Non profit organisation idea

**Uselesspoop** · 09-04-2011 05:06 AM

Hello members of Young Entrepreneur. I have an idea here to help tackle hunger issues. This will be a non profit organisation and is mainly to help feed the hungry. I have come to ask if this idea is feasible and what improvements can be added.

#1 What the IDEA is about

- The IDEA revolves around giving a small percentage of what you spend on meals to the hungry. So, if your expenditure on food is $1000 in a certain month, you would donate $100 to the hungry if you planned to give 10%.

- A website will be set up ( small start up cost ) to spread about this campaign and a catchy, easy to remember and meaningful name will be used. The logo of the website will be very important. It will picture love, care and happiness?

How are we to encourage people to donate and start this altruistic habit?

- The founder itself will have a blog ( sort of ) on the website and he will take pictures of his daily meals and even receipts. Interested people will be encouraged to start following suit too.

- To encourage this programme, an iphone app which will allow users to store their pictures of their meals or receipts and note down the total cost of their expenditure on food. This will make it fun and convenient for interested participants. We can also set up applications on social networking sites like Twitter/Facebook to allow users to keep track of their progress and share among their friends. However, this tracking application must not be too invasive and annoying.

( I am pretty sure by introducing an iphone app/whatever it will attract many people to participate in this programme )

- Other ways to promote this idea can be through famous chefs or even restaurants.

- Students and youth will be able to contribute too in schools.

#2 Aim of this programme, what will donations fund?

I believe in solving the root of the problem, so food aid is totally out of question. Only a small percentage of the donations will be used for food aid organisations. Most of the money will be used for :

1) Funding agricultural programmes ( teach the hungry how to get food, increase yield )

2) Birth control ( this is also the root of the problem. many people suffering from poverty continue to have a large family which causes the problem to snowball into bigger problems )

#3 Incentive for people to participate

One of the reasons i feel hesitant to donate to charity organisations is because i really do not understand/know the impact of my contribution.

In this programme, one of our key points for success is to let the donors fully understand where their money is gone to, and how much it has impacted the hungry people.

Furthermore, by keep track of one's meals, we can further enhance this programme into :

1. Health related ( users , by keep track of their dietary habits, can find out about their nutrition, calories, etc. )

2. Reducing expenditure on food ( with this programme, users can find out their exact expenditure on food and cut down, save money, etc. )

3. Sharing their favourite foods ( tracking devices can post this on their social networking sites or forums, where more people can discuss about the food, recommend it to others, chit-chat )
#4 Why the programme will not succeed/appeal to masses

Here are some reasons why this programme may fail.

1) Too troublesome ( With the phone apps and tracking apps, this problem is solved.

Others?

I wish that members that read my idea can give me feedback, criticism and ways that i can improve my idea to make it successful. Thanks in advance!

**Uselesspoop** · 09-06-2011 03:23 AM

I really wish someone can leave feedback and tell me about what they think.

**DarylBennett** · 09-06-2011 07:18 PM

Hey, so this is definitely interesting, and the purpose is great. Just a few things that I am thinking about right now. I am from the US where, according to the fao.org site, have average of 3,770 kcal/person/day, compared to, say Democratic Republic of the Congo 1,590.

Countries by dietary caloric consumption

So Im thinking this can be tied into the causes of combating hunger, while also promoting healthier eating habits (ie: reduce food consumption by 500 calories per day and "giving" it to those that need it.)

maybe eating locally, as opposed to purchasing food that has traveled 1000 of miles across the world.
As far as the blog, it definitely helps if the founder already has started it, writing about it (can do both hunger and health issues), that way people can step up to the cause.

Ill come back with some different ideas later. too congested now!

Daryl F Bennett
Pooled Minds

**creativewebdesign** · 09-14-2011 11:17 AM

I beleive the concept to be good, but as you said, it will be too troublesome. as far i think, there are very less people who can keep track of their food expenses just to give 10% in charity . also keeping track of each and everything is just out of imagination.

Well, i think if we concentrate on ' promoting healthier eating habits ' which inturn " feeds the hungry " , so that a mutual healthy environment is created ,could lead large peoples attraction.just a thought !

**daveb1** · 09-16-2011 03:57 PM

I like this idea. One way to improve the concept or have it more catchy would be to get local restaurants to join the cause and offer coupons (which most already do).

Whatever money is saved from the coupon the customer could choose to donate half or all to your charity

It would be a win/win for everyone and you could really get support from local businesses.

One item I would seriously consider changing is limited scope of the charity choices. While agriculture and birth control are certainly noteworthy causes they are really not causes that a mass amount of people choose to support. If you also include more charities and charity categories that are widely accepted by the masses you most likely have a greater shot at success.

Very cool idea! Best of luck in getting it off the ground.