If Everyone Cares
Aim
If Everyone Cares recently launched Ododow.org The Interactive Community Map to pin-point the UK’s 200k+ Charities and Community Projects.
Our Why:
Did you know that there are over 200,000 Charities & Community projects in the UK that provide vital support to some of the most vulnerable people in the country? Yet there's nowhere that brings them together in one place so that they can be searched for by location and need.
FACT: All too often it is easier to find a hotel or restaurant on Google maps than it is to find help and support - shocking really when we live in a 'civilised' & 'caring' society.
Astounded by the number of people who struggled to find help in their local area, when they needed it most, founder Jaki Bent set up If Everyone Cares (IEC) as a solution.
IEC recently launched the Beta of Ododow™ - The Interactive Community Map.
Ododow™ will be the missing link. Bringing together UK Charities*, Community Projects* and Non-profits* (projects*) in one place - Making finding them as easy as adding your location and clicking search.
Free to use 24/7/365
One of the most common comments IEC has heard during our research is:
Why doesn't this exist already?
We agree totally.
IEC quickly realised this information could be beneficial to others within communities as well.
How IEC Will Fund Ododow™ & Put Money Back Into Communities
One of the ways we plan to generate income is via The Community Pledge™ an online membership platform that will help businesses to connect locally, forge stronger community links and fulfil their Corporate Social Responsibility - Making their Business a True Force For Good.
1500 members and IEC will be self-sustainable and approximately 10,000 will generate £3m to put back into communities via Community Foundations.
At the point that IEC becomes self-sustainable it will take out a full page in a national newspaper once a month. The page will be divided into the 12 main UK regions and for each region we will highlight one Community Pledge™ member (who is doing something else within their community - for example a charity cycle ride or encouraging staff to voluneer) and one charity. This will start to build up a picture of all of the good that is going on in communities, encouraging collaboration and building awareness of both services.
Our Progress To Date:
You can see some of our successes further down the page
£4000 of Seed Funding from the School for Social Entrepreneurs
£5000 of Seed Funding from UnLtd
Launched Ododow.org early Feb 2016
We’ve already had over 100 charities pin-point themselves on Ododow
Recieved our first Thank You note from a gentleman who found a local group
Named as a 2016 Digital Leader 100.
And we’ve done all of this with only £9000 of funding and by our founder selling her home.
Imagine what we can do with your help!
Our Target Market:
Ododow™: Everyone - no matter whether they need help or want to help - Ododow™ is for you. At Ododow™ there is no discrimination - we aim to provide a free service for everyone irrespective of race, gender, age, religion, or any other potential discriminatory factor.
The Community Pledge™: There are a recorded 5.4 million UK businesses and our key target market is the 4.8 million that employ less than 9 employees. Research showed that many businesses wanted to connect and do more within their community however a combination of time and resources often stopped them. The Community Pledge™ wil help to bridge that gap.
Team:
Jaki Bent: Founder. A Grandma-in-Tech. Jaki has had extensive experience of working in rural communities. A Trainer, coach and co-ordinator. In 2010 she was shocked when one of her bosses told her that some of her clients were 'No-hopers' and that she could no longer work with them. They were infact people whose lives had often been devastated by the fact they couldn't find help when they needed it most - leading to their life situation being made 10 times worse.
Jaki started the journey to find a simple and effective solution that would benefit everyone in the community. Thousands of conversations later IEC is that solution with long term achieveable goals.
Peter Allen The youngest member of the team. Pete is an absolute whizz with all things 'Tech'. He really 'gets' what is needed and then just does it. He loves the little details that will show people that we really care about helping them to help themselves.
He met Jaki at 'Pitch at The Palace' and when he heard about the work that IEC was doing he offered to volunteer straight away. A very fortuitous meeting.
Anna Rathbone & Rachel O'Donohoe: Students at the University of Bristol. Both Anna and Rachel are Interns whose placement has been funded by Santander & the University. The work they are doing is proving to be vital - in fact they made our pitch video above - working together as a team. Thank You.
Advisors:
Peter Keevill: Pete was the VP of Engineering and Founder of Ubiquisys Limited which sold to Cisco Systems in 2013.
James Myers: Jim was the Founder and President of the European Association for Philanthropy and Giving. He has a vast knowledge of the Charity landscape.
The CEO of A Community Foundation
Other Support:
The world’s largest free business accelerator for early stage and growing ventures. IEC has grown enough that they now have had their place extended by 12 months. They were awarded a #GoDo prize of £2000 in November 2015.
Cutting-edge support and loan investment opportunities designed for social ventures. IEC was one of 18 South West based Social Businesses to be selected to attend the SEEDBed programme.
Some of Our Successes:
April 2016:
2016 Digital Leader 100: IEC was named on The DL100 List 2016. Honouring the highest achievements from the past year, celebrating organisations and individuals digitally leading the transformation of the UK.
This really is an honour - we are still very early stage and we appreciate the fact that the potential for the work we are doing has been recognised.
March 2016
FT2G: One of 15 Devon based businesses to be selected for FT2G - giving them an opportunity to Pitch for £15,000 worth of services to help them progress their business.
In 2012 the idea of creating an Interactive community Map was voted 3rd, by the public, in the Global Sir Richard Branson & Virgin Unite Challenge to 'Screw Business As Usual'.
In 2015 We were Shortlisted in Pitch to Rich.
Please Support Us - Imagine what we can do with your help!
REWARDS & CROWDFUNDING
Firstly a huge Thank you for getting this far down our 'Pitch' - Hopefully that means that you can see the huge potential benefits of what we are doing. We really appreciate all of the support that you are able to give - every little (or lot) counts.
You may notice from our rewards that we aren't giving away flashy T-Shirts, mugs or pens. There is no new innovation such as a solar charged 'Thing-a-me-bob' or 'Ooo-jim-e-flip'. We thought long and hard about this and decided that we needed to stick to our values which are making every penny work to make a difference in communities.
Our team is very small and apart from our interns we are all volunteers at present. If we offered a T-Shirt for example and you donated £20 - that would be broken down into £10 for the t-shirt, then money for postage and processing charges as well as the time to post it. We would probably get about £5.00 to put towards the running costs of Ododow™ - We felt that was possibly not the best use of your generosity.
So we have tried to choose things that will still have a value to you and/or give you that 'Warm 'n' Fuzzy' feeling. This is a new experience for us and so one of the rewards is where you can suggest a reward you would like to see. Help us to be creative - we would really appreciate it.
Once you have seleceted a reward and had your confirmation email - please may I ask you to contact me via email, [email protected], then we can start saying Thank you and fulfilling our end. The reason that I am asking you to do that now is that otherwise we won't know who you are until the end of our campaign - as we are only forwarded your details at that point if we have successfully reached our goal(s).
A Huge Thank You In Advance - Your Support is Truly appreciated and by working together we can all be part of creating a resource that will 'Connect Communities - One Click At A Time'.
This project successfully funded on 12th August 2016