It’s a fast-moving world out there when it comes to technology, and more people are online than ever. Many organisations – particularly charitable ones – are pressed to keep up. The winning idea at our Hackathon last year was the ‘I need help’ tool, which aims to provide faster online support for the homeless or those facing a housing crisis. The idea won us funding from Comic Relief to develop and install it on the Shelter Scotland website!

Our website users have always been able to access housing advice when they need it, but when you’re fraught with the stress of an emergency, it’s much more helpful to be able to access the most relevant advice in the quickest way possible. Here’s how our tool works:

We’re delighted that the button will soon be launched, but we didn’t want to stop there.

We realised there is a huge opportunity for charities to improve the way they use technology to help those in need. So, on July 19th, we’re bringing charities and digital experts together in Building Digital Communities: A day-long series of workshops and talks to help both parties generate ideas (and hopefully even develop new products).

We’ll also be sharing the story of our own idea – the ‘I need help’ button – which we hope will highlight how beneficial it is for organisations like us to embrace tech, and collaborate with digital experts.

The event is shaping up to be an exciting day of networking, creative thinking and problem solving. We’ll also be hearing from a fantastic group of speakers. So if you’re a tech expert and are in the spirit of doing good – or are part of a charity and want to know how to improve your digital services – don’t miss it. Sign up here!

Meanwhile, we hope you’ll spread the word about Shelter Scotland’s ‘I need help’ button, which we hope will be live on the website on 19th July.