NEW ORLEANS – Designed to transform news into social action, the innovative New Orleans-based startup ReACT has launched its first campaign in the Crescent City. Timed in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, ReACT is making online news stories related to Katrina actionable, essentially turning news into opportunities for giving.
Here’s how it works: ReACT’s technology scans online news stories, matches them with relevant philanthropic initiatives in real time, and automatically gives readers the opportunity to support these initiatives either through donations or other impactful actions—sign up, petition, volunteer, and so on. ReACT works in partnership with news organizations, charities, and corporations’ social responsibility programs to dramatically increase newsreader engagement with social causes.
For its inaugural campaign, ReACT has partnered with the St. Bernard Project and Entergy Corporation to launch on NOLA.com. Throughout this news-driven social action campaign, which will run on NOLA.com through October 14, 2015, Entergy shareholders will match online donations to the St. Bernard Project up to a total combined contribution of $150,000. One hundred percent of all donations given through ReACT’s platform directly benefit the charity.
“We’re a technology company dedicated to achieving both financial and social returns for our partners,” says Marcos Barbery, CEO and founder of ReACT. “To launch in New Orleans with partners like the St. Bernard Project and Entergy Corporation is a dream come true. This one campaign has the potential to positively impact dozens of families across New Orleans.”
Since Hurricane Katrina, the St. Bernard Project has built more than 600 homes for New Orleans families. Entergy Corporation was the St. Bernard Project’s first corporate sponsor in 2006. Over the years, Entergy has helped the St. Bernard Project grow from a grassroots, three-person volunteer team to a nationally recognized leader in disaster resilience and recovery.
“Entergy has been a longtime supporter of the St. Bernard Project,” says Patty Riddlebarger, director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Entergy Corporation. “We are committed to creating sustainable value for our communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. I’m hopeful that ReACT’s platform will help multiply our charitable gift to the St. Bernard Project, and ultimately, help more families rebuild.”
ReACT is scheduled to expand nationally in the coming months.
ReACT was founded in 2015 by Marcos Barbery, a social entrepreneur and award-winning documentary filmmaker. Barbery’s documentary film “By Blood” premiered at the 2014 New Orleans International Film Festival, and is scheduled to be broadcast this fall in four languages across more than a dozen countries. While traveling the film festival circuit, Barbery identified the gap between news and action. To build ReACT, Barbery teamed up with award-winning technologist Alex Nunes. ReACT is based out of Launch Pad New Orleans.
