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Meghan Murphy

HandUp Gift Cards - Give directly to a homeless neighbor on the street

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HandUp Campaigns
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HandUp lets you donate essentials like toiletries, clothes, and housing directly to homeless individuals in your neighborhood.

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Joshua Brueckner
Is this SF only? If so, any plans for NYC?
Meghan Murphy
Maker
@jabrueckner Currently HandUp Gift Cards are only in SF, but we'll expand in the future. As for online giving we do have partners in Detroit, Washington State, and Oregon State (handup.org).
Brian Clark
Best product I've seen all year! Love this
Meghan Murphy
Maker
@blaurenceclark Thank you Brian!
Rob Lord
I totally don't get this. I understand how handing out cash could be worse by being spent on alcohol, drugs, etc. Other than the 8% overhead, whom can receive the card value? What goods/service do the people in need/card bearers receive? What reporting goes to the card purchaser? Seem to me this encourages panhandling. Street behavior needs to be cleaned up, not exacerbated as Supervisor Scott Wiener put eloquently in his Medium post: "Homelessness and street behavior are eternal issues in San Francisco, on par with Muni’s ups and downs and the perpetual and real anxiety around housing costs. I use the terms “homeless” and “street behavior” separately because, while there’s overlap, they aren’t the same thing. We see plenty of awful street behavior by people who aren’t homeless, and there are many homeless people we never, ever see on our streets, who don’t cause problems for anyone, and who would never engage in the anti-social street behavior so common in our city. It’s important not to broad-brush or stereotype homeless people and to instead focus on providing people with the support they need to succeed while at the same time having zero tolerance for awful behavior by some people — whether or not they are homeless — on our streets." Helping the Homeless Doesn’t Mean Anything Goes on San Francisco’s Streets by Supervisor Scott Wiener https://medium.com/@Scott_Wiener...
Meghan Murphy
Maker
@r0bl0rd Hi Rob - I hear you on these concerns and hopefully I can try to answer them all. Whom can receive the card value? A donor would give a gift card to a homeless neighbor - this might be someone they see asking for help on the street, maybe someone they already know in their neighborhood, maybe a Street Sheet vendor. Maybe the recipient isn't living on the street, but currently living in an SRO where by the end of the month a $25 gift card would help them eat for a few days, allowing them bypass waiting in line for food at the Glide dining hall. Whoever receives the card will redeem it at the drop-in office of Project Homeless Connect. What goods/service do the people in need/card bearers receive? Project Homeless Connect keeps a variety of retail gift cards on hand like Walgreens (limited under 18 card), Safeway (limited under 18 card), Goodwill, Marshalls. Recipients could also use it toward something like a cell phone bill. If the recipient is interested in creating a profile on HandUp.org to fundraise for a larger goal, they may move the $25 value there. What reporting goes to the card purchaser? Once your card is redeemed with Project Homeless Connect you will get an email letting you how it was used. I can tell you, people don't panhandle because they want to. From the community of homeless people we work with, we hear that people only panhandle when there is literally no other option. The goal of this Gift Card is to provide people with tangible goods that might open up an opportunity to meet another basic need. For example, instead of waiting in line for food they could go to St. Anthony's Tech Lab and work on their job search. Thanks for sharing Scott Wiener's post, I hadn't seen it yet! Yes he seems to be recommending we do not exacerbate dangerous "street behavior" however his clear call to action ---> "So, San Francisco, you want our street situation to change? Then, continue to support progressive and forward-looking investments in shelter, supportive housing, navigation centers, and mental health and addiction services. Continue to support the absolutely amazing social service nonprofits that actually get people off our streets, into the services they need, and on track." We're proud to work closely with some of these progressive programs like the Navigation Center, Bevan Dufty's Office of HOPE, and 15 nonprofits across the Bay Area.
SyCo4Sports
@megmurph @r0bl0rd there are people that panhandle to make a living, unfortunately they make it harder than all the others, just like welfare cheaters, disability fraud, and so on do.
Paul Murphy
Like many on this thread, I've wanted to do something like this for years, created concepts and prototypes... but ran into hurdle after hurdle and couldn't find feasible way past. I realize this is still early days, but it looks like you've figured out an awesome way to keep this simple and achieve the objective. Congratulations, I can't wait to see this grow.
michal Naka
This is awesome. I've been looking for something that is a step further than just giving cash to our homeless neighbors. I hope it comes to Portland soon!
Meghan Murphy
Maker
@michalnaka Thanks Michal - we're focused on SF for now but will expand in the future, stay tuned.
Elizabeth M.
Meghan, I applaud your effort and good work. And I admire your enthusiasm. Poverty is a multifaceted challenge. There isn't just one magic solution. Not all of them are addicts and not all of them have mental disabilities. For many years, the majority of the homeless population was children. I've been in the poverty policy/law field for over 12 years. I currently work at the 3rd largest non profit law firm in the U.S. and I serve on the Board of Directors for a different state-wide non-profit Organization that advocates for individuals with physical and mental disabilities. I think your project adds a different delivery system for awesome (and empathy) to the world. Isn't the purpose of innovation to increase the awesomeness in the world? Keep up the hard work. 😀
Meghan Murphy
Maker
@leasemolina Thank you so much for those kind words Elizabeth. You are correct, there is not just one solution to poverty and we aim to be a tool that supports impactful organizations already serving these communities. It sounds like you focus much of work on homelessness as well and sending much applause your way too!
daniellevine
This is inspiring -- kudos to you and your team. I had discussed a similar idea with with some colleagues last year. One of our concerns was the possible proliferation of a second market for cards like this, therefore decreasing the effectiveness and goal of such a program. I know several people that carry with them bus tokens and $5 McDonald's gift cards specifically to give to those in need. At the same time, it is not incredibly uncommon for a homeless individual to engage someone on the street to sell the bus token or gift card back at a discount in exchange for cash -- then to be used for any purpose (of which one may speculate could include drugs or alcohol). This of course defeats the original giver's intent. Has this been a concern with HandUP? If so, how have you or do you plan to address a second market?
Meghan Murphy
Maker
@daniellevine Great question and a valid concern. First the gift card itself is only worth value once redeemed through our nonprofit partner Project Homeless Connect - the recipient must visit their drop-in center to redeem the card. The recipient can decide what they redeem the HandUp Gift Card for, which could be retailer gift card like Goodwill or used toward a bill. But the primary goal of gift cards is to connect people experiencing homelessness with beneficial services. In this way, transparency and accountability are built into the gift card system and we will continue to evolve these system as the program expands. So far we've seen really positive impact in the community.
SyCo4Sports
@daniellevine great thought but I continue to wonder when helping the needy becomes more important than not helping them to avoid cheaters. Non profits account for 7% of our GDP, do you think they are doing all they can with it?
Kimberly Mandl
love it Is this done in Boston ma? we have lots of homeless here and i would love to help
Kristina Savina
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