Leveraging technology to build better communities

To make it easier for Londoners to fit volunteering into their lives, Team London has partnered with us to launch London’s first City led volunteer initiative and speed volunteering app for iOS and Android devices.

We know that people want to volunteer, but they often don’t know how to get involved. The digital platform and the mobile apps we created help remove barriers to volunteering by making it quick and easy for people to find volunteer opportunities that align with their skills and interests and that are closest to them. Additionally, the City wanted to prioritize opportunities within areas where the need was greatest, making government more effective.

One of our top priorities was to make sure this initiative didn’t appear generic or look like something created by a faceless government entity. We used actual photography of London volunteers. We also decided to use bold colors to infuse the online and the app experience with personality, making it fun and intuitive.In addition to providing volunteer opportunities for Londoners, we added secondary features to the app to build community. Users can share their volunteer experiences which was cross linked to Team London’s social media properties. Volunteers could also track their volunteer activity as well as challenge themselves to hit specific milestones.

In fewer than three years, over 2,000 organizations have signed up to offer volunteer opportunities. Over 100,000 volunteers registered on the Mayor’s Team London website. At any one time the platform has over 50,000 volunteering opportunities within London’s communities on offer. On the eve of United Nations’ International Volunteer Day, London was recognized as the European Volunteering Capital for 2016 by the European Volunteer Centre. Team London’s strategy and hard work has been lauded as a model for other cities.