Donate Locate

Background

Homelessness charities often told the public not to give money to people on the street, because it's too frequently spent on alcohol and drugs and only sustains the person's homelessness. However, that's often when people feel most compelled to give. The Connection enlisted Soul to create a hard-hitting campaign to highlight some of the issues associated with giving money to homeless people on the street. After launching it throughout Westminster in August 2014 with posters, beer mats and leaflets, Soul began looking at a broader solution to the issue – leading the agency to develop the concept of Donate Locate.

Idea

Soul needed to create something that made it easy to donate, so you could do it 'in the moment' when you felt most compelled to give, but which also solved the dilemma of how to help rough sleepers without giving to them directly. The Donate Locate App did just this. The app allowed users to donate a small amount – £1, £3 or £5 – to The Connection when they saw a homeless person, whilst at the same time recording their location on a hotspot map (via the phone's GPS) and thus enabling the charity's outreach team to locate that person. Donate Locate ultimately benefited three audiences: the user (who felt empowered from giving), the outreach worker (Donate Locate both raised money for the charity and saved time for its helpers), and the homeless person. Mobile agency Movement built the app so users could donate at the touch of a button (on screen) and receive a simple text to confirm their donation. The donation was added to the mobile operator bill or debited from a pre-pay account and was then passed on to The Connection. The app was initially developed to be used in The Connection's catchment area of Westminster, but could be adapted for other homelessness charities operating in other areas.

Results

Unavailable at this stage