Digital Leaders Case Study

YouthNet & Sony Europe’s +U Mobile Volunteering Application

The +U concept - result of global crowdsourcing

In his own words…

+U: A mobile app to make volunteering easier and more social

Why is the time right for +U?

• 27% of all UK adults own a smartphone, 47% of all teens

• 59% of smartphone users have acquired them in the last year and use them more frequently than other mobile users

• Changing nature of volunteering

YouthNet & Sony +U partnership

UK’s National Volunteering Database with 1 million

volunteering opportunities & extensive Third Sector partners

Sony’s Techsoft software engineers build cutting edge software solutions & mobile

applications

Get involved & Contacts

• Get involved:– Facebook: www.facebook.com/openplanetideas– Do-it database: http://www.do-it.org.uk/

• Contacts– Olly Benson: Olly.Benson@youthnet.org – Susanna Halonen: susanna.halonen@eu.sony.com

“Do-it is the most comprehensive database of volunteering opportunities in the UK, offering more than one million opportunities

to volunteer from 28,000 organisations in the UK so there is huge potential to develop the way in which we encourage and motivate

people to volunteer. We are delighted to be partnering with Sony on the pilot for this ground-breaking idea because, ultimately, Do-it is

driven by the passion to make it as easy as possible to volunteer and ‘+U’ will help us to achieve that goal.”

Emma Thomas, CEO YouthNet

“Mobile volunteering has the potential to engage millions of individuals across the globe in volunteering and have a positive impact on the

lives of many more; it is for this reason that Volunteering England is delighted to have contributed to the development of "+U." The

initiative offers a new platform for building partnerships between business and the community and, in doing so, represents

an innovative approach to volunteering and corporate responsibility.”

Andrea Rannard, Head of Infrastructure Development,Volunteering England