Merchant integration and expenses module for volunteer payment service

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This project brings together payments and financial technology to enable safe and convenient payments for volunteers helping vulnerable people with essential purchases during lockdown and beyond. We developed the vHelp service prototype in April and developed a fully automated app with a grant from Innovate UK. In the current version of the service volunteers have to pay for any shopping they do and then get reimbursed after delivery is completed. During the vHelp app project we identified a major problem for charities and voluntary organisation is managing and processing volunteers expenses - it places a considerable admin burden on volunteer managers, is costly and discourage some groups from volunteering. The move to remote working increased the problem as it is very difficult to manage paperwork moving around departments. We also established that voluntary organisations and local authorities prefer that volunteers do not use their own funds for shopping and they want to avoid volunteers being out of pocket, even for short periods. This project aims to: 1. Build a volunteer expenses payment module to reduce admin and costs for organisations and is fit for purpose (accessible and secure) ensuring a smooth experience for all volunteers claiming expenses. 2. Create a solution that integrates a voucher into the app to allow volunteers to pay for shopping without using their own funds. The results of this project may allow us to modify the current business model, which has proven challenging for our target market, voluntary organisations. The voluntary sector is under immense financial pressure and any cost they may need to incur creates a significant adoption barrier for services. This will enhance our competitiveness and increase the stickiness of our offering. The expenses payment module opens up opportunities for new revenue streams and growth routes. We are currently working with the voluntary/third sector but, once our solution is stable we will expand to the social care sector, as the service can be used by carers looking after elderly or vulnerable people. Our short term focus is the UK, however we've already had interest from European countries dealing with Covid19 and facing similar difficulties with payments. We will explore international expansion once our technology is established in the UK. The current social context is encouraging the reliance on volunteers and community support for economical sustainability and social responsibility reasons and this service delivers positive impact on both fronts.