Ploink! introduces mobile giving app

Howard Lake | 2 July 2013 | News

Microdonations service Ploink! is this week launching a mobile phone app that "turns mobile devices into collecting tins". The app, available for both Android and iOS devices, enables people to collect virtual coins and donate them to charity when they wish.

Marc Simpson, Director of Ploink!, says that the app creates charity piggy banks. When you shake your phone, you will hears the sound of coins rattling around inside a piggy bank, with different sounds according to how much has been collected inside.

To emphasise this, the app includes an augmented reality feature: when a user points their phone at a trigger image, a three dimensional piggy bank appears, and the person is able to collect virtual coins into it.

Actual donations can be made, as with the website, via credit/debit card or PayPal.

Founded in 2009, Ploink! now works with over 600 UK charities including Make-A-Wish Foundation UK, World Vision UK, BeatBullying and FoE Scotland.

John Quinn, Director of Engagement at The Songwriting Charity, said: "The Songwriting Charity love Ploink! and so do our donors. We like that our supporters can now have one of our Ploink! collection boxes with them at all times and the three-dimensional piggy bank is awesome! The Ploink app really is the smart new way to give!"

Simpson added: "Mobile devices are now the way people choose to interact with each other and the world, so we wanted to create an app that made the most of the device and gave users something fun to use and show to their friends."

The app can be downloaded for free from 3 July.

Here is a demo of the app in action:

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.