David Furlong is a co-founder of Deedmob and Coronahelpers.nl.  Together with his team he is working on disrupting the charity sector to increase its leverage on the world using technology. Deedmob.com is a social start-up that strengthens society by increasing the impact of volunteering through using the newest technology and strategic partnerships with the private and public sectors. They offer an online platform that makes it easy for people to find volunteering opportunities in their area, in addition to giving charities cutting-edge technological tools to manage their volunteers free of charge.

Online platforms play an important role in connecting volunteers to people who need help also during the current Corona crisis.  Coronahelpers platform is playing exactly this role - not only in The Netherlands but also in The UK, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, with the goal to expand into even more countries soon. 3500 successful matches have been already made and more are being realized on a daily basis. With Coronahelpers the team got the attention of Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and queen Maxima. The team is included in the latest Forbes Europe 2020 30 under 30 list. 

In this episode we had the pleasure of talking to David about his views on the power of volunteering, connecting people to their community and the role of tech in this.

"Volunteering is a very powerful tool for people to connect to their community. You can start doing it without knowing anyone, meet new friends and get to know your community better"