GiveLocalSG | Devpost

Inspiration

The inspiration for our project came from a practical problem faced by one of our team members. He had a large amount of unused clothing at home but no clear or convenient way to donate it. This highlighted a broader issue: many people want to give away usable items but lack a centralised platform to guide them on where and how to donate. From this starting point, the concept of a unified donation app emerged.

What it does

GiveLocal provides a centralised ecosystem for charitable contributions, enabling users to easily donate unused items, browse items listed by others, and contribute to community needs. Beneficiary organizations can create verified accounts to post item requests, ensuring transparency and relevance in what they accept. The platform also supports bulk donations, allowing individuals and groups to give in larger quantities with minimal friction.

How we built it

To build our web application, we used Lovable, a development platform provided by one of the event sponsors. We began by prompting Lovable to generate an initial UI/UX design for a centralised donation app. This gave us a strong visual foundation to work with.

Challenges we ran into

We faced several challenges during development, particularly when deciding which features to include. We resolved these discussions by presenting our viewpoints, evaluating their impact, and making decisions through majority vote. At various points, we also encountered UI/UX issues. Our initial designs did not feel intuitive during testing. To address this, we sought feedback from friends and family, representing potential users of the app. Their insights helped us refine the interface and improve the overall user experience.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud to have built a fully functioning demo application within the hackathon timeframe. Our web app features a clean, appealing layout and resembles a production-ready platform suitable for real-world use. The system is also designed with scalability in mind, giving us the foundation to further develop it into a fully deployed application if we choose to continue this project.

What we learned

We learned that developing a full-stack, fully functioning web application requires significant time, effort, and careful planning. Beyond building features, we must consider what user data needs to be stored, how it should be structured, and how to ensure proper data security. We also realized that user experience plays an essential role. Every detail, from button placement to page flow, influences how well the idea is executed. Without thoughtful UX design, even a good concept can fail to deliver its intended impact.

What's next for GiveLocalSG

We believe this app has strong potential to be used by people across Singapore. Our long-term plan is to develop a mobile version and refine the platform for real-world deployment.