Suggested by Brett Wischow almost 3 years ago
#Do-good, get paid - a marketplace for people to donate money to specific causes (park cleanup, river cleanup, etc.) and gig workers to make money completing those tasks.
Gig economy has boomed so there are tons of people willing to do work. Frustration with the speed of government is at all time highs.
Are you interested in addressing this Unmet Need?
Software Product Designer @ Slash Design Ltd
I wonder if this might benefit from a few specific "worked examples", where you deal with eg:
- "ownership of the problem" - you mention "park cleanup, river cleanup, etc" but there are often local agencies who feel such things are their own responsibilitity, and may not like (or even approve) ad-hoc efforts from others?
- "nature of the skills required", specifically whether volunteer skills, or paid-for skills - and if paid for, how you do your quality control in advance (you might get a lot of volunteers for fence-painting, say, and a lot of badly painted fences?)
There may be *loads* of workable examples, still, for all I know. These are just questions that spring to mind. (We have a local volunteer litter-picking team where I live, and volunteers manage the local bluebell wood, and various other community volunteer groups. I wonder if sending money to such volunteer groups, to make them more effective (buy tools, pay expenses, do PR to find more people, etc), rather than actually paying volunteer *workers*, might be easier to manage/implement?)
[PS new to posting. Let me know if such free-form /big-picture /open-ended chat is inappropriate - TIA]
Founder @ Mission Innovation Network
Thanks, Nick.
Some additional observations:
- A lot of people I admire generally -- as I've gotten to know them more -- I come to find out they do trash pick-up quietly. Not sure the direction of cause and effect but interesting correlation.
- Most folks can do a trash pick up (unlike painting a fence where quality control comes in as you say).
- "Adopt a highway" seems to be a very effective model, overcoming 'tragedy of the commons' / HOA shortcomings.
- Cities, towns, and neighborhoods have existing trash pickup organizational frameworks that could potentially be slotted into and enhanced.
- A map displaying geo-tagged, before-and-after pictures of trash with green check marks could be satisfying to monitor and contribute to.
- Perhaps sponsors (of any type) would want to be associated with such an effort.
- Perhaps there could be a quiet bid where folks could get paid by the hour, and then -- if they wanted to volunteer -- they would have the option to quietly return the hourly wage back to the pot.
- Perhaps there is a Wonolo-dynamic where trash pickup becomes the top of the funnel for deeper collaboration.
- There are a lot of impact topics that are genuinely perplexing, but thankfully trash pick up is not one of them!
@ SH LLC
Local government as a framework for community participation is older than "we the people", making it work is the challenge. Think of all the civilizations that have gone before us.
Do we reinvent the wheel or tweek it? Reinvention will require dismantling of governance as we know it.
Realtor @ Compass
I've been thinking about a clean up America initiative for some time. So many of our freeways, streets and parks are littered with trash carelessly disposed of. This could create a national effort and inspire citizens to be more thoughtful about their actions and more responsible for the environment
Brand & Strategy Consultant @ DBH Consulting
Good core to the idea. Many loose groups of people already get together and do things like park/river/creek cleanups as well as other projects for the public good (e.g. the Incredible Edible Projects worldwide as well as community gardens in general). Volunteerism is strong in many communities but so many of those volunteers pay out of pocket for things (supplies) that a marketplace could support. Further, gig workers could make inroads in areas with high-wage earners who have more money than time and would like to donate to some local causes. I like the idea a lot.
CEO | Founder | Managing Partner @ Platform Venture Studio
Feels like Benevolently @Carson Kelly
CEO | Founder | Managing Partner @ Platform Venture Studio
Is this a better version of an HOA?
Chief Growth Officer @ Platform Venture Studio
amazing analogy - almost an HOA that you can pick what you want to pay for in your community.