Now that we can leave the shopping chaos of Black Friday behind us, we can look forward to #GivingTuesday, a national day of giving that marks the beginning of the holiday season.
When it comes to charitable giving, it can often be difficult for donors to see the real-life impact of their contribution. That is why this year on #GivingTuesday, one crowdfunding platform for good is allowing donors to actually visualize the social impact of the day, all in virtual reality.
Leading crowdfunding platform for good, CrowdRise, is elevating the experience of giving on #GivingTuesday to new heights with their Giving Tower virtual reality experience app.
CrowdRise’s VR app, developed in collaboration with Secret Location, takes the user into a virtual city that shows the Giving Tower, juxtaposed among the world’s most iconic buildings, as the Giving Tower grows brick by brick. Each brick in the tower added represents a donation to any of the 1000+ participating charities on the platform.
As donations are made throughout the day on Dec. 1 on crowdrise.com or the mobile Giving Tower app, viewers can watch as the spinning Giving Tower is erected in real-time. The virtual reality landscape can be viewed from different heights or from a bird’s eye view above the city, and navigated by turning your head or explored by fingertip. As the tower grows, new VR experiences will be unlocked. Users can scan the buildings for videos produced by RYOT and immerse themselves in VR experiences we have covered in the past like Nepal after the devastating earthquake or swimming with dolphins in the Bahamas.
Be sure to check out CrowdRise’s latest video on their virtual reality Giving Tower, Co-founder actor Edward Norton even shares his thoughts on inspiring a younger generation of giving through innovative technology.
“We’ve been pretty relentless about creating an exciting user experience that shows donors their impact and uses awesome technology to build massive awareness for so many causes. The Giving Tower is entirely reflective of why we launched CrowdRise, to make giving back cool and notable and fun” said Robert Wolfe, CrowdRise co-founder and CEO.
The free CrowdRise Giving Tower app is available on iTunes and Google Play. The app supports users with or without Google Cardboard, but users using Google Cardboard can experience the Giving Tower in 3D for a truly immersive experience.
Last year’s campaign raised $4.1 million. The hope this year is that by injecting an element of fun with the VR Giving Tower experience, more individuals will be open to contributing and helping make an impact on lives around the world, one brick at a time.
Really cool project! Good to see uses of Virtual Reality for non-profits.