Community Choice: emergency relief software for a foundation
Community Choice is the Give Where You Live Foundation's emergency relief program for people in financial crisis across Geelong and the wider G21 region. We built and still support the software it runs on.
The problem
Traditional emergency relief hands someone a parcel that somebody else chose. It works, and it also quietly removes the last decision a person in crisis gets to make for themselves. The Foundation wanted to replace that with something closer to how everyone else shops: you choose, at a local venue.
Doing that at scale is a software problem with several parties in it. The Foundation distributes relief through a network of more than 25 local community service agencies, each dispensing to people who need help quickly and without a bureaucratic queue. Local venues have to be able to accept and redeem what has been issued. And the money involved is donated, so every cent has to be accounted for and reportable.
What we built
A redemption platform covering the full path: issuing relief through the agency network, redeeming it at participating venues, and reconciling and reporting the lot for the Foundation. The program covers food, pharmacy and material aid, which are three different kinds of transaction wearing the same coat, so the system has to keep them distinct without making the front line think about it.
The reporting side is why business intelligence is on the service list. A foundation answering to donors and to its own board needs to know where relief went, which agencies are distributing, and what is actually reaching people. That is not a dashboard bolted on at the end; it is a reason to settle the data model carefully at the start.
Why the venues matter
The design has a second effect that is easy to miss. Because relief is redeemed at participating local venues rather than through a central pantry, the transaction looks like an ordinary purchase to everyone involved, and local businesses are brought into the program rather than bypassed by it. That is a genuinely elegant piece of program design, and it is the Foundation's, not ours. Our job was to make the mechanics of it work.
The outcome
- $500,000+ in beneficiary redemptions to date
- People requiring assistance choosing for themselves, which is the whole point of the program
- Distribution through a network of more than 25 local community service agencies
- Still running and still having an impact, with reporting the Foundation can act on
What we did on this engagement
Not-for-profit software development, custom software development, scoping, technical consultation and business intelligence. The redemption mechanics have a lot in common with the marketplace work we have done elsewhere.
Community Choice is a visionary project that brings together the worlds of food relief and local hospitality venues to address food insecurity and empower individuals in our region with the dignity of choice. Initiated by the Give Where You Live Foundation, this innovative program is designed to provide people in need with more than just food. It offers them the power to make decisions about the kind of food they receive, bringing an element of dignity and choice to an otherwise challenging situation.
The concept of Community Choice was born at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In collaboration with the Donkey Wheel Foundation, the Give Where You Live Foundation conceived this innovative initiative with a dual purpose in mind. They aimed to support the local hospitality industry in its pandemic recovery while simultaneously strengthening the existing food relief network within our region.
The outcome of this vision has been remarkable. The project put $66,000 into the local hospitality industry in its first six months, between January and June 2022, and has now passed $500,000. It also added a new layer of accessibility to the food relief network, and it continues to have an impact to this day.
We’re honoured to have played a part in the ongoing success of Community Choice by providing essential services to this transformative project. We have continued to work with Give Where You Live and offer our expertise to enhance the program's digital infrastructure, ensuring its seamless operation.
Our scoping services have helped shape the project's scope and objectives, and our technical consultation has ensured that the initiative adheres to industry best practices. Additionally, our business intelligence services have enabled the Give Where You Live Foundation to make informed decisions and continually improve the program's impact.