While on a lunch break in downtown Seattle a few years ago, Jonathan Kumar watched as a homeless black man stood at an intersection with a sign saying that he needed medication for diabetes. As drivers passed, no one rolled down a window to offer a donation. “No one even acknowledged that he existed,” Kumar says.
The result was Samaritan, an app that someone in need can choose to use by carrying a small beacon that they get from a clinic or a nonprofit counselor. When someone using the app walks by, they get a notification that shares the person’s name and story; if they choose to donate via the app, the homeless individual can use the funds at a few local partners: a grocery store, an outdoor supply store, a barbershop, and a coffee shop. Beacon holders get a text or email when they get a new donation, and if they don’t have access to either, they can check their balance at one of the stores. Merchants use the app to scan funds off the beacon.
“We basically have seen that these monthly conversations over time build trust with that clinic or that counselor to the point where the clinic or the counselor is able to navigate them to a much better opportunity than the beacon, like recovery, like employment, like housing,” he says. “It’s a tool to build relationships, and when those relationships are established, good things happen, whether it be a paycheck or a safe place to stay. We’re just a small piece in the puzzle.”
Gimbal, a company that makes beacons that are more commonly used for promotions–someone might get an offer for a discount on a latte when walking past a coffee shop, for example–donated its technology to the project and is now funding an ad campaign for the Samaritan in Seattle. Samaritan now hopes to give 2,500 access to a beacon in Seattle by the end of 2020, and also plans to deploy beacons in nine other cities.
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.