ShareCompass wins Rep. David Trone’s 2024 Congressional App Challenge in Maryland’s Sixth District

When asked what inspired the creation of ShareCompass, the students said, “The inspiration for creating ShareCompass came from my experiences of trying to donate educational resources to organizations that could make a real impact, only to find that the process wasn’t as straightforward as I expected. I wanted to help, but I struggled to find a platform that easily connected me with the perfect organization: one that shared my goals of supporting education and had an immediate need for resources. The frustration of navigating multiple websites, comparing different causes, and dealing with outdated information made me realize that many people likely experience similar challenges.

This difficulty in connecting with the right organizations creates what economists call ‘nuisance costs,’ which can reduce the likelihood of people contributing or pushing for change. Even those who are eager to help may become discouraged when the process of giving or finding support is overly complicated. I saw this as a barrier that could prevent well-meaning individuals from making a difference, simply because there wasn’t an efficient, centralized platform to connect donors with recipients.

We created ShareCompass to remove these barriers and streamline the process of giving and receiving help. By making it simple and intuitive, we hope to encourage more people to contribute to causes they care about and, ultimately, drive meaningful change in areas like poverty relief, disaster response, and education. Our goal is to ensure that when people feel inspired to make an impact, they have a tool that empowers them to act immediately and effectively.”