One Big Sky

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  How it works

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  What we do

Product

What we’re building is a web platform that helps people, help each other

Problem and solution

The problem we’re solving is how to build trust and acceptance amongst strangers living in the same community. Particularly people who are socially on the fringe.

Our solution is to allow people to help each in a way that is easy, safe and sustainable.

Inspiration

What our platform will do is to allow an organisation like SSI to invite their volunteers to create profiles listing the ways they are able to help which is then used to quickly match with the needs from their clients.

Essentially sharing the support workload amongst trusted sources.

Volunteers will then receive push notifications for request that are relevant to their offers.

Now, giving your time feels great and is a reward onto itself but based on my research with members of the Pay it Forward movement and Couchsurfing a problem arises when people feel taken advantaged of, when they feel they never receive anything in return.

To avoid this we are going to implement a point system.. Points which can then be traded and used by volunteers to get help in return from other people on the network.

Example

Anna’s client needs to be escorted to the doctor, she can’t do it so she posts the task on the notice board.

Frank, gets a notification, helps out and earns a point which he then uses to get some gardening work done from Clare.

Now it turns out Clare is a bit of foodie and sees that someone is offering a little cooking class one night on the notice board.

Who does she spend her point on? Saunas, the client who needed the lift who now has a point of her own to start this cycle all over again.

And through this system Saunas not only gets the help she needed but she has now made two more friends.

All done without exchanging money.

This platform is a big opportunity that can benefit anyone.

Rollout strategy

The practical steps though is to grow carefully, working closely with the client - hypothetically in this case SSI, to develop an active community of users who are both giving and receiving help.

In the future we can look at combining networks and begin to really integrate communities together.

We can also look into opening it to the public, with safety features like ID verification and referrals systems to foster trust and protect high need users.

Going public means building partnerships with business who can use the gifting mechanism as a meaningful way to build relationships with their consumer base.

Competition

Our main competition are other sites which facilities gifting and volunteerism, but our advantage is the point system which means there is a reciprocity process which is actually empowering for people who will be motivate to give us a much as they get.

So to recap,

This platform, this point trading system is fostering a sharing relationship that normally occurs amongst family, something that’s not always available to refugees and migrants.

It alleviates the pressure from case workers and encourages people to become more active volunteers.

And once we begin combining volunteer networks we have a platform that becomes a simple but effective tool for social inclusion and integration.

Yes it sounds idealistic, but bartering communities like these already exists around the world. It is human nature to want to help, and this tool simply leverages technology to connect people who never meet in real life.

Revenues

Controlled growth and multiple revenue streams from users, organisations, government organisations and third party corporate partners will ensure the platform stays sustainable.

Now more than ever, Australia needs to be reminded that everybody has potential

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nWO9jme_THTJ0I5BW7NnkdygbXGjg3lUovDn6Nc-CnA/edit?usp=sharing