A Netherland initiative uses this technology to give away without cash

Generosity jumps on the technology bandwagon. How? Thanks to the Givt application, a Netherland initiative designed to enable organizations to receive donations online via mobile phone. Direct, easy, and completely anonymous transactions that, according to their inventors, will ensure the lack of cash is no longer an excuse to give.

This is a device that works with Accent Systems’ Bluetooth beacons. We spoke with one of the managers of Givt, Maarten Vergouwe, to get more details about the project.

Is Givt the solution for making donations without cash?

Givt has developed a technological solution for those who don’t have cash but want to make an economic contribution to an organization at that time, with the same ease and anonymity as before. It is an application for smartphones and a backend system for making transactions.

Who is this solution intended for?

Currently, many organizations are already part of this community and use Givt. From churches to street musicians. On this map, you can take a look.

How does the solution work?

The solution consists of a physical device to collect money, incorporating a Bluetooth beacon inside. The information packet sent by the beacon is used to identify the organization the donor wants to contribute to.

Thus, when the smartphone of the person who wants to donate is near the device and has the Givt application open, it collects the signal emitted by the beacon. If there is an Internet connection, the donation will be sent directly. If not, the transaction will be saved and sent as soon as the smartphone reconnects to the Internet and opens the app.

Why did you decide to use beacon technology for this project?

We use beacon technology for several reasons:

• More smartphones support Bluetooth than NFC.
• It works over longer ranges than NFC.
• It’s easier to hide in the bag than an NFC sticker.
• A friend had worked with beacons before, and we had enough knowledge about embedded systems and protocols to integrate this solution easily.

In this link, you’ll find more information about the project: https://www.givtapp.net/en/