Veterans Get Their Mobile Crowdfunding App

Despite its brief but explosive history, crowdfunding programs have managed to raise enough funding for everything from big-budget video games and high-tech hoodies to excessive Uber bills. However, one startup is betting that people are willing to donate to a more humanitarian cause.

Veterans Call, an online community facilitating relationships between veteran aid charities and people who seek to support them, announced that it has released its first iPhone and Android app to bring crowdfunding veterans initiatives to the mobile world. Dylan Breslin-Barnhart, vice president of North America for Activistic, Veterans Call’s parent company, noted how the shift to mobile will allow the fund to capture the cream of the crowdfunding crop: smaller yet more frequent donations.

“Veterans Call democratizes philanthropy by connecting anyone with a mobile phone to their passion causes, facilitating low-impact $5 and $10 recurring micro-donations,” Breslin-Barnhart said in a statement. “Yet even at these affordable levels, users experience high-touch engagement with our partner philanthropies that help involve them more deeply in the causes they care about. We are thrilled to first apply our proven technology to Veterans Call, with the goal of making sustained and lasting differences for the men and women who sacrificed greatly to protect our country.”

So far, Veterans Call has partnered with five major charities that cover benefits programs for both veterans and their immediate families, though officials indicated that more organizations would be added to the ranks as the app matures. Its functionality at the moment should be able to engage and retain users, though — after donating to their preferred causes, users are given in-app push notifications when their gifts lead to progress toward a goal or when upcoming projects are finalized.

While Uber and Airbnb may have helped the sharing economy get off the ground, it might not be so bad if apps like Veterans Call define its goals going forward.