Helping Hand

New Austin-based app makes it even easier to support your favorite nonprofits

This new app makes it easy to support Texas nonprofits on a monthly basis.

Courtesy photo

Altruism on the go? There’s an app for that. Meet Everybody Helping: a new Austin-based app that helps you subscribe to your favorite nonprofits from your phone to easily give back each month.

With the app, you set a personal monthly goal, browse a list of nonprofits organized by type, and then track your impact in your profile so you know you're making a difference every month.

"When great nonprofits know how much money they’re getting every month, they're naturally able to spend less time fundraising and more time helping people — and that's what we want," says CEO Scott McElroy.

McElroy sees a disparity in the way nonprofits are currently viewed by millennial donors, in that they "don't trust nonprofits the way their parents do," he says. "Everybody Helping exists to bridge this gap with an experience that modern donors want to use to support the causes they care about so that great nonprofits can ultimately raise more money, more efficiently and naturally, in order to be more effective."

Early signs show McElroy may be onto something. The initial public reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. In just six months, the app's first subscribers give more than $2,500 altogether, averaging $5 per month, to dozens of nonprofits in Texas, such as Austin Pets Alive! and Houston Food Bank. Everybody Helping expects to give more than $25,000 annually in the first fiscal year.

If you are a nonprofit looking to expand your membership base, the app helps you send simple mobile messages to your supporters every month, so they can see how they’re helping. Plus, all nonprofits receive 100 percent of the donations made through Everybody Helping. (Those donating pay a 5 percent fee for each donation.)

Everybody Helping is currently available in Texas, but it plans to expand to California, New York, and the rest of the U.S. Currently, there is a waitlist for new nonprofits wishing to open a free account.

Moving forward, McElroy sees success in "continuing to build a business that helps our users more effectively support the causes that they care about. From the product to the brand to our Everybody Helping community, we have a lot of cool stuff in the works, so executing these immediate opportunities would certainly represent success for us in the short-term."

Head to the Everybody Helping website to download the app.

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SKIN IN THE GAME

Renowned Hill Country tattoo artist inks new sacred geometry app

Photo courtesy of Dillon Forte

Dillion Forte at his "tattoo ranch" in the Texas Hill Country.

In the world of tattooing, there may seem to be few better rat traps left to build, but Dillon Forte aims to change that. In October, the renowned Wimberley-based tattoo artist and entrepreneur introduced a new iPadOS app to bring ancient symbology into the digital age.

Forte has made a worldwide name for his black dot work (a contemporary take on stick-and-poke techniques) and ambitious undertakings like tattooing underwater and opening a “tattoo ranch.” His ink appears on Usher, Chris Hemsworth, and Kehlani.

Still, he is most recognized for his sacred geometry designs, using patterns to convey various meanings. His interest led him to create the Sacred Geometry Drawing App, a convenient way for novices and experts to develop and export their creations.

The app grew out of his own practice. Over the past decade, he has used tablets and freehand techniques to achieve his highly symmetrical artwork but grew to realize existing tools were not always easy to use.

“The app is an attempt and fulfillment of my desire to make sacred geometry accessible and bring the ability to create into the fingertips of as many people as possible,” Forte tells CultureMap via email, adding a tagline: “symmetry made simply.”

He says he wished the app was available when developing his signature style as a tattoo artist, but it was designed with a broad range of users in mind. He hopes that designers, educators, and artists will find a use for it.

A short intro to the app's capabilities is available on YouTube. It looks like a standard drawing app, starting with a blank canvas and some tools like pens, pencils, colors, and of course, straight line and dot makers.

A "symmetry index" anchors the functionality and expands it to something between 2D art and 3D modeling. In addition to generating shapes like repeating patterns and spirals, the app also creates 3D shapes with grids, so that the artist can map their design in real space or even create sculptures. There is also an index for explaining the spiritual meaning of some standard designs.

“Geometry often prompts an intimidating feeling when it comes to making art,” Forte continues. “The fundamentally complex and often academic nature of math-based art can induce a sense of fear in the potential user instead of creating a sense of awe. The purpose of the sacred geometry app is to cultivate the latter."

Creatives interested in constructing their own geometric masterpieces can download the app at the App Store for free, and in-app purchases are available.

technology apps tattoos arts