 In the past few decades, Silicon Valley has quickly become one of the most economically vibrant places on earth. Because of this, localized inflation has caused the cost of living in San Francisco to skyrocket. There are many non-profits serving the homeless and low-income communities, but there are certain needs that simply can't be met by large organizations. Enter HandUp, the public benefit company that acts like a kickstarter for people in need. Homelessness is not just one thing. It's not just the typical stereotype people think of. People who are homeless, who have full-time jobs, who are sick, who are all coming from all walks of life. Housing is a huge issue. It's just so expensive to live here. It's a great place to live. But it just, yeah, the cost of rents are escalating. They already were high, escalating really quickly. Our clients have all kinds of challenges in their lives, but even the ones who do awesome and who get this great full-time job, even then, it's really hard to raise a family here. It's just the incomes are not on par at all with the cost of living. So HandUp is a direct donation system for homeless people and other people in need that lets you donate directly to a specific person that you want to help. And then 100% of the funds go directly towards food, medical care, housing, and other basic needs for that person. So this is the HandUp homepage. We really try to emphasize the human connections as much as possible. So we see this banner of a lot of our members. And this is totally a random selection of members. What we're doing is using technology to help create a bridge so that the community can help directly. We are building technology for people in poverty and for human service organizations. And we're also a for-profit technology startup. But we are a new kind of for-profit called a public benefit corporation. And so that lets us have the growth of a traditional for-profit while also having the values of a socially driven organization. So the way HandUp works is we build the technology and we partner with nonprofits that already serve the homeless and at-risk community. So we sign up an organization like Compass Family Services, teach them how to use our software, and then the case managers will administer the site. My name is Kevin and I hope to get into a one bedroom apartment. What I want most of all, especially for Christmas, I don't want two front teeth, I want a whole set. And I hope to receive a bed. Scientific tools like box open end wrenches, socket ratchets, breaker bars, pipe wrench, crescent wrench, screwdriver, micrometer. Currently looking for employment. I don't have any codes for the interview. Any kind of job, you have to have teeth. And you just look really funny and sound really funny when you don't have your teeth. So being employed again is on my list. One of HandUp's many success stories is single mother Janelle, who needed a computer to finish her online school. So I'm a single mother of two boys and I work in San Francisco for a human service agency. And I go to school at San Francisco City College. I had enrolled in an online class and I didn't have a computer so I was using the computer at work, don't tell anyone, to do my assignments. And so I was like, no, you need a computer. So she told me about HandUp and she said you should just create a profile and see if they can help you. I did that and my request was granted in like 24 hours. The donors were just awesome. They were just, I don't know, happy to help. I think she put in a request for about $500 for a computer and someone donated $400 to her right off the bat. And just knowing that there are people out there who would do that, and you know, just for a stranger, I think that's been really cool and really surprising to see. One thing that HandUp does is tries to create this two-way communication between our members and their donors. So on the bottom we see the most recent update that Janelle sent, thanking the donors for all the help that they've given. So on the right side we see this is how you can donate to Janelle's account. And then there's also the option to add a $5 tip to HandUp and this is basically how we support our operations. We even cover the credit card processing costs so we make sure that if you select $50 then $50 goes to Janelle. And then I have the opportunity to respond here as a donor and write Janelle a little message so it really starts to create this community feel and the support network a lot like your Facebook friends would. Technology isn't a silver bullet. It's not going to completely solve poverty, but just in my experience working in nonprofits, working with incredibly vulnerable populations, it's so powerful as a tool to reach more people and really importantly for our model is sharing the story. With an estimated 3.5 million homeless people in the United States and countless more tatering on the brink, low-income America needs all the help it can get. Hopefully for-profit models like HandUp are able to both maintain profitability and more importantly adhere to their founding documents.
 In the past few decades, Silicon Valley has quickly become one of the most economically
 vibrant places on earth.
 Because of this, localized inflation has caused the cost of living in San Francisco to skyrocket.
 There are many non-profits serving the homeless and low-income communities, but there are
 certain needs that simply can't be met by large organizations.
 Enter HandUp, the public benefit company that acts like a kickstarter for people in need.
 Homelessness is not just one thing.
 It's not just the typical stereotype people think of.
 People who are homeless, who have full-time jobs, who are sick, who are all coming from
 all walks of life.
 Housing is a huge issue.
 It's just so expensive to live here.
 It's a great place to live.
 But it just, yeah, the cost of rents are escalating.
 They already were high, escalating really quickly.
 Our clients have all kinds of challenges in their lives, but even the ones who do awesome
 and who get this great full-time job, even then, it's really hard to raise a family here.
 It's just the incomes are not on par at all with the cost of living.
 So HandUp is a direct donation system for homeless people and other people in need that
 lets you donate directly to a specific person that you want to help.
 And then 100% of the funds go directly towards food, medical care, housing, and other basic
 needs for that person.
 So this is the HandUp homepage.
 We really try to emphasize the human connections as much as possible.
 So we see this banner of a lot of our members.
 And this is totally a random selection of members.
 What we're doing is using technology to help create a bridge so that the community can
 help directly.
 We are building technology for people in poverty and for human service organizations.
 And we're also a for-profit technology startup.
 But we are a new kind of for-profit called a public benefit corporation.
 And so that lets us have the growth of a traditional for-profit while also having the values of
 a socially driven organization.
 So the way HandUp works is we build the technology and we partner with nonprofits that already
 serve the homeless and at-risk community.
 So we sign up an organization like Compass Family Services, teach them how to use our
 software, and then the case managers will administer the site.
 My name is Kevin and I hope to get into a one bedroom apartment.
 What I want most of all, especially for Christmas, I don't want two front teeth, I want a whole
 set.
 And I hope to receive a bed.
 Scientific tools like box open end wrenches, socket ratchets, breaker bars, pipe wrench,
 crescent wrench, screwdriver, micrometer.
 Currently looking for employment.
 I don't have any codes for the interview.
 Any kind of job, you have to have teeth.
 And you just look really funny and sound really funny when you don't have your teeth.
 So being employed again is on my list.
 One of HandUp's many success stories is single mother Janelle, who needed a computer to finish
 her online school.
 So I'm a single mother of two boys and I work in San Francisco for a human service agency.
 And I go to school at San Francisco City College.
 I had enrolled in an online class and I didn't have a computer so I was using the computer
 at work, don't tell anyone, to do my assignments.
 And so I was like, no, you need a computer.
 So she told me about HandUp and she said you should just create a profile and see if they
 can help you.
 I did that and my request was granted in like 24 hours.
 The donors were just awesome.
 They were just, I don't know, happy to help.
 I think she put in a request for about $500 for a computer and someone donated $400 to
 her right off the bat.
 And just knowing that there are people out there who would do that, and you know, just
 for a stranger, I think that's been really cool and really surprising to see.
 One thing that HandUp does is tries to create this two-way communication between our members
 and their donors.
 So on the bottom we see the most recent update that Janelle sent, thanking the donors for
 all the help that they've given.
 So on the right side we see this is how you can donate to Janelle's account.
 And then there's also the option to add a $5 tip to HandUp and this is basically how
 we support our operations.
 We even cover the credit card processing costs so we make sure that if you select $50 then
 $50 goes to Janelle.
 And then I have the opportunity to respond here as a donor and write Janelle a little
 message so it really starts to create this community feel and the support network a lot
 like your Facebook friends would.
 Technology isn't a silver bullet.
 It's not going to completely solve poverty, but just in my experience working in nonprofits,
 working with incredibly vulnerable populations, it's so powerful as a tool to reach more people
 and really importantly for our model is sharing the story.
 With an estimated 3.5 million homeless people in the United States and countless more tatering
 on the brink, low-income America needs all the help it can get.
 Hopefully for-profit models like HandUp are able to both maintain profitability and more
 importantly adhere to their founding documents.