thedatabank, gbc is a small, Minnesota-based company that was one of the first to offer cloud-based database software to nonprofits. thedatabank began in 1998 with the two founders and has grown to a team of 7 that is dedicated to providing nonprofits with Technology for Change.
Chris Hanson – Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
A natural entrepreneur and internet pioneer, Chris has founded or co-founded five successful businesses including Sanus, the largest manufacturer of audio/video furniture and accessories in the US, and three nonprofits. His current company, thedatabank, gbc, is a Certified General Benefit Corporation that was formed in 1998 as the first SaaS CRM software used by nonprofit organizations to manage relationships with their supporters. As a small business owner, fundraiser and direct marketer, Chris has presented at numerous regional, national and international conferences.
Chris earned his Ph.D. in Organization Development at the University of Minnesota where he conducted research on the use of formal training to improve organizational performance in small businesses. An award-winning researcher and author, he has presented at national and international academic conferences and has published articles in the areas of small business development, social network analysis and social entrepreneurship. His focus is on helping social entrepreneurs and small business owners build organizations that are financially and socially beneficial. Chris is also a Senior Fellow of the Twin Cities Metro Independent Business Alliance and founding board member of MNVest.org.
Get to know Chris a little better:
Why is working at a social impact-based company important to you?
Every business, regardless of intent or size, creates social impact. One of our goals when we started thedatabank was to have a company that not only makes a sustainable profit but also works to maximize its beneficial social impact. thedatabank is a real-life example that you can do both and have fun doing it.
The fun part is a result of the type of people who are attracted to working at a B-corp. This is a benefit we didn’t know about when we began but is the reason I still look forward to coming to the office every day after 25+ years.
If you could have dinner with anyone, past or present, who would it be?
It would be a guy’s dinner, maybe followed by poker, with Francis of Assisi, John Lennon and Paul Wellstone. They each became role models for me at different stages in my life. One was a religious man, one a musician, the other a politician, but they all taught me about truth, justice and compassion by the lives they lived. I think it would be a fun, memorable night.
How do you spend your free time – when you have it?
For relaxation I like to read and write. I always seem to have something in my hand to read. Being born and raised in Minnesota there was always a hockey rink across the street. I still play every Monday night on a 50+ team. We call ourselves the Gerihatricks. During the three months of spring, summer and fall I play as much golf as possible once I finish my honey-do list. Oh, I’m so conventional and boring.
If you could visit any place from a book, real or fictional, where would it be and why?
I guess it would have to be the Shire in Middle-earth. I read the Hobbit in 1971 when I was in junior high and haven’t stopped reading fantasy books since. When I read fiction I like to be taken somewhere I’ve never been. There are lots of places to visit in Middle-earth but none seem as quaint and inviting as the Shire. Kind of like a weekend in the Cotswolds.
Mark Paquette – Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder
Mark has over 30 years experience developing nonprofit and educational software, including international best seller The Oregon Trail. Prior to founding thedatabank, he owned a company that developed e-commerce sites and web database applications. His interests include bicycling, cooking, music, and volunteering.
Get to know Mark a little better:
Why is working at a social impact-based company important to you?
My first career was in R&D, developing guidance components for nuclear warhead delivery systems: B-52 bomber, Pershing II medium-range missile, Tomahawk cruise missile. The pay was really good, I was working with wonderful people, and my professional life was off to a great start. A false start.
My partner and future wife persuaded me to attend a screening of a 15-minute documentary film that depicted the aftermath of our country’s atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was full of surprising and gruesome facts about the effects of the blasts and lingering radiation on the people, the plants, the obliterated society. I was sickened by the film, and I grieved to think I was working on bombs that were orders of magnitude more destructive. The more I learned about the ultimate product of my work –not just the fascinating gizmo I was developing– and about the nuclear brinksmanship played by our leaders, the more alarmed I became. If my bombs are ever used, I thought, my life will have been a failure many times over. I quit that job and that career, and became an activist.
Ever since, I’ve been trying in some way to dig out of this moral hole by caring for our natural world, its people and animals and plants. At thedatabank, I am allied with our clients to create the just and sustainable world we all need. Long story short, working at a social impact-based company feels restorative and good.
If you could have dinner with anyone, past or present, who would it be?
Mark Twain.
What’s on your playlist while you’re at work?
It depends on the work I’m doing. If I’m reading, writing, or coding, it’s too distracting if the music has recognizable lyrics, so I listen to a lot of nothing, non-English-language music, lounge/chill, instrumental jazz and orchestral music. If the work I’m doing is more mechanical, I can rock out more. My latest discovery is guitarist Will Bernard.
What does your perfect Saturday morning look like?
The inside of my eyelids! JK 🙂 A run and an outdoor breakfast in the cool sunshine, where my wife and I linger over coffee and work on a NY Times crossword I stole during the week from an old deli newspaper. But not a Thursday puzzle. Those things too often feel like a cruel and incomprehensible pun.