'Kickstarter For The Homeless' Raises Investment From Some Of The Biggest Tech Investors, Including Marc Benioff
Jul 17, 2014, 04:06 IST
Kenneth Yeung - www.thelettertwo.comSalesforce.com CEO Marc BenioffHandUp, a crowdsourcing platform for homeless people and their basic needs, just closed a seed funding round of $850,000.
Some of the biggest tech investors have joined the seed round, including Salesforce's Marc Benioff, SV Angels' Ron Conway, and Reddit's Alexis Ohanian.
Poverty is a serious issue in America, with approximately 46 million people living below the poverty line and 3.5 million of them homeless. In San Francisco alone, 7,350 people are homeless, and 54% of them haven't had a home for one or more years, according to HandUp.
HandUp's platform aims to solve this problem by connecting technology to individual donors.
The process is quite simple. Once you download HandUp's iPhone app or visit its website, you can go through member profiles and donate directly to the person you'd like to help. If you can't find the right person or cause, you can simply donate to the SF Fund, and they will send your donation to members with the strongest needs.
HandUp says most of the members fundraise for dentures and other medical services, housing costs, or phones and computers. For example, a man named Richard from San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood, is raising money for his driver's license renewal, clothing, household items, and rent.