Over the last few days, I’ve been monitoring my homeless person using the new iphone application, ihobo.  The application, launched by UK charity, Depaul UK is attempting to raise awareness of the problems faced by homeless people.  Developed by Publicis for Depaul UK, it allows users to interact with a virtual homeless youth on their iphone. 

The application challenges users to look after the youth for 3 days providing them with food, warmth and support.  A dashboard provides a running commentary of your youth’s life and updates of their welfare.

Donations to Depaul UK, which help the homeless, can be made directly through the application via a text message for amounts of £1, £3 and £10.

The controversial application has been said by some to trivialise the issues that homeless people encounter.  However, the makers insist that the application is not a game but an attempt to “challenge perceptions and doubts around the plight of homeless people and communities in Britain today”.

Rather than moralise over the objectives of the application, I want to focus on whether this new area of fundraising can help charities reach people whom may otherwise not donate to good causes.

There is a growing realisation amongst charities that although the older population (over 55’s) still contribute the significant proportion to good causes, it is the younger, tech savvy populace that is causing many charities to seek new online alternatives to fundraising

We’ve already seen a reduction in traditional methods of giving.  For example “envelopes and tins” are down 6 per cent since 2007.  Direct mail marketing is becoming increasingly ignored, especially by the younger generation.

According to ONS report, 96 per cent of 16-24 year olds were online in 2009 compared to 90 per cent in 2007.  Amongst the 24-44 age group 92 per cent were online compared to 80 per cent in 2007.  Furthermore, 10% of the total UK population now owns an internet enabled smartphone.

The internet provides a fantastic opportunity for charities to engage the internet user, whether this is by community powered internet services or using new software applications that can be run on smartphone’s.

The smartphone market is an obvious move for charities.  Well presented, cool applications are consistently topping the charts, especially in the iphone stores.  To date there has been more than 400,000 downloads of iHobo – how many of these are potential new donors, remains to be seen however.

Developing new technology is not cheap and applications such as these can be expensive to release and maintain.  Whether, Depaul UK can achieve sufficient ROI from iHobo will be monitored closely within the charity sector.

Depaul UK will hope that once installed, users will refrain from removing the application after the 3 days are up and will be re-used in the future to donate ad-hoc to the charity, maybe after a real-life homeless person encounter or through further advertising campaigns. 

In the future, we should expect an influx of similar applications released by charities on the back of iHobo.  Currently, any new release will create a buzz around the internet and should generate extra income for the charity.  As the number of applications increase, the market will naturally dilute and the effect will minimise.