Berlin Hackathon - Design for Giving

Germany´s largest online donation platform, Betterplace.org, teamed up with the  Berlin Peace Innovation Lab on July 19^th-21^st to organize the first in a row of peace innovation hackathons and workshops.

Let´s get the facts on the table. Only 35% of Germans donate at least once a year and the number is sadly decreasing. The average donation per capita is currently 130€/ per year and the majority of donors support more than one organization. 26% even more than 4 different ones. Across the ocean, in the United Kingdom, 20% of the donation market happens via mobile phone. However, more than 50% of the people who tried to donate using a mobile device, didn't complete the transaction (source). And let´s face it, donation is not the most sexy topic on the planet – yet!There were plenty of challenges to tackle for the participants. From Friday evening to Sunday afternoon five teams of designers, entrepreneurs and programmers, representing eight nationalities, collaborated to create the next generation of digital donations using the Betterplace API.One team, led by Sebastian Schwieker, built a website called LAST MILE. Here, almost completed crowd funding projects from Betterplace.org will be collected and presented to potential donors, to give them a “warm feeling” that their small contribution has helped the project become a reality.Trent zum Mallen´s team, givEZ, created a personal giving assistant that helps us solve the problem of donation complexity. givEZ defeats our lack of willpower by setting a monthly monetary commitment for donations. The app provides the functionality of a project broker and has a reminder function, which works as a personal giving trainer.In the digital age you can donate in many ways You can donate your time, your attention, a Facebook like, write a supportive tweet – even donate access to your social network. iNVOLVE! by George Papa & Co, is a new feature that invites users to engage with Betterplace.org´s projects on a deeper level upfront, before deciding to support it financially.Betterplace Lab´s director, Joana Breidenbach and team made a rather tongue-in-cheek digital spin on the process of confession. The Indulgence App allows small and large sins to be compensated for by donating to a suitable project. If you have pigged out in a nice restaurant one night, then why not donate money to a drought somewhere or support cooking-classes in a favela?In parallel to the larger developer teams Edward McCaughan, Betterplace´s own tech wizard, worked on his own website Hire Me for Good, where people can donate their skills to raise money. So, if you would like Edward to teach you how to code or teach you to tango, then it is now all possible through an online donation!