SELECTED FOR THE 2020 MATCHATHON OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Winner of the pwc Innovation Challenge Covid Help Award
Selected for the Solution Enabler program of the German hackathon "WirVsVirus"
The problem we are trying to solve
In the wake of the Corona crisis, many charitable initiatives have sprung up to support society throughout these difficult times. The sheer volume of information makes finding initiatives that are local and relevant to the user difficult, discouraging them from getting involved and helping others. Similarly, those who would benefit from the support from such initiatives face the same problem and in many cases will not get the help they could get. To date, there is no central contact points listing charitable initiatives to solve this problem in most countries.
The solution we bring to the table
helpregistry is a one-stop user-friendly platform for matching individuals with initiatives that they can either support or be supported by. It is the simplest solution, for people seeking or offering help, to find initiatives in their region. Filters ensure that results match the user's location and geography. Furthermore, no log-in is required to use the platform, keeping the barriers to usage as low as possible
What we have done during the weekend
During the weekend we launched our page in Austria with over 300 initiatives and brought the total number of initiatives close to 1000. By connecting to others in the hackathon, we made further progress with our translation of the page.
We found two mentors supporting us in terms of marketing and branding. Based on their recommendations we developed the video introducing our project and adapted our social media strategy.
Moreover, we found new cooperation partners to launch our project in more countries across Europe as well as projects with a similar mission in order to make use of synergies going forward.
The impact
Our project increases transparency on the help on offer throughout the pandemic, matching offerings with users. Through this matching, we ensure individuals face fewer hurdles to getting involved or getting help while we also support initiatives in reaching their full potential. We have been able to validate that this problem exists across geographies ranging from central Europe to Southeast Asia and want to grow our platform across new countries and support others in replicating this concept to reach as many people as possible, ultimately ensuring that help reaches those who need it.
The necessities in order to continue the project
In order to scale this project across new geographies, we are looking for motivated teams to roll out the platform in new countries. Furthermore, we are in search of UX and marketing experts to support this growth into new geographies.
Together with our partner organization in Malaysia, we are currently in touch with individuals and teams spanning geographies from New-York to Nepal to roll out similar platforms and hope that there will be many more to follow.
The value of your solution(s) after the crisis
While the idea for #helpregistry arose during the Covid-19 crisis, the idea scales well beyond. Individuals, particularly those who move frequently and have fewer roots in the local community can profit significantly from a central registry for finding interesting and local ways of volunteering. Furthermore, finding support - be it for vulnerable groups, small businesses or any other individual/organization - may have been less prominent before the crisis but was and will continue to be vital in the society nonetheless. Lastly, for those who want to donate (money or blood) but have little time on their hands, the site makes it easier to find vetted institutions from which the individual can pick according to their own preferences.
The database of #helpregistry was built with this continuation in mind, allowing for easy filtering of initiatives that are not Corona-specific, while enabling flexible adaptions going forward.
*We are confident, that the solution can continue to help many people across Europe well beyond the crisis. *
Outreach
Please get in contact with us if you have any feedback or are keen to implement this solution in your country!
Built With
- django
- google-maps
- jquery
- materialize-css
- python