The initial idea for GiveGab came from CEO Charlie Mulligan who was reading a study that found that people's happiness increased when they volunteered once a month as opposed to their salary doubling. From having a background in advertising in which he worked with nonprofits, Mulligan knew he wanted to build a software that would help charities and nonprofits, but first he had to figure out what to include.

Nonprofit organizations who are just starting out rarely have large staff. In a majority of the cases, the staff they do have are wearing multiple hats, whether it's grant writing, managing the books, or interacting with clients. The roles they can't fill themselves, they outsource to professionals spending money that the organization might not have.