relationship, honor and promise. What’s even better is knowing it comes from a community fund that is re-purposed to going back into the community to help other community based businesses. This is the 1st community based organization that’s actually doing what it says it will do to help the community.”

For better or worse, money matters in our lives. When Dayspring launched its first mobile app in 2009, it did so with the idea of improving people’s lives by helping them align how they spend their money with their core values. Our solution was Goodbudget, a budgeting tool that helps you track your spending, whether you have your own individual budget or share one with a household. The consistently strong increase in users – 5% in 2019 – attests to the positive impact Goodbudget has had on people’s finances. Based on customer feedback, we have witnessed that when people’s relationship with money improves, their overall lives can too. While we offer a premium paid product to support the cost of building, improving, and supporting the app, the majority of our customers use our free product, allowing anyone with a mobile device to benefit from Goodbudget.

$ K

saved on average in the first three months, according to Goodbudget users

“I learned that the budget I put together is actually doable and having the numbers in front of me made me want to save. This budgeting is to help me transition into retiring.”

“I especially appreciated the free tier, because without it, I don’t think I would’ve ever tried budgeting and wouldn’t have ever seen the amazing benefits. So thank you. Goodbudget has changed my life.”

“Absolutely an amazing APP, thank you! I am more aware of my Spend, thinking twice before I spend! I am looking forward to all the months to come to see the good financial spend and investments I will make.”

*Historically, Dayspring targeted to donate 5% of staff “production” time which became unnecessarily complicated to calculate. For the sake of simplicity and greater clarity, in 2019 we adjusted our donated time target to 3% of total staff hours which calculates to a comparable rate.

2019 SPC Report

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