Karma provides a user-friendly platform that matches individuals in New Zealand with volunteering opportunities at registered charities.
It integrates the concept of a Time Bank with a service connecting individuals to charity organisations.
A Time Bank is based on the concept that time is money.
For instance, if I needed someone to move a couch this weekend, I would 'pay' for such a service with time. Through Karma, I can find someone with a van to help me move the couch, a job that takes 2 hours of their time. In turn, they earn 2 hours in their time bank account which they can use to 'purchase' someone else's services. This is the peer-to-peer network of Karma.
Every new user that signs up for Karma starts with 0 hours in the bank. In order to earn their initial hours, they will have to volunteer with a charity organisation for a minimum of 10 hours in order to access the peer-to-peer network.
Charity organisations will find Karma an easy-to-use and robust platform to create and list volunteer opportunities. They will also be able to easily find volunteers who have the appropriate skills and who are interested in volunteering for their organisation.
We used data from the Charities Register to create a directory of all registered charities in New Zealand. We then match the sector of the charities with the sectors that volunteers are interested in helping out. Volunteers will also be matched to jobs and charities based on location and skills.
Additional volunteering incentives are provided to individuals through the process of gamification. Volunteers have a profile and a ranking score based on the number of hours and jobs that they do. This motivates the volunteers to frequently use our platform and engage with charities.
The traditional economy assigns a monetary value to our time based on the knowledge and skills that we have. Yet, no one individual has more or less time than another. We all have 24 hours per day.
Karma is based on the ideas that money isn’t the only thing that matters and that one person's time is just as valuable as another’s.
We all have our personal motivations for wanting to volunteer or help out in our communities. Whatever the reason, Karma is the place to keep the cycle of goodwill spinning and to increase the public’s contribution to charity organisations.
About The Minorities
We are a diverse group of developers from six different countries (Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Iraq, Singapore) who crossed paths at #govHack 2017. Each one of us landed in New Zealand at different moments in life with a unique set of past experiences and future hopes. Besides our love for tech, we share one other thing in common: that is the passion for serving our community and promoting goodwill.
- Emi: Designer and Front-end Developer with a background in Anthropology, Emi is an aspiring aerialist and the ultimate Wes Anderson fan.
- Raoul: Raoul is a professional procrastinator and winner of the NZ Procrastinator of the Year award for 5 years in a row. When he’s not procrastinating, you can find him sleeping or watching movies and writing the occasional line of code.
- Manpreet: Hi this is Manpreet from India living here in a beautiful cross cultural society. Really!! enjoying here specially at govhack cheerss!!!
- Steven: Hi, I'm Steven from Govhack Minorities 2017. I've had a great time developing with fellow minorities.
- Lee: "I'm not a great programmer; I'm just a good programmer with great habit."
- Lucas: Originally from Brazil, Lucas recently moved to New Zealand from the US and loves working with data. Lucas graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in Management Information Systems and is currently working in an investment company and contracting at a manufacturing company as a business analyst.
- Mauricio: I'm Mauricio from Argentina. I like traveling and I want to know new people. I'm a Java and JavaScript programmer. I came to Auckland to learn English. I hope to enjoy all New Zealand.
- Jose: Hi, Jose from Argentina. I'm a Java programmer that comes to Auckland to learn English, meet interest people here, drink some mates and to have fun in the Auckland GovHack!!!
- Sahil: Hi, I am Sahil Kandhari. Working in Infosys as consultant. Enjoying being here at govhack first time and interact with every individual from all over world.
- Naman: Hi, I am Naman. I'm studying BCS. I love to travel, meeting new people. I'm learning web development and I'm glad to be a part of GovHack.
