ShareTheMeal

ShareTheMeal is a crowdfunding smartphone application to fight global hunger through the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). It enables users to make small donations to specific WFP projects and to track its progress. In 2020, ShareTheMeal was selected as one of the "Best Apps" globally by Apple and Google.[1][2] As of January 2022, ShareTheMeal has over 6 million downloads and 134 million meals shared.[3]

ShareTheMeal
Founded2014
FounderSebastian Stricker, Bernhard Kowatsch
TypeNon-profit organization
Location
Area served
Developing countries
MethodCrowdfunding
Websitesharethemeal.org

History

Sebastian Stricker and Bernhard Kowatsch founded ShareTheMeal in April 2014 in Berlin during a sabbatical as an independent startup. Since the summer of 2015, ShareTheMeal has been officially part of WFP and supported by the Innovation Accelerator of WFP. ShareTheMeal ran a pilot in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in the summer of 2015 providing 1.8 million school meals to children in Lesotho through stories, videos, and images pioneered by Tsitsi Matope in WFP Lesotho, which was the app's first fundraising target.[4]

The app launched globally on November 12, 2015, for iOS and Android devices. The global launch campaign raised funds to give school meals to 20,000 Syrian children living in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan for one year. It was successfully completed in less than two months.[5]

Between January and April 2016, ShareTheMeal raised funds to support 2,000 mothers and their babies in Homs, Syria, for a full year. In spring 2016, the app raised funds to support 1,400 Syrian refugee children between the ages of three and four in Beirut. The goal was completed in less than seven weeks.[6]

In February 2018 ShareTheMeal launched The Table, a unique peer to peer monthly giving program. Using SCOPE, WFP's beneficiary management tool, members are paired with a unique family each month via real-time data. Monthly donors directly support families with cash assistance, so that they can purchase the food that best suits their family's needs. As of April 2020, there are over 20,000 monthly active subscribers.

The donations are used as follows: 62% goes to the families in need, 28% is invested into fundraising and marketing, 6% to help run the organisation and 4% cover payment fees.

Awards and endorsements

Since launching in 2015, ShareTheMeal has gained public recognition from various organizations and corporations.

  • ShareTheMeal won the Lead Academy's LeadAward for Startup of the Year in November 2015.[7]
  • It was included in Google's Best Apps of 2015 collection and was part of Google's 2015 Christmas Theme collection.[8]
  • It won the Innovation Interactive Award at SxSW for the New Economy category in March 2016.[9]
  • It won the People's Voice award at the 20th Annual Webby Awards in the Mobile Sites & Apps Best Practices category in April 2016.[10]
  • It was nominated for the Classy Award as One of the Most Innovative Nonprofits and Social Enterprises of 2016.[11]
  • It won the 2016 Lovie Awards in the Mobile & Applications Best Practices category.[12]
  • It was awarded three Shorty Social Good Awards, including "NGO of the Year", in November 2016.[13]
  • It was selected by Google as one of the Best Apps of 2016.[14]
  • It won the Google Play Award for Best Social Impact at Google I/O in May 2017.[15]

ShareTheMeal has been endorsed and supported by several celebrities, including President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz,[16] actress and singer Vanessa Hudgens,[17] soccer player Kaká,[18] and musician Grimes.[19]

References
  1. "Apple CEO Tim Cook on Twitter". Twitter. Tim Cook. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  2. "Google Play Store". Google. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  3. "ShareTheMeal on the App Store". iTunes Store. Apple. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  4. "ShareTheMeal: Uno-App soll den Welthunger besiegen helfen". SpiegelOnline. June 6, 2015.
  5. "World Food Programme pins hopes on app to nourish 20,000 Syrian children". The Guardian. November 12, 2015.
  6. "UN app to feed Syrian refugee children in Ramadan 2016". Aljazeera. June 2016.
  7. Cross One - Kiendl-Müller & Wallraven GbR, Hamburg, Germany. "LeadAwards 2015". Retrieved 10 April 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. "Best Apps of 2015 - Android Apps on Google Play". Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  9. "Interactive Innovation Awards". South by Southwest 2016 Music, Film and Interactive Festivals - Austin Texas. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  10. "20th Annual Webby Awards". Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  11. "2016 Classy Awards". Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  12. "2016 Lovie Awards". Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  13. "Shorty Awards". Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  14. "Google Best Apps of 2016". Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  15. "Google Play Awards 2017". 19 May 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  16. "EP President on Twitter".
  17. "ShareTheMeal on Twitter". Twitter. Twitter. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  18. "Ricardo Kakà - KKisOn - Share the meal". Facebook.
  19. Robehmed, Natalie. "12 Questions With 30 Under 30 Star Grimes". Forbes.
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