Creator / originator

Aspectus Ltd.

Summary / objectives

Kari-Pekka Murtonen will never forget 2007 because as she says, 

‘That was when I was met young Abu, a five-year old Tanzanian boy who was extremely malnourished and severely disabled. And a poor mother who only wanted to rehabilitate her disabled child, but could only afford to pay two per cent of the total amount needed to properly care for her.

‘The experience of meeting Abu and this poor mother inspired in me an idea and I started dreaming of a different kind of bank. A bank where the more fortunate could regularly save small amounts of extra income that we have. This extra could then be used in good quality community projects to help the poorest people in ways specific to their needs. Through this new kind of “bank” giving would be easy and transparent: one that would bring hope to people but not cause dependency. The Bank4Hope name was born.

‘The world has many good and great organisations. We decided not to start another charity. Instead we started developing a comprehensive service package around Bank4Hope that would help and support these organisations already doing great work. Our main aim was to provide a valuable service while keeping costs down and provide unparalleled levels of transparency and accountability. To achieve our aim we decided to start Aspectus Ltd. Within the company we were able to begin creating Bank4Hope.’

Background

Three charities in Finland, Fida International, Finnish Refugee Council andInternational Solidarity Foundation are affiliated to Bank4Hope and now their donors, both individuals and companies, can follow their monthly giving digitally, in real time, through the web and mobile phone and see the impact of their giving. All information the charities give is collected locally from the development projects and the tracking system ensures that donors always receive concrete feedback that their assistance was received and the effect it has had. They are also able to give a unique thank-you message with a picture of the person being helped. Donors always knows where their money goes and how it is being used.

Aspectus hopes that they will be able to provide Bank4Hope’s system to charities all over the world

Special characteristics

The Finnish invention Bank4Hope is the first of its kind in the world and it is designed to benefit the work of development aid organisations. It is a fundraising, communications, monitoring and evaluation tool. The staff of Aspectus have years of experience working in some of the poorest communities from around the world.

Influence / impact

Testing and piloting have now been completed and, even though, the system is still in the early stages, the charities have raised thousands of euros.

Costs

The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, Tekes, gave grants to build Bank4Hope. Tekes finances development of innovations that aim at growth and new business operations.

Merits

Bank4Hope is the first of its kind in the world. It’s a full end-to-end service that increases transparency for both the development projects and the donors. Bank4Hope can cover all development sectors, for example healthcare, microloans, education, cooperatives, etc.

Other relevant information

We’re happy to be able to offer our donors this new, innovative channel through which they can see the real impact of their support. We are hoping this new transparent way of giving will remove some common donor insecurities such as “how do I know my donation really goes to where it should?” The reports our donors get from our beneficiaries through Bank4Hope are real, genuine and current.

The world of fundraising and donor expectations are rapidly changing and it is important to keep up to date with the developments. Bank4Hope gives us an exciting new platform for digital fundraising and answers our donors’ needs and expectations in a new, refreshing manner.’—Ms Jemina Talja, fundaising manager, International Solidarity Foundation

‘Bank4Hope is not just another fundraising tool that NGOs can use. It is an entirely new and innovative way to communicate with donors that captures the power of new digital tools. Bank4Hope offers new and wider knowledge for donors about what is really happening in the projects, the people they have helped and how.’

Bank4Hope is also a useful tool for corporate giving because it gives commercial organisations a great window to see the impact they have had.’—Mr Erkki Salo, fundraising manager, Fida International