EasyFunds

EasyFunds is a progressive web app that can be used at high school events to more easily facilitate the transaction of money.

The problem we are addressing is the difficulty of transactions that occur within high school fundraisers. Usually, people who conduct fundraisers will see that using cash is effective but comes with a plethora of issues. We experienced the issue firsthand when we ran a fundraiser for our club within our school. The fundraiser was extremely successful, yet we realized that revenue could have been increased if there were better ways of conducting transactions. Additionally, the age restrictions for the majority of current solutions on the market such as PayPal or Zelle are inaccessible to minors. 

Our solution is a progressive web app that can be used at high school events to more easily facilitate the transaction of money. Our app uses a payment processor that can be used by students in a simple and easy manner. By loading money onto your EasyFunds account, you can easily transfer money and make payments digitally at in person events.

Our proposed solution is addressed towards high school students who do not have access to a digital payment method. The majority of high schoolers must carry cash on them if they want to make donations at fundraisers, an observation that we have seen first hand. Our solution will make the process easier for both the consumer and the seller, allowing for in-app organization and an easy to use processing method.

Our team looks forward to experimenting with our ideas and understanding how to develop the most effective way for clubs and sports teams to raise money and build a more viable solution to club fundraising. Usually, people who conduct fundraisers will see that using cash is effective but comes with a plethora of issues. We experienced the issue firsthand when we ran a fundraiser for our Entrepreneurship club within our school. The fundraiser was extremely successful, yet we realized that revenue could have been increased if there were better ways of conducting transactions. We also noticed that our funds were disorganized and extremely scattered. A digital payment offering could help fine tune and better organize this otherwise overcomplicated process.

After compiling data from two sets of interviews with our target audience, we were able to narrow down 90% of the topics into the category of “simplicity”. After realizing the desire for a simple and easy functioning design, we went to work and began cracking down on our offering. Rather than attempting to attack multiple problems, EasyFunds is only geared towards simplifying the transaction process of high school fundraising. 

EasyFunds will help with the circulation of money within a school and modernize the process of fundraising. If the school has an easier time conducting fundraisers, money will be allotted to clubs and organizations more efficiently and this will result in the school becoming a better place for students. Additionally, we have asked our fellow students and peers within Monroe Township High School if they would be willing to use such an application in order to pay for goods that they would buy at school. The answers from nearly all these peers were outstanding: “Yes!”, “Of course”, and “I most certainly would”.

Our goal over the next year is to completely develop our app and test it out in our high school. With over 20 clubs and many other organizations, our high school presents a wide sample size and potential target audience. By implementing this app into fundraising at our school, we can better analyze and understand how our app is impactful in the community. Additionally, this will help us to make necessary changes and additions to the app in order for our final product to represent the best possible solution to this problem.

Our solution involves a website app that can be accessed through a web browser while also being accessible to the mobile app story. This convenience allows users to easily transfer money digitally while optimizing the time and resources necessary during this transfer process.

Over the next year, our solution plans to serve 3,500 students, the population of the student body at Monroe Township High School. Our primary goal is to enhance and simplify the transaction process of club fundraising at our school. This baseline will eventually help us to branch out and provide our service to students and organizations across the country.

The biggest barrier at the moment is money and expertise in the field of coding. From the financial perspective, we plan on investing money in “Square Space” in order to develop a payment processor in our app. However, we do not yet have the funds to invest in such a resource. Additionally, our group is still in the process of understanding coding and app design. Over the next year, we plan on working through both of these problems by raising money from investors and seeking tools/guidance from our resources.

While we are not working with any organizations outside of school, our team is a part of the Entrepreneurship Club at the Monroe Township High School. Through collaboration, we work with our peers to make suggestions and help one another refine our solutions.

Cash is an ineffective and inefficient method of transferring money during a school-run event. Our solution will provide users with a simple platform that can allow them to make payments and facilitate transactions in a matter of seconds! Our solution will speed up the transaction process at high school level events and ultimately result in more money circulating through these organizations. This will help clubs and organizations gain access to more resources and allow them to fundraise more effectively.

We plan on generating capital through a  transaction based pricing platform. This model will charge a 3% fee for each transaction processed, giving our team the capability to maintain our platform while continuing to make necessary improvements that will result in a better experience for the customer.