16 April 2020

March 24, 2020
Los Angeles, California, USA
Tampa, Florida, USA
For Immediate Release

HOW TO HELP NOW: FREE PLATFORM FOR HIGH-PRIORITY VOLUNTEERING DURING COVID-19

In response to the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic and the significant risk it poses to vulnerable members of every community, there is a new way you can safely serve your neighbors and get the help you need, online and in person. 

HandsOn Connect, a next-generation platform used by hundreds of professional volunteer organizers and Golden, operator of the world’s most popular apps for volunteering and free, powerful tools for organizers in every sector, have partnered to make this available to you immediately at https://mutualaid.goldenvolunteer.com/.

Golden’s Founder, Sam Fankuchen said, “The coronavirus is a disaster that affects every community,” and, 

“To fight its effects, we must leverage similar methods to other disasters but on an exponentially wider scale: targeting support of the most vulnerable and isolated individuals by putting mobile-friendly and accessible tools in the hands of willing volunteers and neighbors.”

Mutual Aid is a movement of neighbors helping each other with basic tasks that individuals cannot perform on their own, but enable them to live at a much higher standard. During COVID-19, this can mean delivering meals, checking on others, and performing everyday tasks virtually and in-person.

HandsOn Connect has facilitated peer-to-peer volunteering with select clients. Golden has been developing the Mutual Aid support website based on research with Not Impossible Labs and Advent Health to deliver out-of-home care to discharged hospital patients. 

Golden Founder & CEO, Sam Fankuchen, said, “This free, easy-to-use, purpose-built site enables organizers to get help to those who need it most faster and more effectively than the email and chat lists we’ve seen emerge in the last few days.” 

HandsOn Connect CEO Alfredo Boccalandro said, “Volunteer Centers will appreciate that they can start using this platform in 15 minutes and all of the program data it captures will be available in HandsOn Connect and Salesforce. We will be adding additional privacy and security features in the coming weeks and a real-time HandsOn Connect integration with Golden in the coming months.”

A Mutual Aid opportunity listing can be shared with a link in any social media platform, SMS or email. It includes automatic participation tracking, captures digital waiver signatures, and is GDPR, COPPA, and CCPA compliant. Golden provides further background in a Medium post.

Golden will be continuously adding safety features, such as live background checking of organizers and participants, in the coming hours and days. Organizers can post-traditional, local and virtual opportunities as well as track their live performance for free at: https://dashboard.goldenvolunteer.com/ 

About Golden

Golden supports thousands of simple and complex volunteer programs in the USA and beyond. Select clients include grassroots organizations, to United Ways, UNICEF, the State of California, Community Health Charities, even a publicly-traded social network, and a global bank

Golden has been named the Top Way to Serve Your Community by Apple, a World-Changing Idea by Fast Company, Webby Honoree for Public Service & Activism, the Global Social Good App of the Year by Facebook, and the Top App to Simplify Your Life by TIME.

Sam Fankuchen is available for ongoing commentary in English and Spanish, and can be reached at: [email protected] 

About HandsOn Connect

HandsOn Connect Cloud Solutions was founded in 2006 by the merging of two technology companies.  HandsOn Connect focuses mainly on technology solutions for nonprofits and government agencies, such as the Corporation for National and Community Service and USAID. In 2015, Points of Light entered a strategic partnership with HandsOn Connect Cloud Solutions to sell and service the HandsOn Connect application, having been the development partner of the app for over eight years and a partner of Points of Light for over 14 years.

HandsOn Connect has been developing solutions in the area of volunteerism and service since before we were founded, going back to 2003.  We bring “know how” not only in HandsOn Connect, but also in Salesforce, PHP, .Net, Drupal, Wordpress, web services and other technologies. Our clients include Points of Light (since 2003), Corporation for National and Community Service (since 2004), Aetna Foundation (since 2005), National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (since 2012), New York Cares (since 2012) and United Service Organizations (since 2015).