Seth Franz

Founder and Executive Director

Volunteering Untapped

Seth Franz started Volunteering Untapped in 2013 to connect young professionals in Baltimore with volunteer opportunities in the city. At his first event, nine people showed up; two years later, the group began selling out, at up to 200 spots every month.

Participants work with a different nonprofit from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the second Saturday of every month, then get together for food, drinks and networking. “We had almost 1,000 hours of community service in our first year and more than 3,000 in our second year,” Franz said.

The organization is his biggest professional accomplishment, he said. “I love Baltimore and this was a way to make a lasting impact, not only through the work we do with the organization on the days we serve, but also to create community around Volunteering Untapped. … I feel that we have created the model that should be replicated nationwide.”

Franz is also a founding member of the Baltimore team of Popscope, a community organization that brings public astronomy events to neighborhoods across Baltimore and donates telescopes to schools. “It is so much fun letting kids see the moon through a telescope for the first time,” he said. “My passion with this lies in getting programs set up in schools. It is more sustainable when we can turn over the equipment and knowledge to teachers.”

Since 2014, Franz has been the national real estate manager for Kiddie Academy, an educational child care company in Abingdon. But he has still had time for one more community organization and led the formation of the Global Shapers Baltimore Hub, an initiative of the World Economic Forum. The hub links young changemakers who are working to improve the state of the world.