YourCauseOrMine is an online community where people can meet, connect, and interact while supporting a cause, pursuing an interest, or promoting a cause-related event. YourCauseOrMine matches people based on their cause interests and provides a platform for individuals or groups to meet, connect, and volunteer together at local events.

We recognize how difficult it can be to meet others who share your interests and care about the same things you do.  Anyone that has spent time looking for that special someone will quickly recognize how hard it is to meet the right person. Our premise is that people who share common interests already have a head start when it comes to good conversation and compatibility. We help individuals make meaningful connections with others who share common interests.  We allow members to "skip the first date" by revealing their connections before even engaging in a conversation. Once connected, we provide recommendations for the first in-person interaction with someone by suggesting local volunteer or cause-related events.

Because we are a cause-related website and genuinely care about making a difference in the world, we also allow our members to vote on a monthly featured cause that will receive a percentage of our proceeds.

"The Secret Sauce"

Just looking at categories and causes isn’t enough to determine a match. In an effort to better predict compatibility, we developed a patent-pending algorithm that takes into consideration a person’s interests, site behavior, actions, and other criteria to determine the person’s interests and what type of individual he or she is looking for. This technology was created by two members of our team who are also co-authors of a patent for a relevance algorithm that analyzed online content and predicted what information should be displayed to the user to increase engagement. The previous algorithm was implemented on a popular social website that received more than 2 million unique visitors a day, and when active, showed an increase in engagement of over 160% and increased overall time spent on the page.

Our algorithm for YourCauseOrMine will “learn” each member over time and refine the member’s recommendations the more they use our website. Given the success and lessons learned from our previous experience, we are confident that the algorithm will produce relevant matches.

The initial one-on-one communication between members is free but we require "cause credits" or a paid membership to continue the conversation. Our website features a subscription based monthly membership that gives access to some advanced features as well as those that require a one-time payment with credits.

Home Page

Meet People – Search for other members and filter by their interests

Causes – Search for causes that you are interested in

Events – Search for local events where you can invite others to volunteer with you

User Profile

The initial version of our matching algorithm as well as our website is complete and we "dark launched" www.yourcauseormine.com three weeks ago to friends and family. We have retained a boutique PR firm and are beginning to get our message out there to what we believe is our target consumer segment.

Our current focus is on customer acquisition and retention by taking an interative approach to refining our product leveraging A/B testing of different page layouts and features.

Although our team in strong in areas of technology related to both e-commerce and social, there are some key areas where we need help. There are also many players in the niche online dating space, which is why it is imperative that we are quick to the market with this concept. If you help fund our project, this is how we will use the money:

1. Intellectual Property (IP) – Our matching algorithm is one of our key differentiators and we would like to protect the technology by completing the patent process.
2. Mobile Applications – Less than a year ago mobile users accounted for more than 30% of dating site registrations. In order to stay competitive, we will need to have native applications for Android and IOS.
3. Content Curators- We need part-time content creators to help us with the initial creation and management of content on the website.

The two co-founders, a husband and wife team, have spent most of their adult lives mentoring teenagers, at-risk youth and volunteering as coaches and team parents for youth sports. It was our common interest in live music, spoken word and the underground music scene of Atlanta, GA in the early 2000's, that brought us to a small, eclectic local artist spot where we met. The vibe of the lounge was one that attracted people with very specific interests and it was those interests that initially brought us together.

Professionally, they have worked for e-commerce & social websites, taught courses on online peer collaboration, digital story telling and technology. YourCauseOrMine came from a desire to be able to have a company that merges both their professional and personal passions. It began as wanting to provide a set of tools for individuals and organizations to invite others to get involved in their local communities. From there it evolved into an online community where people can be active in their communities while meeting people with similar interests for the purpose of getting to know each other better. We believe that one of the pillars of a sustainable relationship is common interests and passions. This foundation has helped us to stay together for 13+ years and we hope to provide a platform that is the catalyst for successful, meaningful relationships for others.

The Team

CEO, Business Development, Technical Direction- Fredrick Roby: Former VP of Engineering at MySpace, in charge of the user News Feed • Helped raise 7.8MM as CTO at DollarShaveClub.com • Former CTO of publicly-traded e-commerce business. Well versed in social technology products, e-commerce, development, and deployment • Holds multiple e-commerce patents • Co-developer of a patented social content relevance algorithm • MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA and a BS from Cornell University.

Social Media, Public Relations – Teshia Young Roby: College professor for 12 years in Educational Technologies and Ethnic and Women’s Studies • Scholarship includes effective educational uses of collaborative, innovative, and Web 2.0 technologies, inclusion of culture as a pedagogical philosophy and use of technology to promote digital equity and social justice • PhD and MS in Ed Tech and Instructional Design, MBA from the Robinson COB at GSU, BA in Computer Science from Clemson University.

Algorithm Design – Sai Panyam: Software professional with 11+ years in enterprise technologies • Extensive experience in the design and development of industrial strength applications • Co-developer of a patented social content relevance algorithm • Skilled in technical leadership, evangelism, team management, application architecture, process improvement and software development.

Our company strives to make a difference in the world while connecting others who want to do the same. Our business model includes investing in worthy causes, including some that are represented on this site. Join us in caring for our communities by starting, joining, and supporting worthy causes in your neighborhood and around the world.

Many of the rewards offered for your support feature "cause credits" which can be redeemed on our website to draw attention to your profile, participate in "Match Maker" where you allow others to choose your match, and send messages to other members. 

We also offer environmentally conscious rewards that reduce your carbon footprint, such as a grocery tote and stainless steel water bottle. For those that want to help get the word out about the website, we also have YourCauseOrMine t-shirts.

All rewards will be shipped out upon the succesful completion of our raise.