VolunteerMe (Hack UMBC Project)

Competition Date(s): 10/7/17 - 10/8/17

One Sentence Value Prop:

VolunteerMe allows people to find and be exposed to a plethora of local volunteering opportunities/events and spontaneously lend a helping hand with little commitment and maximum conveniency.

Description:

This is a web application that intends to provide college students (UMD specifically for now) the opportunity to find chances to spontaneously make a difference in their community. A large barrier to people volunteering is that for some people it is a large committment to join an organization, set scheduled time aside for meetings, and become a regular member of the organization.

The goal of VolunteerMe is to lower that barrier of committment and structure and allow people to spontaneously find local opportunities and events going on where they can volunteer and lend a helping hand the very same day with no prior committment.

Scenario

Let's say that it is a beautiful Sunday morning. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and you are feeling good. You have all of your homework/work finished, your grades are looking good, and your crush finally said yes to dating you after 8 months of desperation. Life is good.

You are in a very generous mood and decide that you want to spend your day spreading the good will. But wait...you missed that meeting for the UnitedWay, the RedCross, and Habitat For Humanity studying for that Math140 exam you got a 85 on (although you totally deserved a 100)...you are out of luck and the only way you can volunteer is by going through a long process of joining an organization (or there is just no way you can succinctly find local causes to lend a hand to and you're out of the loop).

In comes VolunteerMe. You hop on the service and can search local opportunites by what you're interested in and can see where you can lend a helping hand that same day. Not only that, but whenever you volunteer you earn points in the service and the service displays leaderboards for different categories like:

-Individual Users (Ex: John Doe)
-Residence Hall (Ex: La Plata)
-Classes (Ex: Class of 2021)
-Majors (Ex: Computer Science)

Why This Benefits Organizations:

For an organization this is a no brainer. All they need to do is post their event in advance or on the same day and it allows them to get extra helping hands conveniently (even if it gets them 1 more volunteer that's 1 more person than before helping out)

Why This Benefits Volunteers:

For a potential volunteer this drastically lowers the barrier to service and maximizes convenience. Previous people that were on the sidelines and unengaged in the community now have the impetus to volunteer since it is so effortless to find opportunities...and it feels good!

This mobilizes the younger generation to make a difference in their community, changing the world one small step at a time.