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The Atlantic chapter of the Canadian Red Cross has launched a new website that allows users to trade favours and services for donations to the non-profit aid organization.
The website, TheVolunteerMarket.ca, is the centrepiece of a campaign that aims to raise $150,000. Visitors to the site can offer to donate a specified dollar amount in exchange for a service, or offer to perform a service to a fellow user who pledges to donate.
For example, one of the offers currently visible on the site’s homepage reads, “I will donate $10 to the Red Cross if someone volunteers to go get me a double Americano in Halifax.” Another reads, “I volunteer to deliver a workshop or facilitate a session for your favourite youth group in Halifax if someone donates $100 to the Red Cross.”
The concept was initially geared to members of the corporate community, although several of the proposed exchanges are available to the general public. The coffee offer, for example, is open only to employees of Halifax ad agency Extreme Group – which created the website – while the youth workshop proposal is listed as being open to everyone.
The site features progress reports with the status of each proposal changing when a user agrees to donate or provide the requested service. Users can also tweet or share a proposal via Twitter or Facebook.
“The site is almost like an eBay or a Kijiji or a Craigslist for volunteer services and donations,” said Shawn King, chief creative officer at Extreme Group.
King said the concept aligns with the values of the volunteer-driven Canadian Red Cross.
“It’s an idea rooted in the nature of the client, and people are engaged with it. I’m hoping it takes on a life of its own,” he said.
To support the initiative, Extreme produced a 15-second online video for employees of organizations who sign up, as well as a series of posters designed by local artists.
King said the campaign, which launched last week, could potentially grow to include transit and radio executions. As with the existing creative, any future work by Extreme on the campaign would be developed on a pro bono basis.
