New Jena portal brings volunteers together precisely

"JenaVsVirus" community and Jena Community Foundation develop tool for social engagement

Despite the crisis, social distancing and coronavirus restrictions: The above-average civic engagement of Jena's citizens continues even in these uncertain times. The vast majority of the population shows solidarity with their fellow human beings and helps other people, associations and institutions in need with countless large and small solidarity campaigns and neighborhood help. Thanks to the support of the #JenaVsVirusCamp of the JENA Digital network and the Jena Economic Development Corporation (JenaWirtschaft), the Jena Community Foundation is now launching a new portal: the Engagement Finder.

The Engagementfinder brings motivated volunteers and organizations seeking help together quickly, effectively and digitally. The community foundation's website has been given an upgrade, so to speak - a comprehensive digital database,

summarizes Heidi Scheller, head of the community foundation's volunteer agency.

Whereas at the beginning of the crisis, all communication had to take place via personal contacts, coordination now takes place with the help of a database that automatically brings together people seeking help and helpers. This makes it very easy to establish digital contact between aid projects seeking support and people who can provide this support.

Five-member, interdisciplinary project team

The idea was developed by the "Shine on, Jena!" project team - a five-person team led by Dr. Dana Strauß , head of the "JenaVersum" network, Lena Horlbeck, Jennifer Kahnt and Stig Ludwig from the strategy consultancy Accenture Jena as well as physiotherapist and student teacher Marie Beyer. During the five-day camp, the team dealt with the question of how the Jena population's great willingness to help can be better utilized in projects worthy of support.

Now, more than ever, social cohesion is needed. Jena is a city where commitment and participation are a way of life. Personal contact has always been important here. The challenge now is to activate this potential digitally,

notes Dana Strauß.

Solidarity campaigns find supporters more quickly and therefore also find a faster way to reach those affected. These can be senior citizens' and care facilities or neighbourhood support groups, but also scientific institutions that would like to organize shopping assistance for international visiting scientists in quarantine, for example. These institutions, as well as individuals, can now simply register on the portal and find support,

Dana Strauß invites all interested parties to test the new portal(link is external).

Engagement finder can also be used nationwide

In addition, the Jena Community Foundation's offer has been linked to the Germany-wide platform hilf-jetzt.de,(link is external) so that supra-regional support can also be offered via a cooperation with Freinet, a database for the social sector.

Domenique Dölz, initiator of the #JenaVsVirusCamp, is particularly impressed by the team's work ethic:

'The team has done an extraordinary job over the last few weeks, not only working almost day and night during our camp, but also staying in daily contact afterwards until today to finalize the project and hand it over to the community foundation.

You can find out more about the Engagementfinder(link is external) on the Jena Community Foundation(link is external) website.

An overview of all projects can be found at #JenaVsVirus.(link is external)