About OpenHeartMatch: Dating with Dignity
We are not a tech startup chasing growth metrics. We are a nonprofit dating platform built by people who know what it means to date with a disability - because they live it every day.
Our Story: From Lived Experience to Platform
OpenHeartMatch did not begin in a boardroom or a venture capital pitch meeting. It began with a friend named Alex, a wheelchair, and a pattern of heartbreak that the founding team could no longer watch without acting.
Alex is funny, kind, and genuinely one of the most interesting people you could hope to meet. But every time he tried online dating, the same thing happened: conversations would flow, connection would build, and then the moment he mentioned his wheelchair, the other person would vanish. Sometimes it was a slow fade. Sometimes it was abrupt. It was always painful.
The Problem Was Bigger Than One Person
The founding team looked at their own experiences and realized Alex was not alone. Maria, who is visually impaired, could not navigate most dating app interfaces with her screen reader - the apps simply were not built for her. James, who is on the autism spectrum, found the endless swipe culture exhausting and alienating, with no space for the kind of deep, intentional connection he craved. Olena and David had their own stories of being fetishized or dismissed because of their disabilities.
The team researched existing platforms and found a landscape that was either completely inaccessible, culturally hostile to disability, or oriented toward fetishization rather than genuine connection. None of these platforms were built by people who actually understood what it means to date with a disability. So the team decided to build one themselves - and to build it right.
"We were not trying to build a product. We were trying to fix something that was broken for people we love." - OpenHeartMatch Founding Team
That origin shapes everything about the platform today. OpenHeartMatch is not a corporate product dressed up in inclusive language. It is a tool shaped by the people who need it, refined by the community that uses it, and accountable to the values that motivated its creation.
Our Values: Accessibility First, Radical Transparency
Our values are rooted in the Jewish concept of chesed - loving-kindness and compassion - and the principle of human dignity. We believe every person deserves love and respect, and that a dating platform should never manipulate loneliness for profit or treat safety as optional.
Accessibility First
Every feature is tested with real users who rely on screen readers, keyboard navigation, and assistive technology. If it is not accessible, it does not ship. This is the baseline, not a bonus.
Radical Transparency
We publish our moderation policies openly and never quietly change the rules. Our roadmap is visible to the community. When we make mistakes, we say so - and we fix them.
Community Ownership
This platform belongs to the people who use it, not to investors who have never experienced disability. The community has a voice in what we build next.
Safety Above All
Human moderation, verified profiles, zero tolerance for fetishization and ableist harassment. Safety is the architecture of the platform, not a feature added later.
Our Organization: Education On The Go Corp
OpenHeartMatch is a project of Education On The Go Corp, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Brooklyn, New York. Our EIN is 92-1172505. This legal structure is not a technicality - it is a commitment. It means we are not answerable to venture capital investors who want to maximize engagement metrics at the expense of user wellbeing. It means there are no hidden profit motives driving design decisions. And it means basic features - creating a profile, browsing matches, sending messages - will always be free.
Nonprofit Status
Education On The Go Corp is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. EIN: 92-1172505. Donations may be tax-deductible. We are funded by grants and community support, not by paywalls that exploit loneliness.
How We Are Funded
We do not use venture capital, and we do not rush to launch at the expense of quality. Our funding comes from nonprofit grants from foundations that support disability initiatives, direct community donations, and strategic partnerships with organizations aligned with our mission. We are actively seeking grant-writing specialists and fundraising professionals to help us grow sustainably.
This funding model matters because it aligns our incentives with our users, not with advertisers or investors. When the choice is between boosting engagement metrics and protecting user wellbeing, there is no conflict - we always choose wellbeing. Learn more about how this shapes our platform on our Why Choose Us page.