Friday, April 19, 2013
Being generous? There is an app for that! Google is testing its new app called One Todaythat “brings together people and nonprofits through the simple act of giving $1.” The app displays one good cause each day and urges you to make a simple donation of $1 towards it.
Built on the back of Google’s not-for-profit arm Google.org, One Today is an Android app that will get users to donate towards organisations and charities daily. The app is available for the US only currently and also has an invite-only status to it right now.
The best part about this app is the complete transparency it keeps about where your money is going. Google has listed a few examples on the One Today page. For example, with the “Every Child Learns Empathy” project, every $50 collected means one school will receive aid to be trained in empathy best practices. Every $2 donated will translate into an hour of security for a wild rhino. From helping poor farmers in Africa to helping nature and wildlife, One Today will display a new project everyday that needs funds.
Donate $1 a day to a cause of your choice
It’s a great crowdsourcing idea with a friends angle too. The app allows for you to set a cap in relation to how much money you will match if your friends donate to a particular project. You can then pay off your donation balance once your friends have used up the cap. Individually, you can only donate $1 per project per day. However, if you want to donate more, you can challenge your friends to match your donations, says the FAQs page of One Today.
Currently, the page for the project will only let you request for an invite. The app looks like its undergoing a controlled hush-hush test right now, but it could be possible that it is open to international audience as well. If you’re an organisation, you can already start to list yourself to be featured as the Project of the Day. The app is a great move on Google.org’s part and with its backing, One Today could turn into a revolutionary way of donating to charities.
Google.org was recently in the news for lending support to help victims of the Boston Marathon bombings reach their loved ones. The search giant activated its Person Finder app to help locate missing people.
The helpful tool was first activated during the Haiti earthquake in 2010.
When you logged into the page, you were shown two options. The first said “I’m looking for someone” and helped you find out if there was any information about a loved one you were searching for. If there was any positive information about the person you were searching for, a message that said “Status: Someone has received information that this person is alive" was shown on screen. You could then click to see where the information came from.
The second button read, “I have information about someone”. This tool was for people who have the whereabouts of people affected by the blast. Entering information using this button will helped people who’re searching for their loved ones co-ordinate information.
The app had managed to help locate thousands of people before it was deactivated a couple of days ago. Charities and not-for-profit organisations are in safe hands with One Today, it would seem.
