Mobile phone provider Orange has teamed up with 12 UK charities to create an app which enables people to volunteer through their mobile phone for the first time.

Do Some Good comprises 12 different actions which take less than five minutes to complete and are designed to fit in around a busy lifestyle. The actions range from taking a survey on wellbeing for the Samaritans, to uploading photos and tagging locations.  

After a public call for suggested tasks last August, Orange worked with the 12 charities, including the Samaritans, Groundwork UK, Cybermentors and World Clean Air Forest Initiative, to develop the final app.

Research for Orange showed that the mobile volunteering was most welcomed by young people with 74 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds saying that they would volunteer via their mobile phones.

While 67 per cent of people donated to charity in the last year, just under a quarter volunteered. Although 40 per cent of people questioned by Orange said they do not have time, 25 per cent said they would volunteer five minutes every day via their phone.

Andrea Grace Rannard, further and higher education senior manager at Volunteering England, said: “Mobile volunteering is an innovative approach with the potential to engage new audiences in volunteering and have an enormous impact on the lives of people across the UK.”

The app was also praised by Prime Minister David Cameron, who said: “Do Some Good is a great way of tapping into this huge pool of untapped volunteering energy.”

 

 

Volunteers who build up four hours of volunteering time by completing 60 individual actions will be able to join Orange’s RockCorps Collective and earn music rewards.

Orange has also launched an accompanying website, www.orange.co.uk/dosomegood which features other charity apps and links to real-life volunteering opportunities. 

Initially the app is only available on the iPhone but will be made available across other smartphone platforms later in the year.