Founded by people
who lived the problem.
Elliss was born from a simple observation: the people who want to help and the people who need it live in the same neighborhoods — and no one had ever built a bridge between them. And as the age-old saying goes, "it takes a village."
Where it all began.
Hello! Our names are Paul and Sammy Schaum. We both grew up in southern Wisconsin and attended UW-Whitewater — and that's where we met and fell in love. After graduating in 2015, we embarked on a new adventure and moved to Arizona.
In 2016, we were living in Tempe and didn't have many friends or colleagues in the desert yet, so we found we had a lot of time on our hands. Both of us had volunteer backgrounds, so we wanted to fill that time by doing something good and giving back to our new community.
Unfortunately, our attempts to find somewhere to volunteer that matched our backgrounds and accommodated our schedules were futile. That's when a lightbulb went off — there had to be an easier way to give back. We conceptualized an app we then called Virtual Volunteer.
The only problem was that neither of us had a coding background. At 23 years old, we didn't know anyone who could develop an app either. So we filed it away as just another good idea.
"We could not imagine what this process would feel like for someone who immigrated from another country — or anyone who didn't have access or education to navigate a complex government website."— Paul & Sammy Schaum, Co-Founders
Coming home. The idea returns.
Fast forward eight years to 2024. Our son was six months old, and we decided to move home to Janesville, Wisconsin — because as the age-old saying goes, "it takes a village." At 32, we were finally ready to buy a home and began the complicated home-buying process.
One of the many action items on our list was to determine whether we were eligible for programs such as down payment assistance. We found the process extremely frustrating — and even as college-educated adults, it was very confusing.
It caused us to revisit the Virtual Volunteer idea. We realized that connecting people to resources they qualify for but can't navigate to would be another powerful addition to the app. But the same problem still existed: coding was not in our skillset, nor was it a strength of our network.
Ten years later. One platform.
Then, just a couple of years later in 2026, Paul began using Claude by Anthropic at work. Once we realized the capabilities of this AI platform, our minds immediately went to the Virtual Volunteer app we had conceptualized 10 years earlier.
We coded the app, rebranded the company — and Elliss was born.
What we're here to do.
Elliss exists to permanently improve how underserved community members access resources and how volunteers find meaningful engagement — through a trusted, self-sustaining civic platform.
We are a Wisconsin nonprofit in formation. Our 501(c)(3) application is in preparation. Fiscal sponsorship is established for interim giving. The platform is live at elliss.app.
Meet the co-founders.
Samantha Schaum
Executive Director & Co-Founder
- Elementary school art teacher — authentic community trust
- Organizational face of Elliss: donor relations, partnerships, brand identity
- Women-led nonprofit: opens dedicated grant categories and DEI partnerships
- Founding story rooted in lived experience of community disconnection
Paul Schaum
Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder
- 10+ years professional marketing management experience
- Built the Elliss MVP from zero to live deployed app in weeks
- Technology, product strategy, content marketing, and grant writing
- In-house content engine: social, editorial, and at near-zero cost
Why non-profit changes everything.
Grant-Eligible
Foundation and government grants fund mission-aligned nonprofits. They do not fund VC-backed startups. Elliss can pursue grants that POINT, Golden, and every for-profit competitor cannot touch.
Community Trust
Partner organizations and help-seekers trust a 501(c)(3) differently. A food bank will share its volunteer database with a mission-aligned nonprofit — not a startup with undisclosed monetization.
Lower Costs
Google for Nonprofits: up to $10K/month in Ad Grants. Stripe nonprofit rate: 2.2% vs 2.9%. Microsoft nonprofit credits. These structural advantages compound over time.
Women-Led
Samantha's leadership as Executive Director opens a distinct tier of grant programs, DEI partnerships, and corporate sponsorships unavailable to male-led or for-profit organizations.