THIS IS HOW WE GROW
A fundraising sprint to kick off our first year and keep Rhize free for all.
WHY WE EXIST
Rhize is the largest free, global community supporting the emotional wellbeing and professional development of our workforce.
We're redefining how people navigate work, job loss, and reinvention offering a space to rebuild with dignity through shared experiences, curated resources, real connection, and consistent community care.
We’ve built this without funding. Now, we need your help to reach more people and keep it free for all.
IT STARTED WITH ONE POST
When you lose your job, you don’t just lose income. You lose identity, community, and a sense of control.
I know this story all to well. I was living in that space between who I’d been and who I wanted to become.
It started with a post — a vulnerable conversation in the darkest time of my life.
After my third layoff, I hit record on TikTok out of pure desperation. It was one of those what do I have to lose moments, when the fear of doing nothing finally outweighed the fear of being seen.
I thought maybe five people would see it. Instead, 80,000 of us showed up — people who had been laid off, ghosted, underpaid, unseen. Human beings carrying the same fear and exhaustion I was.
That flood of “same” broke the dam of silence. It turned isolation into belonging and proved that we weren’t the problem. The system was.
Rhize didn’t grow from strategy or branding. It grew from something deeper, a human instinct to reach for each other when everything else disappears.
HOW WE GREW TOGETHER
Fast forward eighteen months and that conversation has grown into the largest free online community supporting professionals navigating unemployment and reinvention.
4,500 members and growing by the day.
Rhize runs entirely on human power. Every call, every thread, every workshop, every report has been built from scratch by people who decided they weren’t going to navigate this alone.
Our members span industries, ages, and identities: laid-off engineers, first-time managers, caregivers returning to work, creatives, marketers, and tech professionals on their third or fourth restart in an industry that was supposed to be secure.
They’re your friends, your family, your mentors, your neighbors. They’re you.
People from every corner of the workforce wearing the silent badge of transition, quietly carrying uncertainty while trying to move forward with dignity. Millions of us navigating uncertainty in real time and Rhize exists to make sure no one has to do it alone.
WHO WE ARE
On paper, Rhize members are highly qualified professionals with strong credentials, diverse backgrounds, realistic salary expectations, and even relocation flexibility. In practice, they’re grinding through hundreds of applications, being ghosted, denied fair pay, and left without structural support.
Our members aren't just data points on some report. They're people with unique stories that uncover two truths: how the current labor market breaks people and how those people take control to rebuild a future on their terms.
Inside our community, there are no likes, followers, or algorithms — just real conversation, real connection, and shared accountability. It’s a free space where people show up as they are, share their truths, and help each other move forward.
WHAT WE’VE BUILT TOGETHER
For eighteen months, we’ve tested, refined, and strengthened this community until it stood on its own. The data shows it’s a necessity. The stories show it’s changing lives. Now we need the structure to protect what we’ve built and ensure it lasts.
Considering what we’ve achieved without funding, imagine the difference we can make with your support. We are asking for your help to secure the resources necessary to sustain, grow, and optimize everything Rhize offers its community.
WHY WE NEED YOU NOW
We’ve proven the need. We’ve proven the model. Now we have to protect it.
This fall, Rhize officially filed for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.
The paperwork is in. The board is formed. We’re just waiting for the final confirmation.
For the first time, we can raise funds to keep Rhize free for all, forever.
We've studied every possible revenue model and shortcuts would have compromised what makes us different. In a world where professional development has become a buzzword turning people's pain into profit, we refuse to take part in that.
Rhize was never meant to productize human experience with a paywall. It was meant to be a social service, a true community built on trust, not transactions.
The decision to become a nonprofit wasn’t a pivot. It was a promise.
Until now, everything has run on volunteer hustle. It takes a team of people working full time to build the systems, support, and programs to maintain Rhize. We’ve done everything we can with what we have and the next step is about planting real roots that allow us to keep showing up to expand our community to meet the need.
Your donation gives us stability and the power to scale. It allows us to deepen our impact, strengthen our systems, and ensure that anyone navigating a layoff, career change, or reinvention has a place to land.
If we fund Rhize now, we start 2026 with a foundation: a full time team, secure tech, mental health partnerships, in-person events, and programs that meet people where they are with empathy, evidence, and community.
WHERE YOUR SUPPORT GROWS
This fundraising sprint will give Rhize the foundation it deserves. This next chapter isn’t about scaling, it’s about creating stability through real infrastructure, real support, and real care. Here's what your support makes possible:
PEOPLE ⇢ Two full-time roles devoted to programming, community care, fundraising, and communications — the backbone that allows us to serve members with consistency, compassion, and impact.
PLATFORM ⇢ A dedicated tech budget for auditing and rebuilding our systems for safety, accessibility, and ease of connection — creating a smoother, more secure member experience.
PROGRAMS ⇢ Expanding what’s already working: year-round calls, expert-led workshops, upskilling and reskilling opportunities, data reports, and curated resources that remain 100% free and rooted in professional growth and emotional well-being.
PRESENCE ⇢ In 2026 we’ll launch Rhize on the Road, a nationwide series of in-person events turning our digital roots into real-world connection in the cities where our members live and work.
THE FUTURE WE’RE GROWING TOWARD
Job loss often leads to isolation and loneliness at a time when both are already considered endemic. Rhize was built to counter that. It’s a people-first community, not a social platform. Every moment here is meant to feel purposeful, valuable, and empowering.
Success isn’t measured by screen time, but by what your time in Rhize inspires you to do.
Rhize is a community people turn to daily for growth and grounding. Beyond that, we provide a space for genuine human connection — a space where belonging itself affirms each person, helping to heal the isolation that so many experience.
It’s the quiet moment someone logs in before an interview and leaves feeling steadier.
It’s the post that reminds you you’re not alone.
It’s the ripple effect of thousands of people showing up for each other and then carrying that energy back into the world.
This is how we turn a movement into something lasting — a daily practice, a source of strength, a home for people in transition.
We’re not building a product. We’re building permanence.
THIS IS HOW WE GROW
We built this together. Now we need your support to keep growing together.
When you give to Rhize, you’re not donating to an idea — you’re investing in people.
Rhize exists, it works, and it’s proven what’s possible when people come together with honesty, courage, and shared purpose.
When you support Rhize through this campaign, you’re directly investing in the professionals shaping our future.