Making Cents – The app converting Christmas purchases into cash for the homeless

New charity app, Giveback.ie has partnered with Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) as part of its ambitions to eradicate street homelessness in Dublin by Christmas 2020. Established by two 22-year-old UCD and DCU students, James Gallagher and Victoria Ryan-Nesbitt, the platform features a passive donation functionality that raises funds as consumers shop.

Although currently only operational in Dublin, Giveback.ie hope to roll out similar programmes throughout Ireland, should enough Irish people download the platform.

Through downloading the Giveback.ie app and using it during the online purchasing process, donations of between 1-10% to ICHH are automatically made by retailers on behalf of the consumer. This equates to an average donation of €60 annually. Giveback.ie currently boasts 1,200 retail partners including Amazon, ASOS and Hotels.com. The platform’s advanced capabilities mean users do not physically need to dig into their pockets. The app works quietly in the background as consumers purchase items giving users the power to make a difference through shopping alone.

The initiative aims to attract 100,000 downloads over the Christmas period this year to help generate almost €6m in funding for the Inner City Helping Homeless Charity. ICHH was established in 2013 to provide services to homeless people across the capital. The charity which receives zero government funding currently operates with just two full-time staff members and a team of over 200 volunteers.

With a 200% increase in the number of homeless people since 2015 and over 3,000 children classified as homeless in Ireland, Giveback.ie are hoping consumers will download their app to help provide the most vulnerable people in society with shelters. The charity platform is on a mission to help eliminate homelessness on the streets of Dublin city by Christmas 2020.

Speaking about the concept and ambition behind the new charity app, Giveback.ie co-founder James Gallagher said:

“We do most of our shopping online for Christmas and felt there must be a way we can use that to benefit the most vulnerable in society. With Giveback.ie, all you need to do is download the app, activate the function and forget about it. As you shop, you make a big difference and it doesn’t cost you a cent. We’ve partnered with 1,200 retailers who will donate between 1-5% of your purchase directly to our charity partner. This could make a huge difference to the everyday battle to end homelessness in Dublin.”

The concept for Giveback.ie came when co-founder, Victoria, sat with a homeless woman who she had seen wearing a jacket with her secondary school crest on it. She discovered they had attended the same school in Clondalkin only a few years apart and had been made homeless days before Christmas.

Commenting on what inspired them to establish the new app, Giveback.ie co-founder James Gallagher added:

“Homelessness can touch anyone and we felt we had to do something about it sooner rather than later. We have decided to help ICHH as currently, they are one of the most under-resourced charities in Ireland.”

You can download the Giveback.ie app or download the Giveback.ie firefox/chrome extension for desktop.