Oxford alumnus Alex McCallion has launched a social enterprise that could help thousands of homeless people put their lives back on track.
Greater Change allows members of the public to give securely and directly to individual homeless people via a mobile app or website, contributing to co-managed funds that will help them to achieve goals such as long-term accommodation or employment.
The success of the project is, in large part, thanks to the generosity of more than 300 donors who gave a total of £33,024 through OxReach, Oxford's crowdfunding platform. The project also benefited from extensive guidance from Oxford University Innovation and Aspire Oxford, a leading homelessness and employment charity and social enterprise. Greater Change has also received £23,000 of additional in-kind financing from Global Initiative, an Oxford digital firm offering a £100,000 Initiative Fund to support projects designed to return value to society. The Greater Change app was launched in August 2018.
Alex McCallion and his team have received widespread recognition for the project. They aim to build on its success by scaling up operations and supporting 5,891 homeless people annually within three years.