GiveLink: A Smart Donation Matching Platform

Aims to connect donors, NGOs, and people in need/emergencies through real-time item requests, urgency scoring, and location-based matching so that help is both expedited and efficient.

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Inspiration

  • Since donors often don't know where help is actually needed, GiveLink is a platform that connects donors, NGOs, and the people in need so that right items reach the right hands at the right time, prioritized by urgency.

What it does

GiveLink is a donation matching platform that bridges the gap between donors and people in need. Users can do all of the following on live, deployed web app:

  • Request items (books, clothes, food, medicine) with a category, quantity, location, and urgency score
  • Donate items by browsing open requests matched to what they can offer
  • Prioritize by urgency — critical needs surface to the top automatically
  • NGO-backed verification ensures requests are legitimate
  • Location-aware matching connects donors to nearby needs

How we built it

  • Frontend: Django templates with custom HTML/CSS and two core flows: a Request Items form and a Donate Items form. Request Items comes with an urgency score slider.
  • Backend: Django (views, templates, ORM, admin panel, messages framework) handling form submissions, request storage, and basic donor-need matching.
  • Database: SQLite for development, PostgreSQL-ready for production.
  • Deployment: Hosted on Render using render.yaml, with WhiteNoise serving static files and Gunicorn as the production server.

Challenges we ran into

  • Configuring WhiteNoise + static files correctly for Render deployment, setting up dj-database-url to switch cleanly between SQLite and PostgreSQL and designing matching logic that weighs urgency vs. proximity

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Setting up a complete Django full-stack app (with views, templates, ORM, admin, static files, messages) from scratch, a production deployment pipeline of Gunicorn and WhiteNoise with Render, PostgreSQL-ready config, and solving a real-world problem with a working solution

What we learned

  • Full Django project structure from scratch under time pressure, production deployment pipeline with Render + Gunicorn and how quickly a real-world impact tool can go from idea to live app

What's next for GiveLink: A Smart Donation Matching Platform

  • Live donor-to-request matching with location filtering, NGO verification badges and a real-time urgency leaderboard for open requests in a larger geographical scope

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