Uber for volunteering

Imagine scrolling on your phone to find opportunities to give help. Just like Deliveroo, but instead of ordering a take-away you're selecting from opportunities to help an elderly person pick up their shopping, provide a befriending call or run a small errand for someone who is housebound. Imagine the opportunities are based on your exact postcode, so things show up close-by or are able to be done remotely.

Imagine that it's all on-demand, so you can scroll those opportunities, select one right now and instantly be able to go and do it.

onHand is an early stage corporate volunteering platform, with 100+ corporate partners and over 20,000 app users. Those users delivered over 30,000 good deeds across the UK in 2021\. The above opening description is what we have built to date, but there is so much more we can do.

Today, onHand matches vetted volunteers with older adults and vulnerable people who need help with simple tasks such as shopping, medicine collection/drop offs, urgent errands and other essentials. Things we all struggle with as we age - from taking the bins out to simply changing a light bulb. Collectively these tasks restrict us living independently as we age.

We have been able to tap into demand to help from the under-served corporate volunteer market. This enables us to help address one of society's most pressing issues at a fraction of the cost of today's solutions and when NHS resources are most strained.

onHand's volunteer matching platform has established itself as a disruptor, using tech to simplify the way volunteers and older adults connect. The response to our platform has been applauded by various industry experts such as the National Innovation Centre for Ageing and with multiple award wins including the Lord Mayor's Dragon Awards for Best Covid Response and Best Volunteering App at the Care Awards.

Our concept has been tested and proven in London by thousands of users and in last 18 months we have began pilots in further cities, with Independent Age (the UK's second largest age charity), NHS teams, the Red Cross and others referring elderly adults to us for help across the country. Grant funding would allow us to invest in our technology, ensure impact delivery across the UK and apply project learnings to reach market readiness.