Vulnerable people in emergency scenarios are often stripped of their dignity and self-determination. Assistance often comes too late, disconnected with people’s real needs. Aid workers struggle to keep up with the changing situation on the ground.

Having witnessed this first-hand, we think aid delivery works when it is supported by a system that:

Our story begins in autumn 2016, at the height of the European refugee crisis, in a camp in Northern Greece.

We are volunteers with a Norwegian NGO tasked with distributing donations like clothes, hygiene products, and food to refugees. It was chaos for everyone involved. The situation had to change.

We created a system where through our web-app, a free shop was opened where all beneficiaries could have the same fair choice. Volunteers knew what items were available and where. Coordinators gave out virtual currency and tracked what was bought with it.

It was a great success! The shop changed how volunteers and refugees interacted - it became a place where everyone liked to go. To help other vulnerable communities, we had the dream to support many other humanitarian organizations with this system so that they could experience the same success. Read more details about our current organization, including our policy plan and financial reports here.

Boxtribute is made by former coordinators and volunteers who have worked in the field and understand its challenges. It’s designed to work within the flow of an existing team and be ready to go in a month or less.

“[Boxtribute is] super functional, so you actually don’t need that much training. It speaks [for] itself.”   — Laura Vigourt, volunteer at Drapen i Havet

Take distribution to the next level! Use our shop system to issue virtual tokens to beneficiaries and set ‘prices’ for shop items. Make an order to the warehouse when stock runs low.

Life is hectic as a field coordinator - a misplaced item here, a person that can’t be found there, and hours of chaos can result. Switching coordinators is a difficult process that often results in critical knowledge loss from the team. Keeping it all in sync on Boxtribute makes their lives easier so they can focus on what really matters.

A: Not at all! Although it is a solution that emerged from the intense need we saw in refugee detention centers, Boxtribute is meant to help support vulnerable people in any emergency and post-emergency crisis.

A: Yes! We are a registered Dutch foundation under the legal name Stichting Boxwise (KVK number: 76346536 | RSIN: 860596527) since December 2019.

Our purpose is to improve the situation of vulnerable people in crisis situations in an effective, sustainable, and replicable way. Vulnerable people should receive what they need in a dignified, efficient, and responsible manner. Dignity means that everyone is treated as an individual and has their self-determination respected where possible We believe that this is best accomplished by system-level infrastructure change within the humanitarian network. In particular, we aim to address the growing gap between what is needed and what is provided by empowering local actors to run large-scale cooperative relief efforts through technology. Read our full 2020-2021 policy plan.

Our board members and their positions are listed in Who We Are. None of the board members receive financial remuneration for their roles. More details are available in the Governance section of our policy plan.

Other items of interest: 2020 Financial Report (PDF) | 2020 Report of Activities (PDF) | Articles of Association - in Dutch (PDF)

Send official mail to: Stichting Boxwise, Overschiesestraat 62 c/o Bart Driessen, 3112 HH Schiedam, Netherlands

A: Yes! You can read our source code here and our licensing terms here (Apache 2.0).

A: Yes, our previous name was Boxwise. We changed our name to avoid getting mixed up with other companies and logistics systems with the same name, and to showcase our commitment to humanitarian causes.

To ask us more questions, see a free demo, or for any other inquiries, reach us at hello@boxtribute.org - we read every email!

We are a diverse team of people from around the world brought together by a belief that we can and should use our skills to make a positive impact in the world. Boxtribute combines knowledge we’ve honed for years in the startup, technology, and logistics sectors with our experiences of what is needed on the ground. It’s a solution we are proud to stand behind. Read more details about our organization, including our policy plan and financial reports here.

“If [Boxtribute] could be rolled out to many other NGOs, I think it would make a lot of people’s lives a lot easier.”  

Want to work with us, or know people who would be? Write us at hello@boxtribute.org!

We are always on the lookout for talented and committed volunteers from all walks of life. We especially want to talk to you if you have experience and skills in the following areas:

We are looking for both content creators of all sorts! In particular, we are looking for UI & Visual designers who can help us unify the look and feel of our website and app, as well as artists or illustrators to help us create some custom graphics. Drop us an email with your portfolio!

We welcome developers and sysadmins from all backgrounds and experience levels! This includes people who have coded exclusively for research, to people who have several years industry experience.

We are currently in the process of transitioning our technology stack from a legacy PHP/Smarty app to a modern Python/Flask and ReactJS stack with GraphQL on the data layer.

Help us grow! We are actively looking for people with experience in partnerships, project management and to support us with talking to more organizations and understanding their needs. We are also looking for communication managers and research professionals to help us stay connected with happenings in the humanitarian space.

Interested in getting involved? Write us at jointheteam@boxtribute.org!

Want to know more about us as a nonprofit organization? Check out our Q&A for all our official details, including our policy plan and financial statements!