DCU start-up GiveBack.ie calling for public votes to help them double-up on funding win

DCU start-up GiveBack.ie, a social enterprise working to eradicate homelessness in Ireland, is calling on the public to help them double their recent funding win of €50,000 under the Google.org Impact Challenge.

GiveBack.ie, founded by DCU Computer Applications student James Gallagher and Victoria Ryan-Nesbitt, and co-led with the help of Cathal Curry and Alison Ring, was this week named as one of 15 winners in the Google.org Impact Challenge awards and is now in the mix to double its funding, provided it can secure the highest number of public votes.

The organisation with the largest number of votes over the course of the week will increase its funding to €100,000.

GiveBack.ie was a joint winner of DCU’s UStart Best Start-Up Opportunity in 2017 and was part of the Enactus DCU team that represented Ireland at the Enactus World Cup in Silicon Valley in October 2018.

GiveBack.ie operates through a Google Chrome extension and has partnered with over 1,200 of the world’s largest online retailers including Amazon, ASOS and Hotels.com. Once downloaded, the extension ensures that whenever someone makes an online purchase from any of the partner retailers, between 1 and 10 per cent of the purchase price goes straight to fighting homelessness, at no extra cost to the purchaser.

The organisation partners with Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) and the funding grant will assist the expansion of their work with ICHH.

To date, through their partnership with Inner City Helping Homeless, GiveBack.ie also offers an upskilling and training programme to equip people who are at risk of homelessness with digital marketing skills.

Speaking of the potential impact of the Google Impact Challenge, co-founder of GiveBack.ie James Gallagher said:

“The grant will support the work we do in partnership with Inner City Helping Homeless, allow us to scale our operations, and bring us one step closer to realising our shared vision of ending the homelessness crisis in Dublin through a transitional housing program.”

The President of Dublin City University Professor Brian MacCraith said:

“This project is a superb example of how innovation and social conscience can combine to address some of the most important issues facing our country today. The GiveBack.ie team has shown impressive creativity and technical skill in developing this project. I urge DCU students, staff and anyone with an interest in social change to vote for GiveBack.ie in the Google.org Impact Challenge.”

To vote for GiveBack.ie go to giveback.ie/vote

Voting closes Tuesday, March 26th.