Start-ups with Social Significance
Our partnerships with First-GIG.com LLC and its three subsidiaries— 1stGig.com, VetsBridge.com, and WhenPeopleWork.com—and our partnership with Social Seam provide First Fairfield the opportunity to strengthen and grow its tech-related investments and to dedicate a portion of our profits to veterans and social justice issues.
1stGig, VetsBridge, and WhenPeopleWork
First Fairfield Associates, LLC has provided venture capital for the 1stGig, VetsBridge, and WhenPeopleWork websites and has launched technological advances, marketing campaigns, and promotional activities for these projects. First Fairfield has developed a number of extremely powerful and successful partnerships that aim to grow our customer base for these websites while at the same time staying true to our values of supporting our surrounding communities through social responsibility programs.
1stgig.com is a career matching service based on a linear matching system designed to unite graduates looking for entry level positions with employers seeking the skills they offer. 1stGig simplifies the job search process and makes it easier for recent graduates and employers to find each other. 1stGig has a strategic service agreement with iCIMS, the leading provider of applicant tracking systems and human resource recruiting software out of Matawam, New Jersey that provides benefits to all aspects of the hiring process. In creating this partnership, we will have the opportunity to immediately work with Fortune 500 companies recruiting college aged students and gain access to an ecosystem of other large job board companies.
Vetsbridge.com, a sister site to 1stGig, uses the linear matching system to match veterans with employers. The VetsBridge goal is to match veterans and their unique skill sets with employers who need and value those skills. VetsBridge has an arrangement with the New York State Defenders Association (NYSDA), a public advocacy organization. The objective of this arrangement is for Vetsbridge.com to fund special projects to assist returning veterans of the United States armed forces whose service related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and substance abuse problems have resulted in their interaction with the criminal justice system and in advancing other criminal justice and social reforms.
WhenPeopleWork.org is an online employment matching system that aligns formerly incarcerated individuals—as well as prisoners on track to be released—with employers who are open to hiring individuals who have 
a criminal record. The program not only assists people with finding jobs upon their release but also is a tool for furthering their careers as they grow in their new jobs and earn trust and respect in the workplace. The program, available to job seekers and employers free of charge, is committed to helping formerly incarcerated people assimilate back into society through meaningful jobs and careers. WhenPeopleWork has been developed on the 1stGig and VetsBridge platform and uses this advanced technology to service the prisoner re-entry population.
One of the most distinctive features of the WhenPeopleWork system is its ability to create ongoing social-impact measurements and analytics, which are essential for government policy makers. The data will allow public-sector participants to measure and evaluate their investment in prisoner re-entry employment in terms of the program’s success. The studies will include the impact that employing formerly incarcerated people has on reducing governmental expenditures through lower recidivism rates. The data will also measure any improvements such as an increase in the pool of taxpayers and a reduction in the strain on social services, as well as outcomes such as stronger families, healthier individuals, and stable neighborhoods.
First-GIG will pledge up to 10 percent of all pre-tax profit derived from WhenPeopleWork to programs and organizations dedicated to assisting incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people and their families, including programs for prisoner education, public defense, restorative justice, and criminal justice reform.
Social Seam
First Fairfield Associates, LLC has also provided venture capital for the Social Seam website.
Socialseam.org is a web based platform that makes it easy for nonprofits, businesses and individuals to work together, increase donations, drive business, and strengthen their community. With Social Seam, donors are rewarded, nonprofits are supported, and businesses gain customers. The company was founded within the entrepreneurial incubator program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Jason Leo Baguio, whose background is in analytic philosophy, linguistics, and symbolic logic and Olga Stroilova, PhD., MIT, of edX in Cambridge, MA.
Despite technological advancements, increased computing power, and social networking many businesses still see little to no ROI for their philanthropic efforts, nonprofits continue to use passive, antiquated strategies for raising money, and donors often receive rewards that are irrelevant to their daily life. As a result many philanthropic partnerships dissolve, yield marginal results, or are never formed. Social Seam is an interactive social network where nonprofits and businesses easily form partnerships to create and analyze cause-marketing efforts that also provide opportunities for donors to lower their cost of living.