Appeal app to roll out in Victoria

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Appeal app to roll out in Victoria

29 March 2019

Victorian Red Shield Appeal teams will benefit from a new phone app being rolled out for this year's campaign.

By Jessica Morris

The Red Shield Appeal web app is being released in Victoria for the first time in preparation for this year’s appeal.

The app, which has proven successful in other states in recent years, revolutionises the way corps and volunteers coordinate fundraising for The Salvation Army.

The app interface allows corps to structure their collection strategy in a unique, localised way, while safely storing the information of volunteers and keeping a total of all monies raised in each zone as well as a final appeal tally covering the whole of Australia. It also gives collectors the option of giving donors tax receipts electronically in real time.

“The Red Shield Appeal app has been used in other parts of the country for a few years and it’s a very effective tool for managing a local Red Shield Appeal – whether that be street collecting, intersection collecting, door knocking or shopping centre collection. It’s also a very helpful and useful volunteer recruitment tool,” said Major Bruce Harmer, Public Relations Secretary for Victoria.

“People can sign up as a driver, collector, administrator …whatever role they want to do in their area or zone as part of that team. When they’ve completed their task at the end of the collection, they’re able to put into the app the total for how much they’ve collected personally. So the web app is a great way to ascertain the result of our fundraising efforts by Sunday 26 May.”

By continually developing the app in accordance with corps feedback, it has already become an effective timesaving strategy for communities across Queensland, NSW and ACT. Implementing it in Victoria will ensure that volunteers in the state can be retained and contacted easily when preparing for the following year’s appeal. To have collector information stored in this way ensures the collector details are readily available if officer or Red Shield Appeal committee membership changes.

“This is a big step forward in our annual appeal,” said Major Harmer.

Other states have already found it an effective way of engaging school communities and graduates who have previously volunteered with the appeal. It also allows coordinators to thank volunteers for their contribution with an online certificate, and updates them on the end result of the appeal.

Major Harmer said the beauty of the app was the ability for each corps or community group to modify their web app settings to suit their needs.

“The app will be very much used in different ways and we’re very comfortable with that,” he said.

“We really believe that when people see the results from the app being used this year, they’ll want to build on that next year and continue to build their appreciation for the web app and the way it can improve and support their local Red Shield Appeal initiatives.”

For more information on volunteering for the Red Shield Doorknock, go HERE.

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