Connecting Communities

Too often, it’s easier to find a restaurant than to find help or where to volunteer.

There are 200,000+ charities and community projects in the UK. Yet nowhere brings them together in one place so that they can be searched for by location and need. Meaning that too often it’s easier to find a restaurant or hotel on Google Maps, than it is to find help or where to help.

Jaki Bent FRSA, founder of If Everyone Cares CIC (IEC), is working to change that. In February they launched the ‘Beta’ of Ododow™ - The Interactive Community Map that is working on bringing all of that information together in one place.

Ododow.org aims to become the ‘Go-To’ place for people and communities, a free and easily accessible interactive map that will:

• Connect those who need help with those who provide it
• Sign-post those who want to help to projects that need support
• Enable existing projects to connect and share tools, resources and strategies, and at the same time reduce duplication
• Encourage businesses to support projects within their local area
• Forge stronger community links
• Be free to use - 24/7/365

The idea is so simple and most people can’t believe it doesn’t exist already.

IEC has been named on this year’s Digital Leaders 100 List, which recognises achievements in the digital world from the past year, celebrating up and coming projects and people within digital transformation. Being chosen really highlights the recognised need for what Jaki's doing.

IEC has also entered the Virgin Media Business VOOM 2016 challenge to help raise awareness of Ododow™. VOOM 2016 relies on public votes on its website to create a shortlist of pitches. With your help IEC, Ododow™ & The Community Pledge™ have a huge amount of potential to generate long-term social impact and would be a genuinely great business to get to the finals.

Everything that IEC has achieved so far has been done on a shoestring, by volunteers and just £9,000 of seed funding. Getting through to the final of VOOM would be an amazing opportunity to get the project to the next level.

Ododow would be really grateful for your support via a vote or contribution. 

Just imagine what we could achieved - let's work together to connect communities.