GiveEasy App a Winner

Dr Jeffrey Tobias receives the award for GiveEasy. Supplied.

The newly launched free mobile donation app, GiveEasy, has won a national innovation award in the community services category.

The award was presented by The Australian newspaper and Shell as part of their annual Innovation Challenge. The event looks for the best and most compelling innovation across a number of categories and the awards were presented by the Minister for Industry and Innovation, Greg Combet.

GiveEasy, the brainchild of Jeffrey Tobias, is designed to bring philanthropy into the digital age. It enables the public to make donations at any time. A receipt is then emailed to the donor. 

"What we're trying to do is to make giving simple, smart and social," Tobias said. “Mobile users can search and select charities and appeals as easily as they can purchase songs on iTunes with donations being made in real-time via a credit card."

“What was really exciting for us was that the judges of the award saw innovation in the community sector space significantly worthy enough to champion.

“While this is great news for us but it is also exciting news for the Not for Profit sector.

“The app also has a facility for automatic pay deductions matched by the donor's employer as well as being designed to appeal to Gen X and Gen Y.

“It will cut the overheads of charities, and many have joined the program since it was launched in November,” Tobias said.

Tobias, whose background is in technology and business, says that several big companies have expressed interest in participating.

The app can be downloaded at http://giveeasy.org/