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TECHNOLOGY THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE Technolog y is making life simpler for people all over the world. New methods for collecting money mean that technolog y can now also make a difference to those who are fleeing from war and persecution.
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e are living at a time when 60 million people worldwide have been forced to flee from their homes. Many of them have lost everything they owned. Fortunately there are also many who want to help. One way to do that is to donate money to an organisation such as UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency that works to protect displaced people. UNHCR distributes emergency aid, fights to uphold human rights and gives refugees hope for the future. Many people in Sweden donate money in connection with major galas or special campaigns. However, for UNHCR’s work to be sustainable it is also essential that people continue to give by becoming monthly donors. For a long time now the charity Sweden for UNHCR has made a point of telephoning people who have recently made an SMS donation to ask if they would consider becoming monthly donors. "THANKS TO THIS SERVICE, MORE PEOPLE ARE ABLE TO SURVIVE." “It’s an effective approach. We know these are people who have already shown that they care. They are often prepared to continue to be involved in this way,” says Lovisa Ulfsparre of Sweden for UNHCR. Many of those contacted agree to become monthly donors, but until a year or so ago the organisation then had to send a form through the post which donors had to sign and return. In many cases the form was never returned. As a result Sweden for UNHCR lost almost two thirds of potential donors. “It was an expensive business, for us and for the environment, to send reminders that didn’t lead to anything. Initially we started to look at various telephone services that recorded conversations in a way that constituted an oral agreement. But all of the services were very expensive and required a commitment from us stretching many years into the future. So we turned to HiQ to ask if they could help us to build a similar service customised to our own specific needs,” Lovisa explains. The new app enables Sweden for UNHCR to record an oral agree-
ment that ensures that the donor is registered for a monthly donation by direct debit on completion of the phone call. In addition the app compiles statistics based on the phone calls made. This has already led to improvements in efficiency and results of Sweden for UNHCR. “Since we started to use the app in February 2015, it has worked really well: 80 percent of those who become donors have agreed to a monthly direct debit by the time the call is over,” Lovisa says. The average monthly donor gives around 15 euros a month and remains for 4 years. Each new monthly donor can, in other words, be worth over 700 euros for UNHCR. “This means UNHCR can help more refugees. Thanks to this service, more people are able to survive,” Lovisa says.
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n the interim HiQ has also built an app for those who work with face-to-face (F2F) recruitment out on the streets. Previously these recruiters were equipped with binders full of pictures that they used to explain what UNHCR does. Everyone who agreed to become a monthly donor had to complete a form that was then sent to the office to be copied and filed. Now Sweden for UNHCR has replaced binders with tablet computers. “The change has made it a lot quicker to fill in all the personal details. We can use a donor’s personal identity number to access much of the information we need via the Swedish Population Register,” says AK Fagerlund, Program Manager for F2F fund-raising with Sweden for UNHCR. It also used to be a major undertaking in time and money to replace content in the binders, as new pictures needed to be printed and sent out to recruiters nationwide. Today the content can be updated on every recruiter’s tablet at the same time. “It all means that we can use the money that people donate to us where it does most good,” says Lovisa Ulfsparre. It also means that Sweden for UNHCR can experiment with different types of films and messages and follow up the results in real time. “We hope this will help us to collect hundreds of thousands of euros every year to help displaced people around the world,” says AK Fagerlund.
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