An all-round “app-y” experience for local Foodbank thanks to Skilled Volunteer support

The Organisation – Vauxhall Foodbank 

Vauxhall Foodbank is part of a nationwide network of foodbanks, supported by The Trussell Trust, that is working tirelessly to combat poverty and hunger in the local community. The organisation works with over 125 referral agencies including children centres, job centres, doctors and schools to ensure that local people in crisis have access to nutritionally balanced emergency food and support when they need it most. 

The Brief – Rescoping the Foodbank mobile App 

The Lambeth-based organisation wanted to redesign its web app to improve efficiency and end-user experience while also removing administrative errors. In order to apply for funding and pull together a brief for the software agency, the team at Vauxhall Foodbank was looking for guidance from an experienced professional to help outline their requirements. 

The Solution – Skilled Volunteer and Design Strategist, Michael C 

Who better to match with this project than Link UP Skilled Volunteer, Michael, who has previously started his own digital business as well being a Project Manager at an innovation incubator (an organisation that helps new businesses reach their potential). 

As part of this project, Michael provided in-depth knowledge that helped the organisation fine tune their ideas of how they wanted the new Foodbank platform to look and work. Together they implemented a concise plan with costings that the organisation can not only use to update their app in the short term but also created simple templates and processes that would make any future plans to redesign easy to achieve internally. 

The Result 

Upon completion of the project, the Vauxhall Foodbank team was able to share the document outlining its requirements to a software agency. This Skilled Volunteering project will mean that the staff at Vauxhall Foodbank will save vital  time and resources which in turn increased their capacity to deliver this vital service. Also having less administrative error means that service users encounter less delays and issues reducing stress in an already difficult time. 

While the support Michael provided was invaluable to the organisation, once the project finished, he shared with us how he felt after the project; “…it was a genuine pleasure working with Ileri, Dan and the whole team at Vauxhall Foodbank. The work was rewarding and the friendships made it that much better (though certainly bittersweet when I finished!)”