Today I went to the supermarket to return some bottles (Germany is one of the countries that has deposits on most bottles), which is handled by a machine. When it came to print the receipt, I noticed these new machines had not only a “print receipt” button, but – Surprise! – also a “donate” button right next to it!
Turns out that this is a project started in 2008 by a charity that gives expired or overstock foods to people in need. As of their press release in October, their co-operation has now about 5,000 of these new machines installed, which helped them raise over 1M Euros in 18 months.
Two things are worth noting here: First, this is just what we need. Help a good cause with the push of a button. Second, ideas like this must spread faster. Yet many charities still communicate like it’s 1970. No permission base, no email news (only if you sign up for a press account), no RSS feed. If you’re doing something for a cause, being invisible and untouchable is no perspective.